Customer Service for help with pre hotel in Vancouver

[maggiev]

I am having issues with my travel agent & my Fairmount Hotel reservation. She cancelled the Fairmount to book the Pan Pacific, however it was sold out so had to reinstate the Fairmount but that sold out in the time she was doing it, now we have nothing.  I did an on line chat to no avail.  I was hoping I could call customer service for some help, luckily the other people were traveling with did not get their room canceled.  
Does anyone have a customer service number that gets to someone higher than an entry level call center employee?  Not that they are bad, I just feel this may require a supervisor. 
Thank you

[FOPMan]

Your TA should have booked your new hotel prior to releasing your Panpacific reservation. Unfortunately, from what you’ve said, they didn’t.

 

I would not expect them to find a room. Alaska cruises are sailing full or more than full, and hotel rooms in Vancouver on nights before cruises and near the terminal can be challenging to come by. And if it’s a Fire in the Sky night, almost impossible citywide.

 

I would grab something to have and then see if the situation can be improved. 

 

Best of luck!

 

 

[crystalspin]

33 minutes ago, maggiev said:

it was sold out so had to reinstate the Fairmount but that sold out in the time she was doing it, now we have nothing.

Wait-list?

[Blackduck59]

I'm not sure how good your relationship is with your TA but this is squarely in their lap. Never let the bird in hand go before the other one is secured. I'm not sure who's customer service you want numbers for. Unless you have booked a pre-cruise and ship's transfer from the cruise line the cruise line isn't going to find you a hotel. If the Fairmont (any of the 3 in Metro Vancouver) and the Pan Pacific are fully booked it really won't matter who you talk to, they aren't going to miraculously find you a room.

[Nattyg1723]

You could stay at one of the hotels in Richmond by YVR and Uber it to the port, or take the skytrain, not exactly ideal if you had wanted to be downtown, but better than nothing🫤

[maggiev]

7 hours ago, Blackduck59 said:

I'm not sure how good your relationship is with your TA but this is squarely in their lap. Never let the bird in hand go before the other one is secured. I'm not sure who's customer service you want numbers for. Unless you have booked a pre-cruise and ship's transfer from the cruise line the cruise line isn't going to find you a hotel. If the Fairmont (any of the 3 in Metro Vancouver) and the Pan Pacific are fully booked it really won't matter who you talk to, they aren't going to miraculously find you a room.

I can book the Fairmount on my own but at a higher cost & then have no transfers.  We’re not huge travelers so wanted our everything done through Holland. 

[maggiev]

Thanks for the input. 
I looked at Fairmount on my own & there are rooms so I was hoping Holland could find a room for us.

 

[rodndonna]

32 minutes ago, maggiev said:

Thanks for the input. 
I looked at Fairmount on my own & there are rooms so I was hoping Holland could find a room for us.

 

 

I have no experience with this .. but having recently (just yesterday) upgraded our credit cards and stumbled upon the "Credit Card Concierge" little known or used feature .. apparently this is something they may be able to help with.

If you check your credit card features and you have that feature give them a try. 

 

[Mary229]

Call Holland your self but don’t expect results at a late date.  What I would do is tell the TA to book either (both nice hotels and very close to port) then have the TA gift you a professional airport transport.   She owes you 

 

The Pan PAC provides luggage service with reservation and likely the Fairmont does also 

Edited May 15 by Mary229

[Gsel]

We have stayed at the Fairmont. They do offer luggage service. When we used it they just asked that we tip the bellman. Very nice hotel!

[RedIguana]

The Pan Pacific in 2023 was offering luggage service from room to the cruise port for $10.

[everbeentoseabilly]

Options. We have stayed at the fairmont water front, the auberge and the paradox. All were very nice and we walked to the port

from all

[Mary229]

1 hour ago, RedIguana said:

The Pan Pacific in 2023 was offering luggage service from room to the cruise port for $10.

I got mine free but we stayed in a suite 

[kirkc]

And when you get home…find a new TA.

[kdakda]

I'm still trying to understand WHICH Customer Service you're looking for.........do you have a TA through an agency or are you speaking about a Holland American PCC?

[martincath]

It sounds like it's a HAL PCC rather than an independent agent to me; but regardless, HAL like other lines prebook blocks of rooms and once those are gone their special rates are gone - the fact that you can book the hotels yourself proves we've talking about one of those deals rather than literally no rooms available.

 

If you are not traveling solo though OP @maggiev you might find that independent booking of the same hotel (at a per room, not per person rate) is actually cheaper; and unless you're familiar with Vancouver cruises already you probably don't realise quite how obscenely overpadded the cruiseline shuttles are here! I've seen folks charged ~$30pp for both an Airport to Hotel, and again Hotel to Pier, when you could travel in your own cab for ~$30 total even if there's 4 people in it on the first leg and the second leg is literally 'walk downstairs or across the road' from the Pan Pacific or Fairmont Waterfront so zero spending required at all independently...

 

The distances involved here are minuscule compared to most US ports - most downtown hotels are less than a mile from the pier and actually quite walkable even with luggage and a <$10 ride by cabuberlyft if you don't think you can move your own bags on foot; there are multiple lovely hotels at virtually all pricepoints (except really cheap, in cruise season anyway!) that will save you buckets compared to HAL 'hotel and transport for $Xpp' packages.

[Mary229]

5 hours ago, martincath said:

It sounds like it's a HAL PCC rather than an independent agent

That is an interesting conclusion since the OP said her TA.  

[maggiev]

7 hours ago, martincath said:

It sounds like it's a HAL PCC rather than an independent agent to me; but regardless, HAL like other lines prebook blocks of rooms and once those are gone their special rates are gone - the fact that you can book the hotels yourself proves we've talking about one of those deals rather than literally no rooms available.

 

If you are not traveling solo though OP @maggiev you might find that independent booking of the same hotel (at a per room, not per person rate) is actually cheaper; and unless you're familiar with Vancouver cruises already you probably don't realise quite how obscenely overpadded the cruiseline shuttles are here! I've seen folks charged ~$30pp for both an Airport to Hotel, and again Hotel to Pier, when you could travel in your own cab for ~$30 total even if there's 4 people in it on the first leg and the second leg is literally 'walk downstairs or across the road' from the Pan Pacific or Fairmont Waterfront so zero spending required at all independently...

 

The distances involved here are minuscule compared to most US ports - most downtown hotels are less than a mile from the pier and actually quite walkable even with luggage and a <$10 ride by cabuberlyft if you don't think you can move your own bags on foot; there are multiple lovely hotels at virtually all pricepoints (except really cheap, in cruise season anyway!) that will save you buckets compared to HAL 'hotel and transport for $Xpp' packages.

We have always sailed from Florida, once from Galveston but did not pre cruise, so have relied on the cruise line transfers.  I know the hotels & transfers are more but we’ve never ventured doing our own.  I like the “I’m on vacation, I don’t want to think, hold my hand” aspect of doing it all with the cruise line.  Guess it is time to broaden my horizons & try new things.  
Thanks for the info

[maggiev]

8 hours ago, kdakda said:

I'm still trying to understand WHICH Customer Service you're looking for.........do you have a TA through an agency or are you speaking about a Holland American PCC?

I have a less than helpful (not only about this but other things) TA.  I was wondering if there was a way I could talk to Holland & try to get a room. Wasn’t sure if they ever tried to get more rooms once their allotment was gone. 

[Mary229]

3 hours ago, maggiev said:

I have a less than helpful (not only about this but other things) TA.  I was wondering if there was a way I could talk to Holland & try to get a room. Wasn’t sure if they ever tried to get more rooms once their allotment was gone. 

If there are any left you can go to the “manage my Cruise” page, then travel, then transfers and stays.   Select pre cruise if there is anything available it will be there.  You could call also.  This is one thing your TA does not have to do for you, you can take full charge of hotels and air yourself.  

[Mary229]

I so agree @maggiev  the small luxuries are so worth it.  Unless I have a favorite hotel in a town I click that button on my Manage my cruise page.  My TA has gotten wise and now books it when she books the cruise and asks me later😉. Of course I can cancel later 

[martincath]

4 hours ago, Mary229 said:

That is an interesting conclusion since the OP said her TA.  

Thanks! I like to think I'm a fairly interesting person 😉 

 

In case you're actually interested rather than being snarky, I've often found that reading between the lines (specifically in this case, deploying the old staple of The Unreliable Narrator) enables answering what the poster actually needs much better than blindly answering exactly what was asked, especially for low-post-count folks who are often unaware of many things so they don't know how best to ask for help. You yourself didn't answer what OP actually asked - nobody could without more info - but you did offer some 'in the ballpark' suggestions of alternate actions.

 

Referring to a PCC as a TA is far from unusual in my experience - after all in a very literal sense they are TAs in that they act on behalf of the customer and only in matter related to travel! - and the follow-up posts stating that they wanted to do everything though HAL and hoped HAL could find them a room were what suggested to me this was more likely than not one of those 'Cruiseline PCC, not an indy TA' situations.

 

But I knew I was making an assumption and it could be wrong - hence my actual advice being entirely irrelevant to what the job title of the incompetent causer-of-the-problems was. Now that we definitively know it's an actual TA, I join at least one other poster above in saying to OP that this is not someone you should continue a professional relationship with!

[kdakda]

I do understand your desire to have this all taken care of for you.........but want to reassure you that it really is quite simple to get to a hotel near the port.  There are cabs just as you leave the YVR terminal, and prices are set (although I STRONGLY recommend verifying with the driver what the fare will be and that you will be using a credit card).  The drive is ~ 30".  

The Pan Pacific is literally on top of the cruise ship terminal and one of the Fairmonts is just across the street.  There's another Fairmont nearby.  Both PP and Fairmont will transport your bag to the terminal for the price of a tip.  If you're able to book a hotel yourself (or your infamously bad TA can do it), you just have to take a taxi to the hotel.  Pan Pacific has a loyalty club to join and it give 10% off rooms if you book through the hotel.  The web site usually quotes the rate in Canadian $$$, but you can switch to US $$$ for a better understanding.  Yes, the rates are higher than some hotels, but the convenience is wonderful.   Good luck!    I hope your TA will continue to check for availability, since people do cancel. 

[Marken]

On 5/15/2024 at 3:12 AM, maggiev said:

I can book the Fairmount on my own but at a higher cost & then have no transfers.  We’re not huge travelers so wanted our everything done through Holland. 

This is one of the cruise ports where it is SO simple to do it all on your own.  Skytrain downtown (extremely close to port) and tons of hotels all within a 5 minute walk.  I too like to have things looked after but here in Vancouver - it truly is a breeze to do it on your own.  Happy to answer other questions if you need.