Whitney Portal Hotel and Hostel

As with others in the 1 star I booked a room and then had to cancel because of road work that made it difficult to impossible to get the hostel. The Caltrans twitter said not to count on the road being accessible so I cancelled my reservation to drive a different route. I did not get a refund. However, my main issue is the woman kept insisting I couldn't get a refund because I booked through *********** which I did not. I booked through the hostel website. My confirmation email and cancellation email came from reservationcounter.com which is the system you use if you book directly through the hostel. She showed me the screen shot showing *********** and I showed her my email that was clearly not from ***********. Then she just did not respond and kept my $190. Also it was a Saturday night on spring break and the Dow had been full for three weeks prior so I am pretty sure they kept my money and then charged someone else for the same room...I cancelled over 24 hours before check in and they had plenty of time to receive the notice. The Dow Villa is directly next store, is comparable in price and is far more accommodating to last minute changes to traveling which happen to everyone. I have been staying at the Dow for over 15 years for work and personal travel and never had anything but good experiences including with last minute changes. They were full so I thought I would try next store but that was a huge mistake.

Front desk staff are not very helpful and nice. They were not even capable of recommending places to eat. I also had something taken from my room, I left a message, sent an email and still have not heard back from them. They are many other places to stay in the town at a reasonable price.