But now, about how we got checked in, it was actually really crazy ’cause this happened pretty much exactly frame for frame, word for word, not gonna lie, when we were in Turkey. Like, when I was nine years old with my mom. And now, what essentially happened was, we were trying to check in and we’d already paid, we’d already booked for, you know, two nights and we were like, “Yeah,” we were like, you know, “we’re here.” And it was actually like, 8:30, instead of 3, ’cause we could technically check in at 3 p.m. but it was 8:30 and they were like, “Oh,” like, “hi!” And they were — we were like, “Hi,” and they were just not finding our name, and we were like, “What, what?” And then – ’cause I’m obviously tired but I was actually hysterically laughing and it wasn’t because it was funny, it was just because I was so shook that it was happening a second time. I was like, this is actually surreal, what? I know this isn’t probably that crazy to hotel receptionists and stuff, but it’s pretty crazy to me. So, and then she’s like, “Yeah.” Whatever, and she’s actually really cool. She just seemed like such a diva, not gonna lie, but anyway, she was like, “Yeah, we can you know — why don’t you call your third party place.” Because she was like, “All of the third party places that have been letting people book their hotel haven’t been working for a couple of days.” And we’re like, “Oh, yikes, okay.”
So we try to call Booking. Literally no phone number online, and they under — they say, they’re like, “Call us 24/7, we are always available,” and like, okay, great. What’s your — where’s your phone number? And we fill out this entire form and we give them all of our information for booking and they’re like, “Yeah. So, why don’t we just stay in touch?” And we’re like, “Where’s your phone number?”
So of course I asked ChatGPT ’cause it’s actually the best thing ever. I don’t understand the hate. I understand the environmental concerns but I don’t understand AI hate. Maybe I’ll talk about that later if we have time but, yeah. Um, and I was like, “What,” I asked ChatGPT and I was like, “What is their number? Do you have their number?” And it was like, “Of course.” Because you know, it’s AI and it knows literally the entire web and it was like, “There you go.” And we call them and they put us on hold with another AI. And eventually, we got sent to an actual representative. And they were like, “Oh, you know, we can cancel it for you but you are gonna have to pay a fee.” And we’re like, “What? No, you — no, what? We don’t want that.” And they’re like, “Yikes.” And we’re like, “Can you call the hotel and just tell them that we have, like, actually booked this place? Because they can’t find a reservation.” And the hotel’s like, “Yeah, can you please call us?” And they are like, “Yeah, we’ll call you.” And then we’re put on hold, and they don’t call. Like, we don’t hear a ring, and we’re just staring at the hotel’s telephone. We’re like, “What? They’re not calling.”
And they’re like, “Yep, sorry, so we called.” Like, no, you did not. And we asked them to read to us the phone number that they have, it’s correct. And we’re like, “Okay, so you’re just not calling us.” And they’re like, “No! We are! What? Guys, we are calling.” And we’re like, “What? You’re not calling.” And they’re — and, the lady like, um, you know, who was helping us, the representative, she goes to ask her manager if she can directly talk to the hotel people from our phone and they’re like, “Yeah, go, sure.” And then they talk, they got literally nothing done, nothing happened. And we’re like, “What is the problem?” She’s like, “Sorry, I don’t know what to do.”
And we were like, “What? Like, what do you mean?” And then, anyway, long story short, essentially we were like, “Okay, can we just cancel and we’re not gonna pay a cancellation fee, that’s insane. This is literally on you.” And they’re like, “Okay, yeah, lowkey, yeah, like, it is on us.” So, finally, they settle that, you know, they’re like, “Yeah, sure. Okay, […] whatever.” And we’re like, “Okay.”
So they actually weren’t really rude about it. They were just kind of chill, but I was actually really laughing cuz like, what? Like, that’s — how was this happening twice? Like, that’s just beyond me. But apparently the receptionist was like, “This happens quite a bit.”