Mission Inn

We have stayed at the Mission Inn for years and have always enjoyed our visits. NEVER AGAIN! We booked for a one night stay to attend an opening at the Riverside Art Museum next door. We thought we were booking directly with the hotel, but we were hijacked, and apparently booked through something called ***********. As a result, our $349 room ended up being over $500 with taxes and resort fees. Ok, our mistake. We received a notice from the booking agent that our room was "Prepaid and Guaranteed." Pretty clear huh? Well, not so with the Mission Inn. When we arrived, after a three hour drive in a downpour, we were told that our room had been cancelled the day before, and that no rooms were available. The not so friendly (rude actually) front desk clerk told us there was nothing they could do, and that we had to call ***********. We did, and they told us that according to their records, our room was still "Prepaid and Guaranteed." We went back to the front desk, and spoke with another rude employee. When he refused to help, we asked for the manager who "confirmed" that our room had been cancelled. When I pointed out that their agent had represented that our room was prepaid and guaranteed, and that, as the principal, they were responsible for their agent's fraud, they were able to find us an available room, albeit with a broken window. The whole experience took more than 1 1/2 hours which meant we had to rush to our 5:00 p.m. opening instead of being able to relax in our $500 room for an hour or so after our long and somewhat harrowing drive from San Diego. To add insult to injury, when we looked at our credit card statement, they had billed us another $360 for our room for a total of almost $900 for a $349 room. Although I am only speculating, I think what might have happened is that the hotel over-booked, and they randomly cancelled reservations from third party vendors so they could maximize their profits at the expense of the consumer. I say this because when we were checking in there was another couple, also from San Diego, with the exact same problem; their room had been "cancelled" without their notice or permission. So, bottom line, never ever book through a third party vendor such as ***********. And, if you must go to the Mission Inn, book directly and be prepared to deal with rude employees. My recommendation would be to find another hotel in the area to stay at, and just to just visit the Mission Inn to walk through the grounds which are actually worth seeing.