In the middle of my scuba certification class (I stayed stateside) I received 3 phone calls in a row from Mrs. Messiah. Being the loyal and dedicated husband that I am, I broke away and called her back. She was very upset, said that she had booked a 4 star hotel via Hotwire, and it was a total dump with no a/c. And, the French hotel staff were being jerks (imagine that).
After my class, I got on the horn with Hotwire, and allowed them to play a game of "drop the ball" with me on the phone for 52 minutes. They were unable to get anyone at the hotel (in Paris), to pick up the phone. The supervisor "Mindy" based in Wisconsin said they couldn't resolve the issue until they got the hotel on the phone. I would later discover that they were calling the wrong number, once I finally got a Hotwire rep on the phone that knew what she was doing. She googled the hotel and got the right number. Apparently the call center in Wisconsin had too much cheese or something and were coincidentally one step away from being retarded.
The supervisor offered to "throw me" 20 hotdollars, and I declined, pending an acceptable resolution. I called back this morning and got another lady in a different call center. She talked with the Frenchies, and they said they don't run their a/c units until May. How convenient. Isn't Paris a wonderful city? If you can get past the attitude and European sense of responsibility, and condescending attitude. Call me a stupid American, or a Ranch Dressing loving redneck even, but I've never even imagined a 4 star hotel that doesn't have a/c available in the rooms.
Once the agent spoke with the hotel, it became clear that there wasn't much she could do but offer me the 20 hotdollars. I told her it wasn't enough and she needed to ask for at least 10% of the total ring for the 3 nights at the Holiday Inn Express "French Shitquarters". She clicked over for about 30 seconds, and came back to me with 50 hotdollars. Fair enough.
Next stop, the French hotel staff...
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