Alpha Motor Inn in Palmerston North

I stay in hotels 75+ nights a year and this was my worst hotel experience ever and I didn't even stay here. I called the property in the afternoon with the intention of booking a room that night for myself and a friend after a long exhausting day on the road, anticipating an arrival around 10pm. I called to ask if they could accommodate this late check in, and the owner who answered my phone couldn't have been ruder. I am in the travel industry and have exclusive deals and discounts with online booking sites, so I told the lady on the phone that I would book the room online if they were able to accommodate this. Instead of answering my question, the lady on the phone immediately cut me off and told me not to do this and began to argue with me. At one point she even asked me what rate I was getting for the room, as if she was able to beat that (I guarantee you, she wouldn't). Finally when I told her to stop arguing with me about why I shouldn't book online and please answer my question, I was rudely told I would not be able to check in unless I paid her directly. I ended the conversation at that point.

Imagine my surprise when I called a few other hotels in the area, and found out that the owner contacted other hotels to warn them of me. Since I can see the owner reads these reviews, it seems she has lost sight of the fact that it is a privilege to have guests paying their hard earned money at your hotel, rather than her doing a favour to provide accommodation to them. If the owner is unhappy with the costs associated of online booking I assume she is more than free to remove her property from these sites. Instead she has chosen to harass her customers over this. I arrange millions of dollars of travel per year for customers and will not be recommending this to anyone.