Travelodge Debacle.
03-24-2006 | 06:03 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 34,642
Likes: 0
From: Los Lunas, New Mexico, USA.
Vehicle: 2001 Hyundai Tiburon, 2004 Kia Sorento, 2010 Kia Soul
Here you go guys. My reply to the folks at Travelodge about what happened.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Address of said Travelodge is...
3101 North 32nd Street
Phoenix Arizona 85018
Specific details of my concern.
Well, where do I start? I am a disabled veteran, 11 years in the US Army.
I don't get to travel much anymore and made these reservations to enter a
large car show down in the Phoenix area that weekend. I booked the room
early so I was sure to have one because I knew we wouldn't be able to get
one upon arrival that weekend.
After the 7 hour drive from Albuquerque to Phoenix, we arrived at the hotel.
We had called a few times to make sure our reservation hadn't been
cancelled, and it wasn't. Upon arrival, I checked in. Here was the FIRST
problem. I paid in cash. Nothing in my reservation paperwork had said I
would have to pay an additional cash deposit upon arrival, but as it was
after Midnight and my family was exhausted, I went ahead and paid. Instead
of the $229.98 I was quoted, I had to pay $285.00 to get my room for the
weekend.
Second issue then happened. I was given one room key for 3 adults. I asked
for an additional one and the clerk, who could barely speak English, acted
as if it were a huge issue to give me a second card. Our room of horror was
123.
Now comes the BIG ISSUES. After leaving the check in office and driving
around to our room, we get out of our cars at the parking area nearest our
rooms, to see 3 HEAVILY stained mattresses sitting against the entry way.
When I say heavily stained, I mean with some large tears and blood/other
stains on them. I get my son past it and we go into the room, where the
biggest issue of the night begins.
Upon entry to the 2 room suite, we see a place that looks like it was
decorated in the late 50's. Every lighting fixture with multiple bulbs had
at least one burnt out or just plain broken. My son opened up the closet to
put his bag in it and there was a huge dead cockroach in there. Not very
happy, my wife and I head back to the rooms to put our bags down. The bed
in the large room was plainly broken. The mattresses were shaped like a
taco, and there were lots of stuff along the walls near the floorboards. I
don't want to venture to guess what it was, so while the wife was setting
stuff up for the night, I went to use the restroom. While using the toilet
I see something fly under the wall in front of me. My son was in the
kitchen trying to sweep up the floor with our reservation paperwork and the
stuff WENT UNDER THE WALL INTO THE BATHROOM. It took about six minutes to
get out of the bathroom as the toilet filled so slow, it took over 3 minutes
before I could flush it a second time. So I go into the kitchen to see
what's going on and my son now has the oven opened up. As you can see in
the pictures, and as my son said "It looks like someone exploded a rat in
there!". So, now the food we brought along to cook for the weekend is
useless, as I'm not eating ANYTHING out of that. Just then, I hear my wife
crying and I run back to the bedrooms. She's near our bed in her pajamas
ready to get into bed, with the sheets pulled back. The bed sheets were
covered in small curly black hairs. Not one, not 2, but dozens of them
across the sheets and the pillow cases, and there were strange stains on the
edge of the bed too. Looking closer, there were little "wells" from two
pairs of feet that had been in the bed. Dirty feet. Great. We got a room
that had been made up, but not cleaned since the Nixon era. I walk into the
other room and my friend Tom had a similar experience with his bed, he was
busy getting dressed again. On my way in, he gestures to the light fixture
in the hallway, which is filled with dead bugs. Keep in mind, this is
inside the suite.
Determined to get some sort of satisfaction, I went back to the front desk.
I was polite, slow, and verbose in explaining the situation to the clerk. I
told him that under NO circumstances was I, or my family, going to stay in
this room at all. I wanted my reservation transferred and a refund NOW.
The clerk stumbled around telling me that his boss was out of town and he
can't call him. I told him to contact his bosses boss and he told me "I
don't know that." I asked if he had a book of the procedures he's supposed
to go through when something gets out of hand, and he asked me what
procedure meant. I am NOT joking either. He offered to give me another
room, with two double beds, and we could talk to the manager in the morning.
I explained to him that I was going to go pack my items, and if he didn't
have a solution when I returned, I was calling the police.
Believe it or not, the situation gets worse. I returned to my suite, told
the wife to finish packing, and to get the bail money ready. I found the
phonebooks (in the master room's closet???), and looked for a number for
Travelodge so I could complain and try to salvage the trip. With no help
there, I got the reservation paperwork, cleaned it off, and called
1-800-578-7878. After sitting through the voice prompts, I found my way to
someone in the reservation department named Mary. She wouldn't give me her
last name, and wouldn't give me a badge or employee number or anything else.
I told her the issue, she interrupted and told me to call a different
number. 1-800-835-2424 was the number and I called it. Now Mary should
have known, but that number is only good from 7 AM to 10PM every day for
complaints. I hung up, called back to the other number, and wouldn't you
know it? I got Mary again. I calmly explained my problem and she just
constantly interrupted telling me that she wouldn't do anything and I had to
call the other number. I explained again, wife crying in the background,
and she told me off once more. I then told her I'd like to speak to her
supervisor. She now told me, "There's nothing we can do for you." I said
one last time, "Mary, I demand to speak to someone else there in charge.
Someone there is in charge of you." She hung up. I called back 2 more
times and was hung up on as soon as the line picked up, before anything
could be said.
At a complete loss for what to do, I walked out into the living room to sit
down and figure it out. And again, I'm not kidding you, when I sat down,
the leg of the chair CAME OFF. As I struggled to get up, my son noticed
that the couch folded out and we could sleep there, at least a few of us,
then solve it in the morning. So I got myself up off the ground and my son
opened the couch with my friend. Oh. There's no sheets. Not only that,
there's no sheets, no blankets, no mattress cover, no pillows, no pillow
cases, and almost no springs to hold up the stained yellow foam mattress
that was there. I got down to see if they were underneath or something, and
the biggest shock of the night comes. On the wall right next to my head, is
a huge glob of blood. It wasn't anything else, I've been around blood
enough to know what it looks and smells like. So I stood up, turned to the
door, and notice there's another one above the TV on the wall.
At this point, I get my hysterical family outside, past the hooker
mattresses sitting out to dry on the side of the entrance, and into the car.
We get everything loaded up and I head back to the office with my wife in
tow. I had to go through the same line of questioning with the clerk, who
was trying to help as much as he could it seems, and he finally agrees to go
look at the room. I took him to the room, showed him everything we had seen
and experienced, and asked him if he'd let his wife and kid sleep in that
place. We went back up front, turned in our keys, and got a full refund.
After that, my family and friends had to wander across a city that none of
us know, stopping at every hotel we could find, before we finally found a
place to stay at 4:28 AM, Saturday morning. The good folks at the Holliday
Inn at 51st Street helped us out. Even with their help, the best we could
get was one room, two double beds, a roll away bed, for $300 for the
weekend. After four hours of sleep, we had to get up, and get everything
ready to go for the day.
As much as I want to think this didn't happen, it did. There was a COMPLETE
failure in every echelon of Travelodge, it's employees, it's customer
service system, it's response system, everything went wrong. I just re-read
this letter and I feel incredulous. If not for the other witnesses and
plenty of photos of the issues we saw, I'd say this was a prank letter. We
were there for about an hour, maybe a bit longer, to get through this
ordeal. The clerk at the Travelodge did not have a name tag and would not
give me his name when I asked. He was as helpful as he could be, and this
situation is not his fault. In the end he did the right thing, even if he
had to be threatened with the police in order to do it.
I've stayed with Travelodge before, and never had an issue bigger than 'not
enough towels'. This was a disaster, and I will never stay with your
company again. I have also advised members of my websites of this debacle
and advised them to do the same. Travelodge should be ashamed of them
selves. I am going to attempt to inclose the pictures from the hotel in
this email. If it doesn't go through I will send them again, a few at a
time.
Truly Disappointed,
SGT Jeremy L Zimmerman
US Army, Disabled Veteran
www.kspec.com
www.rdtiburon.com
www.hyundaiperformance.com
www.hyundaiaftermarket.com
www.hyundaiaftermarket.org
www.elantraxd.com
www.sonataspeed.com
www.nopi.com</div>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Address of said Travelodge is...
3101 North 32nd Street
Phoenix Arizona 85018
Specific details of my concern.
Well, where do I start? I am a disabled veteran, 11 years in the US Army.
I don't get to travel much anymore and made these reservations to enter a
large car show down in the Phoenix area that weekend. I booked the room
early so I was sure to have one because I knew we wouldn't be able to get
one upon arrival that weekend.
After the 7 hour drive from Albuquerque to Phoenix, we arrived at the hotel.
We had called a few times to make sure our reservation hadn't been
cancelled, and it wasn't. Upon arrival, I checked in. Here was the FIRST
problem. I paid in cash. Nothing in my reservation paperwork had said I
would have to pay an additional cash deposit upon arrival, but as it was
after Midnight and my family was exhausted, I went ahead and paid. Instead
of the $229.98 I was quoted, I had to pay $285.00 to get my room for the
weekend.
Second issue then happened. I was given one room key for 3 adults. I asked
for an additional one and the clerk, who could barely speak English, acted
as if it were a huge issue to give me a second card. Our room of horror was
123.
Now comes the BIG ISSUES. After leaving the check in office and driving
around to our room, we get out of our cars at the parking area nearest our
rooms, to see 3 HEAVILY stained mattresses sitting against the entry way.
When I say heavily stained, I mean with some large tears and blood/other
stains on them. I get my son past it and we go into the room, where the
biggest issue of the night begins.
Upon entry to the 2 room suite, we see a place that looks like it was
decorated in the late 50's. Every lighting fixture with multiple bulbs had
at least one burnt out or just plain broken. My son opened up the closet to
put his bag in it and there was a huge dead cockroach in there. Not very
happy, my wife and I head back to the rooms to put our bags down. The bed
in the large room was plainly broken. The mattresses were shaped like a
taco, and there were lots of stuff along the walls near the floorboards. I
don't want to venture to guess what it was, so while the wife was setting
stuff up for the night, I went to use the restroom. While using the toilet
I see something fly under the wall in front of me. My son was in the
kitchen trying to sweep up the floor with our reservation paperwork and the
stuff WENT UNDER THE WALL INTO THE BATHROOM. It took about six minutes to
get out of the bathroom as the toilet filled so slow, it took over 3 minutes
before I could flush it a second time. So I go into the kitchen to see
what's going on and my son now has the oven opened up. As you can see in
the pictures, and as my son said "It looks like someone exploded a rat in
there!". So, now the food we brought along to cook for the weekend is
useless, as I'm not eating ANYTHING out of that. Just then, I hear my wife
crying and I run back to the bedrooms. She's near our bed in her pajamas
ready to get into bed, with the sheets pulled back. The bed sheets were
covered in small curly black hairs. Not one, not 2, but dozens of them
across the sheets and the pillow cases, and there were strange stains on the
edge of the bed too. Looking closer, there were little "wells" from two
pairs of feet that had been in the bed. Dirty feet. Great. We got a room
that had been made up, but not cleaned since the Nixon era. I walk into the
other room and my friend Tom had a similar experience with his bed, he was
busy getting dressed again. On my way in, he gestures to the light fixture
in the hallway, which is filled with dead bugs. Keep in mind, this is
inside the suite.
Determined to get some sort of satisfaction, I went back to the front desk.
I was polite, slow, and verbose in explaining the situation to the clerk. I
told him that under NO circumstances was I, or my family, going to stay in
this room at all. I wanted my reservation transferred and a refund NOW.
The clerk stumbled around telling me that his boss was out of town and he
can't call him. I told him to contact his bosses boss and he told me "I
don't know that." I asked if he had a book of the procedures he's supposed
to go through when something gets out of hand, and he asked me what
procedure meant. I am NOT joking either. He offered to give me another
room, with two double beds, and we could talk to the manager in the morning.
I explained to him that I was going to go pack my items, and if he didn't
have a solution when I returned, I was calling the police.
Believe it or not, the situation gets worse. I returned to my suite, told
the wife to finish packing, and to get the bail money ready. I found the
phonebooks (in the master room's closet???), and looked for a number for
Travelodge so I could complain and try to salvage the trip. With no help
there, I got the reservation paperwork, cleaned it off, and called
1-800-578-7878. After sitting through the voice prompts, I found my way to
someone in the reservation department named Mary. She wouldn't give me her
last name, and wouldn't give me a badge or employee number or anything else.
I told her the issue, she interrupted and told me to call a different
number. 1-800-835-2424 was the number and I called it. Now Mary should
have known, but that number is only good from 7 AM to 10PM every day for
complaints. I hung up, called back to the other number, and wouldn't you
know it? I got Mary again. I calmly explained my problem and she just
constantly interrupted telling me that she wouldn't do anything and I had to
call the other number. I explained again, wife crying in the background,
and she told me off once more. I then told her I'd like to speak to her
supervisor. She now told me, "There's nothing we can do for you." I said
one last time, "Mary, I demand to speak to someone else there in charge.
Someone there is in charge of you." She hung up. I called back 2 more
times and was hung up on as soon as the line picked up, before anything
could be said.
At a complete loss for what to do, I walked out into the living room to sit
down and figure it out. And again, I'm not kidding you, when I sat down,
the leg of the chair CAME OFF. As I struggled to get up, my son noticed
that the couch folded out and we could sleep there, at least a few of us,
then solve it in the morning. So I got myself up off the ground and my son
opened the couch with my friend. Oh. There's no sheets. Not only that,
there's no sheets, no blankets, no mattress cover, no pillows, no pillow
cases, and almost no springs to hold up the stained yellow foam mattress
that was there. I got down to see if they were underneath or something, and
the biggest shock of the night comes. On the wall right next to my head, is
a huge glob of blood. It wasn't anything else, I've been around blood
enough to know what it looks and smells like. So I stood up, turned to the
door, and notice there's another one above the TV on the wall.
At this point, I get my hysterical family outside, past the hooker
mattresses sitting out to dry on the side of the entrance, and into the car.
We get everything loaded up and I head back to the office with my wife in
tow. I had to go through the same line of questioning with the clerk, who
was trying to help as much as he could it seems, and he finally agrees to go
look at the room. I took him to the room, showed him everything we had seen
and experienced, and asked him if he'd let his wife and kid sleep in that
place. We went back up front, turned in our keys, and got a full refund.
After that, my family and friends had to wander across a city that none of
us know, stopping at every hotel we could find, before we finally found a
place to stay at 4:28 AM, Saturday morning. The good folks at the Holliday
Inn at 51st Street helped us out. Even with their help, the best we could
get was one room, two double beds, a roll away bed, for $300 for the
weekend. After four hours of sleep, we had to get up, and get everything
ready to go for the day.
As much as I want to think this didn't happen, it did. There was a COMPLETE
failure in every echelon of Travelodge, it's employees, it's customer
service system, it's response system, everything went wrong. I just re-read
this letter and I feel incredulous. If not for the other witnesses and
plenty of photos of the issues we saw, I'd say this was a prank letter. We
were there for about an hour, maybe a bit longer, to get through this
ordeal. The clerk at the Travelodge did not have a name tag and would not
give me his name when I asked. He was as helpful as he could be, and this
situation is not his fault. In the end he did the right thing, even if he
had to be threatened with the police in order to do it.
I've stayed with Travelodge before, and never had an issue bigger than 'not
enough towels'. This was a disaster, and I will never stay with your
company again. I have also advised members of my websites of this debacle
and advised them to do the same. Travelodge should be ashamed of them
selves. I am going to attempt to inclose the pictures from the hotel in
this email. If it doesn't go through I will send them again, a few at a
time.
Truly Disappointed,
SGT Jeremy L Zimmerman
US Army, Disabled Veteran
www.kspec.com
www.rdtiburon.com
www.hyundaiperformance.com
www.hyundaiaftermarket.com
www.hyundaiaftermarket.org
www.elantraxd.com
www.sonataspeed.com
www.nopi.com</div>
03-24-2006 | 06:24 PM
#6
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 34,642
Likes: 0
From: Los Lunas, New Mexico, USA.
Vehicle: 2001 Hyundai Tiburon, 2004 Kia Sorento, 2010 Kia Soul
That's the thing Keith, I've never even seen a bad travelodge. They are usually pretty nice. Hell, even Silent Secret's Travelodge across town was nice.
03-24-2006 | 06:34 PM
#9
Moderator
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 6,976
Likes: 0
From: Arizona
Vehicle: N/A as in Not Applicable, not Naturally Aspirated
I think the letter was a good idea but considering the kind of service you received when you tried to get your money back that night and that b**** (..mary) on the phone.... I don't even think they'll get past the second paragraph.
haha.gif
...well, maybe.
At least you didn't go to jail that night, something of that stature needs to wait until we are ALL drunk at the ABQ BBQ. lmao.gif
haha.gif
...well, maybe.
At least you didn't go to jail that night, something of that stature needs to wait until we are ALL drunk at the ABQ BBQ. lmao.gif
03-24-2006 | 06:36 PM
#10
Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,507
Likes: 0
From: Cape Cod
Vehicle: 2001 Hyundai Tiburon
The letter was perfect.Very detailed. And I bet you get zero response to it from Travelodge. There ought to be better laws regulating how hotels represent themselves through various media outlets to prospective customers. It's like advertising for a 1980 Vette in mint condition when they really have a green 1980 Chevette<span style="color:#000000"> sitting on the lot. 02.gif
I'm glad it didn't totally ruin your weekend.
</span>
I'm glad it didn't totally ruin your weekend.
</span>