I’m a Los Angeles Dodgers fan, having grown up in a household of men in Southern California, but once I moved to the East Coast, it became harder to watch a game in person. When I found out that they’d be playing the Phillies in, well, Philadelphia, I bought a ticket and booked a hotel room at a lovely downtown hotel.
What I didn’t anticipate was that the game would go into overtime, taking 16 innings before the game wrapped up around 1am.
I finally reached my lodgings sometime after 1:30am. It was an old-fashioned historic inn, more like a bread and breakfast, with no front desk. I’d been emailed instructions for the codes to the combination locks for the front door of the inn and the door to my room. I entered the inn, proceeded to my room, unlocked the door … and found a man already in my room!
It appeared that the Inn had double-booked. I tried to call the phone number on my printout, but no one answered. After all, it was now 2am. My head was reeling at how I was going to find alternate lodging in downtown Philadelphia at 2am .. and how I was going to travel there if I did.
I sat down in the living room area of the inn and took a closer look at my printout. It was addressed to a different woman who had made a reservation in September. Wrong person, wrong dates .. but combination codes that worked?
But they must have my reservation somewhere in their system. After all, I’d received a confirmation call that afternoon to ensure that I’d received my entry instructions.
My email claimed that somebody would snswer phones 24/7 so I dug into Google and found another phone number for the Inn. This one got answered.
A few minutes later, a gentleman came into the living room with his laptop and confirmed that I did indeed have a reservation for the correct date … but in a different room than the one I’d been sent instructions for.
I stumbled into my lovely room about 5 hours later than originally planned, too exhausted to enjoy it. Only the throbbing of the air consitioner kept me from falling instantly asleep.
How I received the instructions for another woman’s reservation is a mystery that is still unsolved. That they repeat entry combinations on a regular basis is a security risk I don’t like to contemplate.
Hotel Bella Vista, Philadelphia