Reservation Canceled—and We Were Given No Warning
We reserved the Carriage House at The Copper Swan because it had a queen bed, a sitting area, a rustic and relaxing atmosphere and grounds, and was close to friends staying nearby. A week before our trip, we even received a welcome message explaining where our key would be left if no one was at reception.
After driving six hours, we arrived at 6:30 p.m. on a Friday evening to find no key, no envelope, and no one available to help us. We called, left a message, and sent a text. We finally found a maintenance employee, who contacted the owner for us who had just read our message.
The owner first said he thought our reservation had been canceled—even though we had not canceled it and had recently received his welcome message. He then told us that a water line had broken and the Carriage House had no water.
At no point before our arrival were we notified that our reserved room was unavailable. Had we been told in a timely manner, we could have researched and chosen another property for ourselves. Instead, we were left without accommodations at approximately 7:00 p.m. on a Friday night during the summer in Cape Cod.
The owner eventually texted that he had arranged a room at The Blue Dolphin Inn. By then it was around 7:30 p.m., and we had little choice but to accept it. The replacement was not comparable to what we had reserved. Instead of a queen bed and sitting area, we received a cramped motel room with two double beds and a bat