Couple frustrated after Resorts World booking falls through

A local couple hasn’t pieced together why their Crockfords luxury hotel room reservation fell through at the newly opened Resorts World and why they only discovered that fact on the first day of their reservation.

All they know is they’re now staying at the Hilton Conrad hotel, and they’re not pleased with how things have played out.

“Last night, I checked in using their digital check-in, got an email that said, ‘You’re checked into Crockfords,’” said Alex Chapman, a Las Vegas resident who was celebrating his 35th birthday with a staycation at the new resort. “And this morning, I checked in my digital key, and it said, ‘Check in to Conrad. Also, we’re charging you $100 more.’”

They might not be alone. A travel vlogger who goes by the name Travel Ruby and her husband complained in a YouTube livestream Friday that — like the Chapmans — their Crockfords reservation was also changed at the last minute to a Hilton Conrad reservation without their knowledge.

Resorts World opened to the public at 11 p.m. Thursday as the first Strip resort built in a decade. It’s unclear how many of the rooms at its three Hilton-branded hotels opened. Crockfords is the property’s high-end hotel with 236 rooms and suites, a private entrance and tailored guest services.

Resorts World executives said in a statement to the Review-Journal that Crockfords is open in a limited capacity as staff “put the finishing touches on a few suites,” but multiple guests say they’ve been told otherwise by hotel employees.

“We’ve seen very high demand for Crockfords and will continue to release additional inventory following opening,” the statement read.

A spokeswoman declined to answer additional questions about room availability, potential guest transfers and accommodations.

The Resorts World booking page Friday said Crockfords bookings are “unavailable” until July 12. Hilton’s website also said no Crockfords rooms are available until that date.

A Hilton representative referred a comment request to Resorts World.

“Resorts World Las Vegas is an independently owned and operated property and we cannot speak on the hotel’s behalf,” the representative wrote in an email.

The Chapmans decided to take the Conrad room. In a phone conversation Friday evening from their Conrad room, Alex and Katrina Chapman said they’ve received conflicting explanations from Resorts World staff throughout the day.

The Chapmans said hotel staff told them that Crockfords was open — their room just wasn’t ready. Alex Chapman said that might make sense, as he’s noticed people in the Crockfords elevators.

“We came here and the first thing I asked the Conrad checking people was what’s going on with Crockfords, and she had no idea what I’m talking about,” Alex Chapman recalled. “And I said I heard it was closed. There’s no rooms. She goes, ‘No,’ just not the room we booked.”

But after Katrina Chapman reached out to Resorts World on Instagram to complain about their reservation, Alex Chapman got a call from an employee who said that the hotel was “completely closed.”

“That not a single human being was staying in there, that they couldn’t finish construction in time,” Alex Chapman said.

“He repeated that over and over,” added Katrina Chapman.

“No one was staying,” said Alex.

The vlogger Travel Ruby said in a Friday livestream from the hotel pool complex and also their Hilton Conrad room that she and her husband were told something similar. She said she and her husbanddidn’t find out their Crockfords reservation was canceled until arriving at the check-in desk Friday.

“They let us in the lobby and then she goes, ‘We have a room for you at the Conrad,’” Ruby begins, “and I’m like ‘I’m sorry?’ and they were like ‘Did no one contact you?’”

“No?” she continues, “They’re like ‘none of the Crockfords rooms are ready at all. None are ready. There’s no Crockfords rooms right now.”

Mr. Ruby adds: “They told us that Paris Hilton is staying here and even she isn’t staying in it.”

The couple said they were offered a comped suite for their next Resorts World stay because they weren’t contacted about their reservation change.

The Chapmans think their weekend might be a lost cause.

“It’s supposed to be three tiers of nice rooms. So we paid for the nice one,” Alex Chapman said.

Staff on property have been kind and helpful, Katrina Chapman said. Though the pair feels they’ve gotten the runaround, they’re trying to make the best of their stay, she said. They just want to know what happened.

“I still really have no idea,” Alex Chapman said.

Contact Mike Shoro at mshoro@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290. Follow @mike_shoro on Twitter.