Dan C.
Yelp
I used Danford's own website to book a 2-story, dog - friendly suite for the night of Black Friday (11/29/24). I made the reservations the weekend immediately after Halloween, and my bank statement shows the $400+ bill being deducted on 11/4/24. On the morning of the day we checked in, I called Danfords to ensure that all was a go with my reservation, as i never received any confirmation emails or follow ups beyond confirmation on the website the day i made the reservation. I called Danfords, and the gentleman on the phone confirmed the reservation. He told me check in begins at 4pm. We were running a bit late, and initially tried to check in at 5:30 pm. The hotel clerk, Ivy (who i in no way blame for what I'm about to discuss) informed me that there was a "discrepancy" with the room. She asked for 10 -15 minutes to sort it out, so I laid back and waited a bit. After returning to the counter, I observed a woman speaking with the hotel clerk about her room. I didn't catch many details of the conversation, but it sounded like she was working out an issue of her own regarding the room she was staying in. When i spoke with the hotel clerk, she told me that she had staff check the room, and it was good to go. Something inside me told me to check the room before i brought my girlfriend and dog inside, and im glad that i did. I opened the door with the freshly activated keys, and the woman i had seen down at the counter was in the suite with her kids! WTF?! How does that even happen? I went back downstairs to the hotel counter, and Ivy did her best to apologize for the mix up. She told us we were being upgraded to the Presidential Suite, which is also in the main building. She told me that it was more expensive than the room i had booked. Erring on the side of caution once more, I checked out the room first. It was only one story, but still a nicely equipped room, with access to a shared balcony, and a GREAT view. But this room still just didnt seem to match or surpass the large suite we had booked, so i checked out Danford's website, and the thumbnail said $194 (less than half of what i paid for the original suite). Now I'm getting VERY angry, and I approached Ivy once more, and she showed me some kind of voodoo where one can turn a $194 advertised price on the thumbnail into $615 at checkout. Poor Ivy & the nonsense these clerks and managers have to deal with! It was clear that I had made her upset with my anger, and I apologized to her, and let her know that i completely understand that she was not blame for the issues, I was just venting more than anything. Anyways, I grabbed my GF & dog (who were now by this time annoyed, because they had been waiting in the car for about 45 mins by this point) and about 10 seconds after we walked into the room, our dog sniffed out a large, dried urine stain on the bedroom floor, just outside the bathroom. At that point, I just laughed and wiped it up with chlorox wipes. The rest of the night was excellent, and the room was in fact lovely. The final jab came at checkout. That 15 minute period where I was accidentally double booked? Yeah....That lady ordered over $100 of room service that somehow got billed to MY card, leaving the money out of my account for several days before it was returned. Mistakes happen, but I would NEVER have known of this mistake had I not looked at the emailed receipt. When I saw this charge to my account, I walked back up to the front desk, where the manager on duty (not Ivy, another woman who's name I do not recall) who had just checked me out 5 mins prior, explained what happened without even looking at the receipt, because she already knew. Yet, she didn't think that this was something I should know about?! THAT angers me. Danfords, you need to get your house in order! Your website pricing system needs to be fixed ASAP, you need to make sure that your housekeeping & maintenance team is properly staffed, and you REALLY need to fix whatever mistakes led to the room I booked a month out being occupied BEFORE I check in (they had an extra 90 mins since i checked in late I might add, and I had also called that morning to confirm the reservation). The manager that checked me out of the room informed me that the mix up was caused by the lady who had the room extending her stay at the last minute. She was initially supposed to move to another room, but she Karen'ed her way into keeping the one she had so that she didn't have to. Maybe she will leave a review as well! While these issues were all eventually either corrected or dealt with as best as possible, next time I want a romantic night in a storied Long Island Hotel I'll be heading out to Montauk instead.