We were disappointed in our experience at the Bernerhof. I had made special plans for a long weekend in one of their suites (celebrating my husband's birthday). I booked directly with the front desk weeks ahead of time and had extensive conversations with the owner leading up to the weekend. He even offered free limo service to a restaurant. I thought we had hit the jackpot. We arrived after-hours on a Friday evening (9:30pm), but I had called ahead to confirm that our room was ready and to notify staff that were late. We were told "no problem," given the access code to enter the lobby, and were assured everything would be fine.
We arrived to find that our room was not available. After calling the on-call staff member, he reported they had placed another party in our suite by mistake due to a paperwork issue (someone took the wrong "slip"). They placed us in a different, smaller room, but stated they would fix everything in the morning and the owner assured us they would move everything for us while we were out during the day. And they said they would discount our rate for the night because it was a less expensive room.
After a long night of banging (the heating/ pipes made loud banging sounds starting at 2:45am and lasting till 4am) and being unable to close one of the skylights (it was 14 degrees outside), we prepared for our day and left a note at the desk with the key, outlining what the owner had told us (just in case).
After we came back from our hike, we had received no updates, so I called/ texted to confirm. At about 2:00pm I was told that the owner was "not sure" because things were "so busy" at the Inn, but he would check. At 3:30 pm, we were informed by text that we would not be placed in our booked suite, because the room was double-booked and the current occupants "refused to leave." We were told we would have to stay in the smaller, unsatisfactory room for another night before being able to be moved to our intended room because the couple would be checking out then. After multiple text exchanges, we called and were dealt with in extremely rude fashion by the owner himself. Some highlights of the conversation include:
-"I don't know why you are upset. You arrived late and had a roof over your head."
-"What would you have me do? Like, seriously, what would you have me do?" After specifying that we wanted our suite, and that we had planned for a very specific experience, we were told "Well that's just not happening."
-"If you want to come down here and make the current guests leave their room, be my guest."
-When outlining the issues with our night's stay (pipes etc.), we were told "I don't believe that. Nobody has ever said that about that room. We have the highest rating in the valley, and honestly that's probably the reason you decided to stay with us in the first place, right?"
-We were also told that Expedia had "bumped" us out of our room (some kind of computer glitch that prioritizes Expedia reservations over the ones the staff makes).
- After that explanation we were then told "Of course, I don't have to explain any of this to you."
At no point was there an "I'm sorry." No "this is our fault." There was no "I can't do this, but how can I make this right?" No attempts to be hospitable or apologetic. Just acrid defensiveness about how we should be grateful for what we have, and how this was not the Inn's fault.
As a business traveler, I have patronized literally hundreds of chain and independently operated establishments over the years and across the globe, and none have treated me in such fashion. I was made to feel angry, but also embarrassed because my husband (for whom I had planned a surprise weekend celebration) had to witness all of this unpleasantness as well as help find alternate accommodations. The Inn may be a lovely place to stay when everything is going well, but our interaction with the owner is enough to disqualify it outright from any future stays. read more