Bob C.
Yelp
We stayed three nights at the Port Inn in Portsmouth. Upon check-in, the desk attendant had trouble processing our reservation after trying both our debit cards. This forced us to book the room successfully through an independent booking service, which cost us almost $100 more. Of course, we were not happy about that, and I demanded he credit our debit card for the $476 we should have paid if their computer system had worked properly. I was told, "I don't know how to do that, but the manager does, and he'll be in tomorrow morning." I found it astounding that a desk attendant couldn't issue a credit. This incident caused us anxiety immediately, which should not occur on a what we had hoped would be a relaxing getaway.
Next day, the manager refused to credit our debit card, saying the charge would probably drop off, as it appeared as pending. OK, I decided to see if that would happen. If not, I was prepared for an argument, threats, or whatever it took to make a credit happen. I told the manager I would report this to his corporate owners if the charge of $476 went through.
Meanwhile, the room itself was spotlessly clean, but somewhat small. We should have gotten a suite. The TV remote proved itself somewhat unreliable, so we changed the batteries, and it was still wonky, so my wife took it down to the desk and asked for another. The clueless guy at the desk, the same one who was there when we checked in, tried it out on his TV and refused to give her another one. Not good. He should have given her another remote without question.
On the plus side, the bed was comfortable and we slept well. We didn't take advantage of the free continental breakfast, because we prefer traditional breakfast meals. Most continental breakfasts are light snacks in reality, barely enough to hold you over until later on. We rarely eat lunch on the road.
We left on a Thursday, and by Saturday night, the pending $476 charge did drop off our bank statement, but that doesn't excuse the fact that they had so much trouble checking us in, and forcing us to go with the booking service, which cost us significantly more money. I feel like going after their parent company for a refund of the overage, and may still do that.
In the end, we decided never to stay at the Port Inn again should we travel to the Portsmouth area. There are many other choices.