Business ProfileforNew Smyrna Beach Hotel And Suites

About two months ago, I booked a surprise beach weekend for my wife and I at this hotel for our anniversary. It was the same one which, three years ago, our entire wedding party and guests stayed when we got married. We never had any problems during that stay, so I thought I would take my wife there again. Two weeks before we were due to stay, I noticed on their website a banner asking people to "Pardon our dust". I called and found out that they were doing renovations and during our stay, the pool and deck would be closed. I asked the front desk about changing the dates and was told they did not have the authority to do that, that I could call tomorrow to speak to the manager, Dana. From there, it was just excuse after excuse of why she was unavailable to talk to me. They told us they don't issue any refunds, customer service does. I called customer service, they told us the hotel has the billing info and must issue the refund. I tried to call the manager multiple times over the span of three days, and finally was told she was refusing to speak with me. There was no reason why she should refuse my call. I have never heard of a manager refusing to talk to a customer, even if just to offer an apology for the inconvenience. I understand some things are beyond their control such as the timing of renovations, but there was no offer of a discount, a room upgrade, to move our weekend, or even a meal. It was basically sorry about your luck. They did say to call customer service one more time about a refund, so I called and had a very helpful lady who told me again it was not their responsibility to issue the refund, it was the hotels. She even called them for us to make sure they knew it was up to them and the manager talked to her and said she refused to speak to me or make any changes. I think that was the worst part of my experience was finding out the manager lied to me and forced me to make all sorts of phone calls to customer service until she finally refused the refund. I am disgusted with the lack of professionalism at this hotel, and the managers use of the front desk to screen her calls and make excuses for why she couldn't come to the phone. I was persistent in my calls, but I was never rude or yelled at anyone. I just wanted to surprise my wife and this hotel ruined the experience for me. I will never stay here, and at this point have decided to risk the loss of my money then step inside such a poorly managed hotel.