We booked a room at the Sentral Hotel in the Gaslamp area of San Diego for three adults and a child. When we arrived, we were directed by reception to use a keyboard on the front desk to type our name, phone number, email address, etc. Then, we were directed to put our drivers license on a stand and take a photo of it, then confirm that it was legible. Then we were told to swipe our credit card and gave necessary approvals on the keyboard. Finally, we were told that our room number and access code would be texted to us within five minutes. So, we stood around in the lobby until that happened. Apparently the days are gone of a friendly reception person taking our ID and credit card to do that same work -- and then handing it back with the room key card in less than a minute.
Irritated that we were required to perform that lengthy check-in process after a long drive, we discovered that our bland room had only a queen bed. The Hotels.com reservation clearly said it was for three adults and a child. We returned to the front desk, where we were told that there were no rooms in the hotel available to accommodate us -- and no rollaways to provide. And, they said, we would need to contact Hotels.com ourselves to arrange for a refund. (Thankfully, Hotels.com promptly refunded the over-priced charge for the room.) Very unpleasant experience. Fortunately, we found another wonderful hotel room nearby for a similar price.
