We had confirmed reservations for 2 rooms (with a paid night's deposit) at this hotel for Comic-Con 2011. We even got an email from Travel Planners confirming our reservations a few days before. We got to the hotel early at 11:00 AM and tried to check in. The desk clerk said our rooms were not yet available, but to come back after 3:00 PM. He even offered to block our rooms together so we would be close to each other.
When we returned at 3:00 PM, we were informed that our reservation had been transferred to the Kona Kai resort on shelter island. No reason was given, but we noticed other people at the check in desk being told the same thing. The manager told us that they 'randomly' chose which people would be bumped. They also told us that the Kona Kai resort was only 'about a mile' away, which was an outright lie. It was at least 4-5 miles away, and the directions they gave us were wrong to boot.
During our stay at Kona Kai, we met several other folks who were there for Comic-Con, and every one of them said they had been bumped from the Holiday Inn as well.
How can the Holiday Inn overbook that badly on a weekend they know they are going to be sold out? How can they bump people who have a prepaid room deposit? Why did the desk clerk not tell us that we were being bumped when we first tried to check in at 11:00 AM? We had stayed at this hotel our last several trips to Comic-Con, but we will not be trying to book a room here in the future, and I will hesitate to book a room at any Holiday Inn location based on this experience.
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