Don't get what you pay for

<p>A while back I booked a room at Montpellier Guesthouse in Waterkloff, Pretoria as a romantic night away. It looked like a lovely, luxurious guesthouse close to some good restaurants. I always put a lot of effort into selecting the room I want, as I did this time. I booked the room online well in advance, paid my deposit and confirmed my booking via email. When we arrived at Montpellier on our booked date, I paid the balance for the room and we were taken to a completely different room than the one I booked and paid for. This issue wasn't brought to our attention so I went to enquire at reception. It then came out that the room had been double booked (a fault they merely attributed to their online booking system) but they never bothered to inform us of this. Instead, they kept the excess money I paid for the bigger room and probably hoped I wouldn't notice. What enfuriated me is not the fact that there was a double booking - I understand that this can happen even though your booking system should ideally be structured to avoid such mistakes; I was angry because I was never informed of this, charged for the more expensive room and asked if I wanted my money back and to leave when I made it known that I was unhappy. Had I known about the double booking I would probably have booked at a different Guesthouse. I received the refund eventually but no other form of apology. The management was very slow in responding and didn't own up to their mistake, they simply blamed the system. It would've been a great experience otherwise but an issue such as this really puts a damper on the rest of the stay. I experienced unapologetic poor management and service. </p>