Hotel Astoria San Francsico - Travelocity Major Rip Off San Francisco California

There is no such thing as free parking in San Francisco. Even the Hilton attaches parking as an extra charge (and it's nearly $40 a day, by the way).

I have to agree that this experience does not rise to a rip off. It is unfortunate, a nasty surprise and could have been avoided had your internet searches been more fruitful, but the hotel did not actively hide the information, nor is it an uncommon charge. In fact, $20 a day for parking is downright reasonable. Many people pay $300 plus for monthly spots and I am familiar with the area and the garage and both are in safe areas.

I would have been mad about it as well had I been taken by surprise as the original poster was, but it's not a rip off.

Hey Florida Lady, all city hotels charge parking. Since when is $20 extra a day cause for depression and alchoholism? I'm sorry that you are afflicted by these disorders, and that you have lost the love of your man, and I'm really understanding about the needs of three children without a father, it is a tragedy that you weren't able to enjoy your San Francisco vacation because of their needs.

As useful advice to anyone considering a trip to San Francisco, don't get pregnant and lose your husband before making your plans, maybe this is unhelpful after all, but it surprises me how many issues on this site appear to be results of customer ignorance. I am sympathetic to those who have only the Super 8 as an example, but SF is a cruel, cruel city.

Hey Florida Lady, all city hotels charge parking. Since when is $20 extra a day cause for depression and alchoholism? I'm sorry that you are afflicted by these disorders, and that you have lost the love of your man, and I'm really understanding about the needs of three children without a father, it is a tragedy that you weren't able to enjoy your San Francisco vacation because of their needs.

As useful advice to anyone considering a trip to San Francisco, don't get pregnant and lose your husband before making your plans, maybe this is unhelpful after all, but it surprises me how many issues on this site appear to be results of customer ignorance. I am sympathetic to those who have only the Super 8 as an example, but SF is a cruel, cruel city.

Hey Florida Lady, all city hotels charge parking. Since when is $20 extra a day cause for depression and alchoholism? I'm sorry that you are afflicted by these disorders, and that you have lost the love of your man, and I'm really understanding about the needs of three children without a father, it is a tragedy that you weren't able to enjoy your San Francisco vacation because of their needs.

As useful advice to anyone considering a trip to San Francisco, don't get pregnant and lose your husband before making your plans, maybe this is unhelpful after all, but it surprises me how many issues on this site appear to be results of customer ignorance. I am sympathetic to those who have only the Super 8 as an example, but SF is a cruel, cruel city.

Hey Florida Lady, all city hotels charge parking. Since when is $20 extra a day cause for depression and alchoholism? I'm sorry that you are afflicted by these disorders, and that you have lost the love of your man, and I'm really understanding about the needs of three children without a father, it is a tragedy that you weren't able to enjoy your San Francisco vacation because of their needs.

As useful advice to anyone considering a trip to San Francisco, don't get pregnant and lose your husband before making your plans, maybe this is unhelpful after all, but it surprises me how many issues on this site appear to be results of customer ignorance. I am sympathetic to those who have only the Super 8 as an example, but SF is a cruel, cruel city.

I would like to say my final response to everyone that has a negative and nasty attitude. All of you individuals are assuming (making yourself look like asses) and stereo typing (small minded people) me for the simple fact that I stated I am a single mother on a budget. Just because I am a single mother DOESN'T mean that I am on welfare or living in a trailer with no teeth. Yes I do live on a strict budget, but by choice, and that is because I AM NOT STUPID. In fact I am a single mother who is an accountant, and I own a beautiful 4 bedroom home on 2 acres of land in sunny florida(because I budget my money well), and YES....accountants are very anal and I do watch each and every penny, and for a hotel to flat out LIE in order to make a fast buck by backing their potential customers into a corner because they own and operate a crummy, bottom of the barrel, second class, piece of crap hotel that any individual who has some sense of taste would never pay money to stay in, IS NOT MY PROBLEM. This hotel flat out LIE'S to it's customers in the hopes of taking the hard earned money out of their pockets in order to make up for their misfortune, again, their misfortunes are not my problem. ALL OF YOU NEGATIVE, CLOSE-MIDED PEOPLE could never walk half of a day in my shoes. Close-minded, stero-typical people such as yourselves is the reason why our society is as f***ed up as it is. It is also the reason why depression medication and beer/alcohol sales are at a constant high. I would like to thank all of the nice people, who have open minds and understand what I have said. Thank you all again.

Cassandra, were you aware that San Francisco is one of the most expensive cities in the country?

If you only had a budget of $70.00 a night, but wanted decent lodging, a little research on your part would have concluded that it was not possible in SF.

You should have just stayed at your trailer park and saved the money for some dental work. Or, you could have taken a vacation to lesser priced but somewhat less desirable city such as Amarillo, TX or Gallup, NM.

Twenty dollars a day is actually not that expensive for a major city like SF.

For future reference, please avoid Boston, NYC, DC, San Diego and Seattle on $70 a day.
You'll be disappointed.

Thank you, Cassandra, for telling us your story. By conveying to us how you were treated by Travelocity and by the hotel in San Francisco, you enable folks like me to avoid doing business with companies who do not do their best to satisfy customers.

It is a shame that hotels are only really interested in squeezing the last dime out of customers. If they concentrated on providing quality service, they would probably generate a lot more business. The sad truth is that the higher rated the hotel is, the more they expect to screw you out of your money. They'll charge $20 a day for parking, or $3.00 for a bottle of water in your room. Fancy hotels will charge you a fee plus an extra per-minute rate to use your own credit card for long distance calls. A friend of mine once ate a $23 hamburger at a hotel in San Diego (after the hotel added a service charge and a mandatory 17% gratuity). I hate being charged for every little thing. It makes more sense to me for the hotel to add the cost of parking into the total price for the room and be fair about it, rather than knowingly disappoint customers upon arrival. I certainly would be infuriated if I was expected to shell out an extra $180 for parking without prior warning. This tells me that hotels like this know in advance that many of their customers will not be returing. Thank God they can't stop you from telling the rest of us about it!

Plain and simple, the hotel should have warned you when you called instead of saying that you could discuss this when you arrived. This was outright deceitful. It is the same as if someone sold you a car and then, after you came to pick it up, told you it didn't have wheels. Shame on them. I also fault Travelocity for not adding this parking caveat up front.

Although there are over 30 million of them, most of us are not Californians and are not used to being treated as such. We take for granted things like clean air, parking spaces, free tap water and toilet paper (I hope I haven't given them any ideas.)

I travel a lot, Cassandra. And I will certainly avoid this hotel in San Francisco. Thank you.

Apparently you don't travel often! You can't assume parking is free. Don't travel to NY. You'll be unpleasantly surprised!

Shame on you to blame Travelocity for your ignorance.

Pardon my language,

Peter you have made very harsh comments as well as ASSUMPTIONS, and we all know what happens when we assume things, your comments lead me to believe that you are a very, very, sexually frustrated person, or you are indeed the hotel clerk in disguise, who ripped me off, and you know what you did was wrong therefore you are portraying yourself to be this innocent peter??. Peter I don't suggest this too often, but I can tell that you are special. The solution to your attitude problem would be SELF-INTERCOURSE. Please re-read or have someone read my story to you before you type, rude, nasty, idiotic comments. Your comments indeed make you look like the complete and total idiot, not me., . Love ya.the trailer park.

Mark and Jodi, I appreciate your advice, it has been very helpful.

first off, I continue to think Paul's degrading comments are uncalled for. you need to back off on your negative assumptions towards people and just focus on the topic. it's way offensive.
Cassandra, I can certainly understand your frustrations with Travelocity, or with travel in general. however in this case your complaint is not with Travelocity, it's with the hotel that you claim you called and they refused to discuss their parking fees prior to your arrival. I just went through a big ordeal with Travelocity and when they are wrong they admit it. before I booked my trip to New Orleans, I did go to the hotel website and check on what fees we might expect (airport shuttle, parking, anything that would apply to our trip). parking there was $27 a day. we decided to fly and do without a car. Travelocity makes reservations according to what you request, that doesn't necessarily make them a travel agent. if the hotel charged you a cancellation fee on the spot, I can guarantee they didn't hand it over to Travelocity.

Tony,

You made a reasonable point about not needing a car while in SF proper, but then why didn't the Hotel suggest that point when she called them to inquire about parking? Of course, just maybe one needs a car if they plan to visit areas or family outside the big city, eh?

I don't you think read the problem very well and your accusation of immaturity is interesting considering your trailer park comment.

Back to the original point though, and that's Travelocity's failure to note that parking was not included. In fact, if you check another Hotel reservation website such as hotel-rates.com,
(http://www.hotel-rates.com/us/california/san-francisco/hotel-astoria-san-francisco.html), you'll note that it correctly excludes parking in the rate quote. Now why didn't Travelocity do the same?

For you to sit there and continue to claim that you did your homework is PURE HOGWASH! Not only did you never contact the hotel directly for specific information, but had you even researched a TINY bit for your trip you would have known that there is no need to have a car in San Francisco!!! Everything is accessible via electric bus, cable car, taxi, or by walking. So before you go whining "rip off" here, perhaps you should take an honest look at yourself and reappraise what really happened here.

Furthermore, creating a scene in front of the hotel manager, complete with bad language and immature behavior, certainly did not help your case. In fact, it made you look like a complete and total idiot, not to mention arrogant tourist-jerk! Perhaps next time you decide to leave your Florida trailer park to go on vacation you will exercise appropriate adult behavior.

For you to sit there and continue to claim that you did your homework is PURE HOGWASH! Not only did you never contact the hotel directly for specific information, but had you even researched a TINY bit for your trip you would have known that there is no need to have a car in San Francisco!!! Everything is accessible via electric bus, cable car, taxi, or by walking. So before you go whining "rip off" here, perhaps you should take an honest look at yourself and reappraise what really happened here.

Furthermore, creating a scene in front of the hotel manager, complete with bad language and immature behavior, certainly did not help your case. In fact, it made you look like a complete and total idiot, not to mention arrogant tourist-jerk! Perhaps next time you decide to leave your Florida trailer park to go on vacation you will exercise appropriate adult behavior.

For you to sit there and continue to claim that you did your homework is PURE HOGWASH! Not only did you never contact the hotel directly for specific information, but had you even researched a TINY bit for your trip you would have known that there is no need to have a car in San Francisco!!! Everything is accessible via electric bus, cable car, taxi, or by walking. So before you go whining "rip off" here, perhaps you should take an honest look at yourself and reappraise what really happened here.

Furthermore, creating a scene in front of the hotel manager, complete with bad language and immature behavior, certainly did not help your case. In fact, it made you look like a complete and total idiot, not to mention arrogant tourist-jerk! Perhaps next time you decide to leave your Florida trailer park to go on vacation you will exercise appropriate adult behavior.

For you to sit there and continue to claim that you did your homework is PURE HOGWASH! Not only did you never contact the hotel directly for specific information, but had you even researched a TINY bit for your trip you would have known that there is no need to have a car in San Francisco!!! Everything is accessible via electric bus, cable car, taxi, or by walking. So before you go whining "rip off" here, perhaps you should take an honest look at yourself and reappraise what really happened here.

Furthermore, creating a scene in front of the hotel manager, complete with bad language and immature behavior, certainly did not help your case. In fact, it made you look like a complete and total idiot, not to mention arrogant tourist-jerk! Perhaps next time you decide to leave your Florida trailer park to go on vacation you will exercise appropriate adult behavior.

Mark,

Thank you very much for making your statement, I couldn't of said it better. This is exactly what my point was. The comments from the people who do not agree, obviously haven't been in a situation where they felt they were ripped off.

Thanks again

The complaint is valid and one would think these hidden charge ripoffs would be stopped in liberal consumer friendly California, especially in ultra liberal San Francisco. If a Hotel has no provision for parking or charges for parking, it should be noted or displayed at the point of reservation.

Travelocity is careful to note that parking fees (if applied) are not included in their 'Goodbuy' rates and for non-Goodbuy rates, it states that only taxes are not included. That seems to imply that parking is included.

Not going to the actual hotel's own website is NOT doing your homework or research. It's only common sense to check out the home page of any merchant you wish to patronize.

I would like to add a few comments to my rip off report in response to some of the comments/assumptions being made with regards to what happened to me in San Francisco.

In response to ROBERTS comments: Robert, I am a single mother of 3, trust me I have learned to search ONLINE with my eyes closed in order to hunt down the best deals so that I can enjoy a nice, but affordable vacation with my girls. I must admit, even though I booked my hotel stay through Travelocity, I didn't find it necessary to do an internet search for this hotels website because Travelocity was VERY INFORMATIVE when they provided me information about this hotel, so I did the next best thing, I personally called the hotel to conirm my reservation as well as regarding any additional fee's such as parking and they chose not to disclose the additional parking fee's to me, but thanks for the info regarding the "Google search", I will use this in the future.

My comments:

1. I have never vacationed to the west coast and this was my first trip to San Francisco. I live in Florida, and have vacationed to several places along the east coast, let's just say I was totally flabbergasted when I was told I had to shell out additional money for parking, (almost $200.00) because as a single mother I live on a budget and I didn't budget for this. Unless additional fee's such as parking are booked into the price of your hotel stay, you are normally informed of these fee's when you PERSONALLY call the hotel, and specifically ask about additional fee's, and in my particular case, I PERSONALLY called the hotel on 3 different occasions..

2. The problem I have is the FACT that when I called this hotel to confirm my reservation, I SPECIFICALLY asked the hotel, upon my upon arrival and check in "WHERE DO I PARK" (can't be anymore specific than that), the hotel declined to tell me over the phone, their exact response was "WE WILL DISCUSS THE PARKING WHEN YOU ARRIVE".

3. My problem doesn't lie with the fact that there were additional cost for parking, my problem lies with the fact that after I booked the reservation, I personally called the hotel and specifically asked about the parking and they declined to tell me. Instead the hotel informed me about the additional cost when I was standing in their lobby on the date of check in, which as a single mother, no longer made my hotel package price affordable to me. It was the hotels responsibility to INFORM me of the parking fee's/situation when I PERSONALLY made 3 separate phone calls, and I SPECIFICALLY asked this information. Since I am a single mother and my life revolves around a BUDGET, I was penalized with a cancellation fee of $60.00 simply because the hotel never disclosed the additional $180.00 to me over the phone for parking, when I SPECIFICALLY asked about the parking.

4. I did my homework and my research when booking my reservation, that is why I called the hotel 3 times in order to ask specific questions, the parking was a specific question, they declined to inform me over the phone, therefore they bilked me out of $60 bucks.

This is true of a lot of major city hotels. If you are staying downtown you should assume that you will probably pay for parking, even if the hotel has its own garage. Best idea is to check the hotel's website for this information.

After reading your comments I googled the Astoria Hotel in San Francisco. On their main page, in big letters was the following:

What about parking around Hotel Astoria?

Hotel Astoria doesn't provide parking place. However, if you park your vehicle in the garage across the street from Hotel Astoria building, 6.00 pm to 7.00 am will cost $7.00; and if you use the garage on 450 SUTTER STREET, which has contract with Hotel Astoria, it costs $20.00 per day(24 hours)

Why would you go ONLINE to make travel reservations without going to the website of the Hotel you planned on staying at?