Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  09/08/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  23 transactions from 5/13/23 to 6/4/23 Stayed a total of 22 nights at La Quinta Hotel in Lynnwood, WA. Was charged market price for every one of them with the exception of one night earned on points (which only exist because I paid market value).On the 21st or 22nd day, a lower-ranking, but honest and good-faith oriented employee pulled up my bill, puzzled as to why Id not been offered the same $130 prorated rate they offer to guests staying as long as a week. In a manipulative, stonewalling refusal to explain why I was not offered this rate, a dishonest action of omission, I paid an extra $700 in addition to having paid multiple amounts in excess of $100 which were done without explanation, with the manager, ***** yelling at me for having asked - not demanded - simple questions she refused to answer.When I filed with the State ************************* their letters to the business were declared by ***** to have never arrived, despite only 5 minutes later - clumsily trying to rearrange a deal Id already agreed to with her owner, ************************* for a $500 refund - said if I pulled back my complaint shed issue me $300. When I told her that **************** instructed me to tell her to call him to verify our arrangement, she instead called someone else and had the nerve to declare that the phone call **************** and I had only 24 hours previous never took place.When I then called **************** for help, she FINALLY had no choice but to take the call at which point I refused myself to the parking lot for fear shed distort or manipulate any utterance as somehow threatening - verifiable by camera which, after having accused me of some other fabricated outburst, refused to provide video evidence Id requested to substantiate her false, desperate accusation. Then I was ordered to stop coming to the property despite not having been within miles of it for roughly 2 months in between the stay and my owner-arranged instruction to go and collect what he guaranteed.

  Business response

  09/08/2023

  **************** arrived at our property and spoke to our front desk staff member, who informed me that he was there to pick up money from the owner. I had not received any instructions from my supervisor, ***************, or the owners about any cash being available for a guest to collect. Therefore, I asked **************** if he was sure that he had been instructed to pick up the money there and then.
  The conversation did not go well, as **************** was already very angry. I stepped into our back office to contact my supervisor and the owners. I was never disrespectful or belittling to ****************. We were simply following normal procedures.
  Upon speaking to one of the owners, he told me that **************** had been trying to contact him personally with a complaint, which he knew nothing about. The owner is not actively involved in the property, so he did not have any real information about the matter. All he knew was that a customer was very upset. Once the owner knew more about the situation, he asked me what the issues were.
  The issues are as follows. 
  Here is a screenshot of his reservations with our property in the last year. 
  
  **************** arrived at our hotel on May 13th and checked in for one night. He then proceeded to extend his stay daily. This is normal procedure for our hotel, as many guests do this.
  **************** booked his subsequent reservations through a third-party booking agency, not directly with our hotel. The prices set by these booking agencies are not negotiable with us.
  **************** also used one of his free nights during this period. It is worth mentioning that he began his stay in May, when rates are lower than they are in June. When the rates increased on June 3rd, **************** became upset because he had not seen the higher rates before.
  The staff member who checked him in, ******, mentioned the possibility of a contract rate, which is negotiated price based on the number of future nights you are giving our property. However, as a hotel manager, it is not my duty to call guests and offer these contract rates, especially when guests are booking through third-party agencies and have never requested any quotes.
  The interaction with **************** became very abrupt when I informed him that he would have to check out after 28 days, as our hotel is not for long-term stays. However, we were still willing to work with him on a rate, and he could come back within 24 hours to discuss it further.
  **************** did not like our policies around long-term stays or the fact that I could only offer him a set price for the nights that followed and could not refund any past night reservations.
   On June 4th I tried to once again explain the policy, but he did not want to hear me and walked off without paying. Since he is a reward member and had been with us for about 21 days at this point, we were courteous and waited for him to come back and pay. Later that day I received a call from my co-workers ***** and *****. They were concerned that ****************** refused to pay for the night but wanted access to his room. I allowed them to ***** him access without payment as I thought he was a serious guest and would return to pay. However, ****************** never came back to pay, and left the property angry knowing he owed money for the night of June 4th to fifth. The owed balance is $119.04 as this was the total room and tax at the SET RATE, I had agreed to give him if he continued to stay with us. 
  Below is a statement by ***** who was present the day ****************** refused to pay. 
  My name is *************************, I am an employee at La Quinta by Wyhndham in Lynnwood WA. I had a few interactions with ***************. I was working one night with my co-worker when we noticed an overdue balance on his account and locked him out of his room so we could discuss the balance and payment method. It was a little later in the evening and **************** told us it was too late, and he would pay in the morning claiming he did not have the funds to pay. We also noticed there was no deposit taken in his account which we need to take for every guest. **************** became agitated and upset, telling us since he has been staying here for a little while now it is fine, and we should just let him in the room. We tried explaining how we needed to take that payment for him to continue staying since we had already missed the previous night's payment. He started raising his voice at my co-worker and started saying inconsiderate things, making us both nervous. We decided to contact our managers who told him what we had first said, but he was becoming more agitated, and we felt it was best for our safety to let him in the room with our manager's approval. 
  
  Once our Owners were made aware of some further details, they instructed me to inform ****************** that even though our property had done nothing wrong we were willing to refund him $380.96 which was $500 minus the owed balanced to the property. The conditions of this refund were clear; he just had to tell the truth about the incident and write a statement to your office where he also mentioned we had negotiated with him and settled the issues. The only proof we requested was an email. I informed the guest about these conditions, and he walked off. This was my last interaction with ******************* 
  
  

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