Booking the next Hotel

Booking a Hotel to Mui Ne
OK, I wasn’t going to go to Mui Ne/Phan Thiet. I was going to go to Nha Trang, but my boss’s wife and all the girls at the office insisted that going to Phan Thiet would be so much better, and Ms. Ouahn said she would get the train tickets for me (I’ll pay her back, but she’ll take care of finding them and getting them), so I looked into booking a hotel.
Well, the Thai Hoa hotel I wanted didn’t seem to have an online booking option, so I sent an email, and they confirmed my hotel dates, but would not hold my room without either a wire transfer of funds or a credit card payment where I had to fill out this form and then fax it to them—by today. I don’t have a fax, but there is a little travel agency next to my hotel where although they don’t really speak English, I figured if they read my email from the hotel and called him, they could book it with my credit card. What a ridiculous mess.
First, they tried to talk me into a different hotel, because the one I chose was only 2 stars. By then, Nguyen Thi had shown up, so she could interpret, and I asked how much the 3 star hotels they were recommending would cost. About $80. Well, my room was going to be $40, which was one of the cheapest in town. I wanted my Thai Hoa hotel. No? They couldn’t book that hotel? Well, I might as well leave, then. Pissed, I might add.
I snapped my computer shut and started putting on my shoes. Suddenly, they agreed to call the hotel I wanted. However, when they came back from their back rooms, after talking to my hotel, the nightly price of my room had gone up to $50/night! What the hell??? I smiled and said thank you so much but no (come on, people, the numbers were in my email that I showed you) and Nguyen and I went back to my hotel.
Later, she called the Thai Hoa hotel for me. First, she saved me $5 a night, as she got the price down to $35. Then, she arranged for their emissary to come to my hotel on Monday at 1:00 to take my cc payment and thus secure my room. And that travel agency couldn’t manage any of this??? Last, she admonished me for not asking her to do it all in the first place—but I didn’t want to bother her!! Next time, of course, I will bother her first. 