This place proved to be a large pain in the butt for me. Admittedly
the travel agent, booking.com, contributed to the problem, but it seems
that absent the policies of the motel owner, there would never have been
a problem.
Through booking.com I reserved a room at Villager Inn for the next night,
paid for one night's stay and received a "confirmation". The next morning
I received a phone call informing me that my "confirmed" reservation was
cancelled due to overbooking presumably by the motel owner. I was offered
a chance to book at another place in Princeton but by the time I could get
online, that slot had disappeared. To his credit, the owner claimed he would
cover any cost difference but I was able to procure a room on my own at
approximately the same price as his/hers.
So, here's the problem. The owner has an unstated policy of overbooking.
He/she also has a cancellation penalty - one night's payment for cancellation.
This sets up a very nice (for the owner) situation wherein a room could
potentially draw two night's rent in one night. Sweet - have your cake
and eat it too. Adding to this hypocrisy, I pre-paid for the room that I never
got but between the owner and the agent, it took about five days to get my money
back for the contract that the owner broke; totally unacceptable. read more