The Shocking Truth About The Travelocity Gnome

I have been using Travelocity.com for nearly 10 years to book my travel.  Since I used to travel quite frequently, I know my way around in terms of "good" and "bad" areas of most cities and which hotels are acceptable.  This weekend, I had planned an overnight trip to Clearwater Florida, an area I have not been in about five years.  I attended a function on Sunday night and would not be able to start my 3 hour drive back to Daytona until about midnight.  So, I booked a hotel for the one night.  I was not looking for anything spectacular, just a safe, clean, place to sleep.

Upon arriving at the hotel yesterday afternoon to drop off my bags, I noticed that it was in a very run down part of town.   Furthermore, the hotel looked like it needed quite a bit of maintenance.  The room I was given was even worse than what I expected from the exterior of the hotel.  I considered my situation for a moment and decided to call Travelocity to discuss my plight.  I was in the stereotypical dilemma of viewing pictures on the Internet of a hotel that did not resemble at all what I ended up with.  The Travelocity operator was very nice as I explained to them that I was not satisfied with the hotel and wanted to cancel and be booked at another location.  I was even willing to pay more if that was necessary.  I had never made a complaint like this to Travelocity, so I was very curious to see what would happen.  I even thought for a moment that the Travelocity Gnome may come flying into the parking lot to save the day.

Over the next fifteen minutes, I was placed on hold while Travelocity discussed the situation with the hotel.  Ultimately, I was told that the hotel was unwilling to let me cancel.  It was 2pm, well before the standard 6 pm cancellation time, but the hotel would not budge.  I asked the operator, "What about the Travelocity guarantee?"  All I was offered was an e mail address that I could write to with a response promised within 7 days.  That's it!  "Where is the Travelocity Gnome", I asked?  The operator laughed at the idea that I really expected the diminutive character to appear in his flowing cape.  Read between the lines;  There is no Travelocity Gnome!  I was crushed, probably as much as the early Christmas morning that I looked down the staircase into the living room to see my parents assembling the Christmas gifts.  As a 42 year old man, I have accepted that there is no Santa Claus, but this was something far more traumatic.

I hope I am not ruining your life by letting you know that the Travelocity Gnome is nothing more than a marketing gimmick and his powers can not withstand those of a dishonest hotel manager.  I am writing a letter to Travelocity and I will give them a fair opportunity to respond.  I will keep you posted.  For now, I am in going to seek treatment for "Gnome Withdrawal".

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James L. Paris