Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. 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.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/21/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Travelodge by Wyndham - Merrill. Got into our hotel at midnight with preapproved late check in. Didnt even turn the lights on, went straight to bed. Woke up - the bathroom hadnt been cleaned, sopping wet towels and garbage everywhere. Manager refuses to call me back, offered a measly 50% off for possibly having slept in someone elses filth. Disgusting. Dodged my calls now for a MONTH. I wouldnt be so irritated if he had the decency to even just tell me no on the phone, but to actively ignore someone who has left numerous messages is outrageous.This happened June 25th. I have no clue if the person in the room before me had any communicable diseases. Im not irritated about the lack of refund anymore, its the pure lack of responsiveness for a full month and pure disregard for health and well-being of their customers. For a company to have a 30 second recording about COVID and cleaning that you must listen to prior to getting through to anyone, youd think I shouldve heard back by now.

  Business Response

  Date: 07/29/2023

  This guest stayed the night and checked out the next morning without informing our front desk staff of any issue. He later called in after houskeeping was finished to report his issues. As the hotel was unable to confirm the issues due to the late reporting, the manager authorized an immediate 50% refund in order to give the guest the benefit of the doubt, despite his use of the room, his checking out without complaint, and his late reporting of any issues. The manager attempted twice to call the number provided by the guest, but was unable to speak to the guest. The guest later called our front desk to complain that the manager did not speak with him directly regarding the issue, at which point our front desk staff informed him that the 50% refund had already been processed. Following this call, the manager called the number provided, but could not reach the guest. He escalated the issue to ************************* and due to the circumstances of the case, ******* found a 50% refund to be appropriate and informed our property that the case was closed. The guest was sent an apology email including a reservation receipt showing the the refund that was processed to him.

  After this our front desk staff continued to receive threatening and abusive calls from this guest, and repeatedly told our staff to quit. Due to the emotional damage and harassment being exacted on our team, the hotel was forced to file a police case against him. The police officer working on this case, has been unable to reach the guest at the number he provided, despite multiple attempts, and is still trying to reach out to contact him.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/06/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On 3/3/2023 at approximately 10pm myself and another guest rented a room at Travelodge by ******* in Merrill, **. My debit card was charged $89.20 at the time of check-in. The following day 3/4/2023 at approximately 11am, I phoned the front desk to get the room for another night. At that time my debit card was charged $*****. At 1:12 am I was informed by the owner of the hotel that my debit card was declined when he tried to charge me for the room. I explained to him that I had already been charged for the room and showed him the transaction on my debit card from earlier that morning. While doing so I noticed he had attempted to charge me multiple times. Once for ****** and one time for ***** which were both declined. I asked why he had attempted to charge me ****** as that was over twice the price of the room, and furthermore the room had been paid for immediately upon re-renting it. The owner explained to me that the $100 extra was a deposit on the room. I asked why he would decide to charge a $100 deposit on the second day at the hotel at 1 in the morning instead of on the day I had arrived I also pointed out to him that a deposit was never needed in the past when there is a card on file, only when paying cash. He continued to tell me I had not paid for the room and even if I had I still needed the deposit. I explained to him that I was unaware of any deposit being charged and had not agreed to have a 100 deposit charged to my card and therefore did not have the money in my account. The owner of the hotel had no intention of coming to any sort of resolution, and proceeded to kick me and my guest out of our room that was already paid for at approx 2am. I was charged ***** by Travelodge Wyndham for that stay.

  Business Response

  Date: 03/15/2023

  On the night of Mar 03 after 11:30 PM, *** came to the front desk as a walk-in and requested a room. He mentioned that he and his girlfriend needed the hotel room as there was an issue in his apartment that his landlord was fixing. He promised that there would be only 2 guests in the room. After making his reservation, we discovered that his credit card declined. He provided a second credit card that was also declined. Then he said he would go outside to ask his girlfriend to transfer sufficient funds to his card. After spending 2o minutes coming in and out of the hotel to make the fund available on the card. Seeing his struggle to get the funds he needed to his card, and as I did not want to let him sleep in the cold, we reduced our rate beyond what we normally offer to our guests, especially during weekends. At the front desk we also mentioned to *** that whenever a card declines, we are required to take a refundable deposit from our guests. He requested that we waive the deposit as he didn't have any money. He guaranteed us that there would be no damage to the room and that only he and his girlfriend would be in the room. He told us that he and his girlfriend had nowhere else to go in the cold. Considering his situation, we wanted to help him and allowed him to stay in the room, and did not request the deposit at check-in.

   

  That night, our night staff noticed that there were multiple people coming in and out of ***'s room.

   

  At check-out time, *** came to request an extension for one more night, and our front desk staff processed the extension. The front desk staff again requested the refundable deposit from ***, who promised that he would give it as soon as he had funds available in his card.

   

  Later that night at about 12:45 am, while the manager was on site, another man came to the front desk and asked for a keycard to ***'s room. The manager asked him who he was, and he replied that he was ***'s friend. The manager requested the man to provide his ID, and asked him where *** was. The man acted nervous and did not provide either his name or his ID, and he walked away from the front desk.

   

  This event aroused our suspicion, 

   

  After about 40 minutes *** came to the front desk and requested a key saying that he lost the original key. The manager asked *** about the man who came 40 min earlier. *** said that it was his friend who came to bring something to him. The manager asked why his friend wouldn't provide his name. *** said he didn't know why. 

  The manager asked *** whether there was anyone else in his room, and *** confirmed that there was no one except him and his girlfriend.

  The manager asked *** for the deposit and *** said that it should now be available on his card. He told the manager that he was in a rush to go to his room so he could sleep, and the manager provided a new keycard to ***, and *** left to go to his room.

   

  After *** left, the manager attempted to pre-authorize the amount of the deposit, but ***'s card was declined. The manager attempted to pre-authorize a partial amount, and the card was also declined.

   

  At that point, after multiple suspicious indicators, the manager walked outside the room together with the night staff, to check if everything was ok. As they walked by the room, *** and his girlfriend came out of the room, and both the manager and the night staff smelled smoke and saw somebody still in the room before *** shut the door quickly. The manager told *** that his card declined the deposit, and asked *** whether anyone smoked inside the room. *** denied smoking in the room, and as for the deposit, ***'s girlfriend showed objection telling us that they didn't have any money to pay a deposit and told the manager that he should not charge a deposit to them. The manager asked *** who was in the room, and *** denied that anyone was in the room.

   

  At this point, the manager asked ***, as both he and his girlfriend were awake and out of their room, whether he could inspect the room as an alternative to paying the deposit. 

  At this point, they agreed, and the manager entered the room. Inside the room, the manager found two additional people, and man and a lady. The man was the same person who came to the front desk to ask for a keycard and refused to tell us his name.

   

  As the manager opened the door, the two individuals quickly packed up several small items from the bed before the manager could see what they were hiding. All four people left the room immediately, leaving behind a strong smoke smell in the room. The manager found cigarettes and drug paraphernalia left behind in the room.

   

  Just for smoke damage, we charge guests between $100-250 to recover the cost of caused damages to our linen, furniture, and paint.

   

  We were unable to recover these damages from ***, as his card declined any payment, and he had not provided the deposit that he had promised to give.

   

   

   

  Any help that BBB can provide in helping us to recover the damage this person caused to our property would be greatly appreciated.

   

   

  Kind Regards,

   

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

  General Manager

  Travelodge Merrill

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

  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/24/2022

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On April 18, 2022 we booked a reservation with the Econolodge of *******, ** confirmation #********. On July 16, 2022 we received an email stating that the Econolodge had been sold and that our reservation could not be guaranteed by them and that we would need to contact the new owners. The new owners are the Travelodge. On July 18, 2022 we contacted the new owners to confirm our hotel reservations. They confirmed our reservations with us and told us all was good to go. When I asked for an email they apologized explaining that their emails were not up yet as they just got started. Then, on August 20, 2022 we were speaking to members of our group who had just called to confirm their reservations and were told that they did not have them. So, out of an abundance of caution, I also called the hotel to re-confirm our reservations at which time I was told we had none. The part that I found concerning in that moment was that the person on the other end (who would not tell me her name) had not even taken any information from me to check if we had our reservation. She just kept telling me that she had nothing for me, but didn't know my name. Once I convinced her to take my name and check, she again told me she had nothing. I asked her how that was possible since I had gotten an email on July 16 and called to confirm my reservation. It was explained to me that they got a new system on July 17, 2022 and had lost all previous information, but when I explained that I had called on the 18th, she kept telling me I was wrong and couldn't prove it. She also kept telling me that they are fully booked for the weekend we reserved. Now, we cannot find anything comparable to the price point as we are less than a month away from the trip and since it is a HUGE bike rally, most other hotels are fully booked for that weekend. We just want them to honor our reservation they confirmed or to pay the difference for a more expensive hotel and/or for the drive to a hotel much further away!

  Business Response

  Date: 09/16/2022

  They had issues with Econo Lodge not Travel Lodge - it changed, any one with those reservations received an email. 

  They should have received an email. We will need to the reservation number to look it up and we told guest