Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  11/21/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I was double charged $180 for a room so $360 in total my stat was only $130. Also one of my kids found something inappropriate behind the bed. I brought it to the front desk and they were rude about it I was only checked in to the room for 3 hours before checking out. Also they have people leaving in the hotel which I was unaware with nor comfortable with. The lights did not work when I spoke on it nothing was changed or fixed the ac was loud and blew warm air.

  Customer response

  11/21/2022

  Hello I was not only double charged but triple charged I did not sleep in the hotel at all. It is very outdated has a bad smell moldy bathroom the lights did not work also one of my children found a used condom beside back of bed when brought to attention I was practically ignored. I was unaware that the hotel does live in for homeless which made us extremely uncomfortable the ac did not work room was very hot. When I when to the receptionist the manager was vey rude and stared at me and my fianc in a disgusted way I am Africa. American my fianc is Latino I asked what was the stare about he answered in a very rude racist way I did not sleep in the room and was only there for two hours before checking out 

  Business response

  11/23/2022

  This guest has neglected to include a significant amount of the facts as well as her lack of understanding about standard hotel practices, procedures and regulations. The guest purchased her stay from a third party website where she was advised of the cost of the stay, general hotel rules and policies, including security deposits held, etc.  After booking her original stay, the guest contacted the third party and asked to move her stay up by one day. At this point, the guarantee card on As the change was made AFTER the guarantee credit card on file was held, a second security hold was made for the updated date. The guest was advised that this is only a hold and it is released after checking out based on the terms of the issuing financial institution. Due to the fact that this reservation was on a weekend, banks do not process all transactions until they reopen for business on the next business day. This was explained to the guest but she could not understand or accept the fact that this was out of the control of anyone at the property. Had she booked her date correctly in the beginning, only one hold would have been placed.  The remaining hold has since been released by the hotel and she needs to wait until her financial institution follows their procedures for releasing holds back to their cardholders. 

  Second, the guest booked a King room which legally allows only 2 (two) persons to occupy. This is the law and not up to the guest to alter for ANY reason.  The guest resides several miles away from the hotel but decided she did not want to throw her child's birthday party at her own home. Instead, she broke standard and well known hotel policies and local fire regulations by hosting a birthday party in her room.  This is a common issue we experience so we were already on alert for potential "problems" with the room.  It is common practice for local guests to throw parties in rooms, leave them trashed and then complain that there was something wrong with the room to get a refund but only AFTER they have completed their party.  We have documented on video the excessive number of people coming in and out of this room during the several hours the room was occupied.  The strange look the guest is describing was our astonishment at the number of people that were stuffed into a standard 12' x 24' room designed to hold 2 adults only.  When the guest asked me what my problem was, I simply stated that I was shocked that she was able to fit so many people in the room. She asked what I meant by that. I stated that I counted more than 25 people, mostly adults, exiting the room which exceeded legal occupancy. She told me it was none of my business because they all weren't sleeping in there. 

  Third, when the guest came to the front desk with a freshly used condom in a tissue in a cup, we advised that we would look into the matter. As there is a significant amount of fraud in this industry, we must follow established guidelines for investigating and validating these types of complaints. The guest was advised of this but kept pushing that she wasn't going to stay and that now she was out this money and where was she going to find a hotel at this late hour (before 8 pm).  The guest lives in Springfield, approx 10 minutes away. We recognized this hoax as we have seen many times before and advised her that the matter needed to be reviewed by the Housekeeping Supervisor the next day as the concern was Housekeeping related. The guest continued to rant and asked for my name and business card which she was given.  During the time this was happening, we reviewed the occupancy log for the room she was in. It had not been occupied for 4 (four) days prior to her arrival and had been inspected by the Housekeeping Supervisor then.  There was no way that a freshly used condom sat in that room for four days without drying out. In addition, the claim that it was under the bed also drew suspicion as our beds go directly to the floor with no "underneath" accessible to guests. We have saved the evidence in the event this matter escalates further.  The guests checked in at 3:22 pm and the party did not begin until an hour or more later as we noticed the heavy flow of traffic asking for directions to this room, another gigantic red flag that illicit activity is progressing.

  Once the Water Park closed at 7 pm, the complaint regarding no longer needing the room occurred. There were only a few non-corporate clients on property that night so it was very easy to pay attention to activity.  The remaining guests in the hotel are part of a state-funded relocation project awaiting replacement of their damaged apartment complex (similar to the one this guest resides in by the way) and are not the concern of this guest. 

  Finally, the remaining complaints about utilities in the room were double checked and determined to be "user error". The light switch on the wall upon entry controlled fixtures she claimed did not work. Also, the ** unit was set to Low Heat and not Cool, hence, the warm air.

  Because the guest did not follow the rules of the hotel or local regulations for occupancy, I notified the booking agent of her inappropriate behavior and blocked her from attempting this fraud again in the future. We have released all funds that we are not entitled to and will not refund anything further as this would only reward the inappropriate and illegal behavior. We will use all legal remedies available to us to protect our interests in this matter.

  Sincerely,

  *************************

  Director of Operations and Sales

  Chief Operating Officer

  Customer response

  11/23/2022

   
  Complaint: 18442165
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  it does not make sense we have tried for hours to turn on the lights still nothing. We had no intentions on going swimming. I made the receptionist aware people will be in the room she said that is fine as long as they are not staying over. The hotel is run down and there was a whole family that stated they live there. Im and not commuting any fraud its been more than enough days and all four charges are still on my card. He was rude and stared at us in digits there was not twenty people in the room. The room was disgusting moldy and foul smelling I had zero intentions on sleeping there once Ive been in the room for an hour I was disgusted. I was charged three times for $180 and once for $50 then a $130 charge. It is now Wednesday and my money is not back on my card. The manager and receptionist was rude from the start. Half of what he stated had nothing to do with the issue no one has gotten back to me about anything the soap on the bathroom was half used. There was A lot wrong from start I only occupied the room for two hours max before checking out. I should have read the reviews prior. So many people have issues with this place. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  Crystal Hill

  Business response

  12/01/2022

  We have responded to this case already.  The details in the first response are complete and sufficiently explain our position.

  The guest's mention of another family staying here long term is irrelevant to her claim and why it continues to be brought up is unnecessary.

  The log for the room folio indicates the arrival and departure times as well as the time when the first complaint was reported. This documentation is done to prove when communication is done as there is a high amount of fraud using these excuses. When the fraud is reported, the typical guest response is to report a bad review.  For this reason, we have blocked local traffic from using the rooms designed for lodging as rooms to throw birthday parties or other celebrations. These activities should be done in their own homes or in the rental of banquet space. NO STAFF MEMBER WOULD EVER AGREE TO EXCEEDING THE OCCUPANCY OF THE ROOM BY 23 + PEOPLE!!!  Common sense would indicate that this is not acceptable.

  Again, CCTV logs show the time of arrival of the original guests, the times of arrival for the many party guests as well as the time for reporting any issues, the number of guests departing and the times of the departures. This information cannot be altered and stands as our evidence of the information provided in our original response. 

  As for claims that her card issuer has not returned any holds placed on her account is a matter between her and her financial institution. We show that the holds have been released by our credit card processor. The financial institution who issued the card has their own funds availability policy and the release of funds is governed by that. There is no further action that can be taken by us to release them. We did not choose them, the guest did. 

  We review this matter as closed.

   

  *************************

  Director of Operations and Sales

  Chief Operating Officer

• Initial Complaint

  07/05/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We stayed at the hotel from May28th-May 30th. We had to leave early on the 30th because we found cockroaches in our room, and on our bed. We had to disinfect everything before bringing it into our home. When leaving the hotel there was a homeless man harassing us as we were trying to pack our car to leave. This situation was incredibly stressful. I have left messages and emails with the manager with pictures of the cockroaches. No response. I have called Choice Hotels directly who tell me their is nothing they will do and call the hotel. I'm not one to typically complain but this was incredibly disgusting and stressful to find cockroaches in the bed we were sleeping on! We asked for a full refund for the 2 nights and we recieve no response.

  Business response

  07/05/2022

  The Guest ******************** received one email prior to this request. As there is a high amount of fraud in refund request cases, an investigation is required. Some guests are still not aware of the delays in responses related to post pandemic staffing shortages and remote assignments. Though we are sympathetic with concerns of this nature, we also must review the facts and act accordingly. If compensation is warranted, we make every effort to accommodate as quickly as is reasonably possible. The additional hurdle in some of these cases is that the complainant chose to purchase a bargain fare through a third party online travel agent. This created a contract with the *** not the hotel as they chose to pay the *** directly and at a substantial discount.

  The following information was sent to the complainant to share the findings of the investigation and compensation offer.

  Thank you for reaching out to us to discuss your stay. We are sorry to hear that it was not up to your expectations.
  
  
  The information you provided was forward to several departments for review and verification, including ************ Services, Housekeeping, Operations and Third Party Travel Agents.
  
  
  
  
  Sent Items > Message Detail 
  Print Next
  Subject: RE: Fwd: Cockroach in hotel room 137
  From: <*****************************************> (Add as Preferred Sender)
  Date: Tue, Jul 05, 2022 9:44 pm
  To: "*********************" <*********************>
  
  "Though it is never ideal to have insects indoors, we make every effort to assure that they remain in check. Our ************ Services company received the photo you supplied and did provide service to your room. They verified that there was a cricket found in the room, not a cockroach. I know it is only a small comfort but wanted you to know their report confirmed the absence of cockroaches.
  
  
  As for compensation, we are able to provide Choice Privileges member points to your account if you have one or if you would like to sign up for one. These points may be used at thousands of Choice Hotels properties all over the country. Since this reservation was booked through a third party service, we are left with no opportunity for cancellations or refunds. Reservations booked directly through our system allow for the ability to credit the original form of payment.
  
  
  Please let me know if you have a Choice Privileges account or if you would like to sign up for one so that we may add the bonus points to your account."

   

  Sincerely,
  
  
  *************************
  Director of Operations and Sales
  Clarion Hotel and Aqua Lagoon Water Park
  1080 ****************
  West Springfield, ** 01089
  *******************
  ************ FAX
  ***********************************
  

  Customer response

  07/06/2022

   
  Complaint: 17520395
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  I have sent more than one email directly to the manager's email address provided to me by the front desk.  I have attached the email thread to this complaint. On May 30th I sent an email explaining the situation.  On June 2nd, I sent another email for him to respond.  I heard nothing back.  I gave it some time (as he states these things take time).  I called the hotel a few times since then and I am always told the same thing, the manager is not there and email is the best way to reach him.  I then contacted Choice Hotels, who said there is nothing they would do to help me that I needed to contact the manager even though I had not received a response back. 

  The first response I received by the manager was after filing this complaint.  Which he then states it was a cricket not cockroaches.  I seen 2 cockroaches when I was there. One scurried very quickly at night so I wasn't sure.  I woke up to a cockroach on my pillow, when I moved my pillow it moved very fast. It did not hop like a cricket.  It did not chirp like a cricket. I was able to get a one clear picture and one blurry pic before it sped off. As we were trying to get out of there fast at that point, we were repeatedly harassed by a homeless person outside the exit.  It was a very stressful situation.  Once we got home, we had to sanitize everything before brining it in to our house.  It was an absolute nightmare of a situation.

  Since this is the first time I was told to reach out to Expedia, I have done so.  They were not able to reach the manager either to request a refund because he was not there. They have created a case number and will follow up for a refund which is what we feel is necessary after this situation.  The case number for Expedia is 119624228.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *********************

  Business response

  07/08/2022

  A response providing our offer was sent to the Complainant. It is the only offer we are prepared to make as the facts of the complaint cannot be reconciled. Even if reconciled, they would not engage the compensation level requested. The Complainant has the opportunity to accept the offer or decline it. We do not have any other options as we do not provide full refunds after departure for any reasons. Choice Guest Relations has received documentation regarding our decision along with the evidence below. For this reason, they are declining further involvement in the claim.

  *The time stamp on the photos indicate that the time of departure was shortly before check out time, not as early as described. 

  *Pest ******* Services identifies the insect in the photo and the one they discovered in the room as a relative of the cricket, not a cockroach. Though still not ideal, it is impossible to conceive that on the planet Earth, any property, including someone's home, would be able to say that it was 100% insect-proof. 

  Our offer of points towards future stays at any Choice property is more than generous and seeks to provide middle ground as described in the opening statements. Complainant may provide their Choice Privileges account information for the addition of the bonus points. 

  Customer response

  07/08/2022

   
  Complaint: 17520395
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  The reason for not refunding my money at first because I went through Expedia.  I have since contacted Expedia and they have not been able to reach the manager just as I was unable to. So there is no legitimate reason not to refund my money.  It was in my own best interest to let this matter go by getting a refund.  I would again insist on the manager answering Expedia and returning my money.  
  

  If the second reason for not issuing a refund is the hotel is insisting the bug was not a cockroach, I will have the photo inspecting by the health department since that seems to be the only way to prove it was a cockroach.  Cockroaches do not just hang around, so it is unlikely that they would have found the cockroaches in the same hotel room. I am certain it was a cockroach. I am willing to spend my time and energy proving the fact that there are cockroaches in the hotel, which is very unsanitary.

  The manager never bothered to reach out to me to give me an update over a month later which is very unprofessional as well. I am willing to let this go only with a full refund.  This was a very overwhelming and traumatic experience for us as a family.  It is the right thing to do to issue the refund. I am not willing to accept choice hotel points that I will never use with a hotel chain that I will never book with again.  My request is not an unreasonable one, giving the severity of the situation.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *********************

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩