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Waldorf Reportedly Breaks Reservations For Saudi King
By
Jaya Saxena
Published Dec 14, 2010
Modified Dec 14, 2010
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By
Jaya Saxena
Published Dec 14, 2010
Modified Dec 14, 2010
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On November 23rd, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia arrived in New York to undergo some medical tests, and he apparently ruined some tourists' Thanksgiving plans. Linda and Michael Morgan of Seattle tell the Times that they had booked four rooms in the Waldorf-Astoria hotel last summer for their Thanksgiving trip, but when they called to make a change they were told that their rooms had been given away to the King and his entourage. The Waldorf did help them find other accomodations and gave them a free night at the Hilton New York, but as Linda Morgan puts it, "come on, there were people in the elevators at the Hilton carrying pizza boxes." How déclassé.
King Abdullah reportedly arrived with seven princes, each with his own security staff. The Times notes that hotels often overbook, but the Morgans expected to be treated a little better, considering they had been frequenting the hotel for over 30 years. Linda Morgan wrote on TripAdvisor, "We were effectively kicked out, after planning and looking forward to this week at the Waldorf for months. No amount of reasoning with them helped. We asked them to re-check our history with the hotel - we had actually just been there a week-and-a-half earlier...Where was their ethics? Their loyalty? Their revered style and service?"
If you want to make sure some king never takes your suite, Brooke Ferencsik of TripAdvisor suggest to nag the everloving shit out of the hotel. "The best advice is to routinely call a hotel before you arrive, just to double-check," he said. But should it really be on the guests to make sure the hotel doesn't give their room away? Or should the Morgans just be glad they didn't get bed bugs?
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Jaya Saxena
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