If I could have this place shut down, I WOULD.
“You just want free s*** because you’re homeless.”
No kidding, this is actually what was said to me on my way out of my last stay with Ramada Inn. Ever.
It was the first snow storm to hit Colorado of 2019. My boyfriend and I decided to stay at a hotel to keep warm while the HVAC guy repaired our heater.
Upon our arrival, the front desk staff was light-hearted, polite, and even laughed a little. We were pleased to see our stay was going to be delightful.
We had booked our trip through Priceline, using their express deals which has only served us great in the past. This time we came upon a 3-star hotel for the very-low price of $64 a night. (Three or four star hotels ranging anywhere between $60-$120 a night is not out of the norm and we expected to get what we paid for.)
What we did NOT expect was:
Feces residue on the toilet seat
A heater that smelled like someone straight urinated in the vent
A hole so big in the shower ceiling from water damage you could see the pipes sticking through
Broken, burned, and chipped furniture
Broken and missing bathroom fixtures
Old food and wrappers under dressers and tv stands
Dirty handprints on the wall
And our customer service then went from good… to worse.
We requested a room change at two in the morning due to the putrid stench of their heater. The night attendant was kind and accommodated us accordingly. This general sense of care is what inspired us to assume that the morning staff would be just as understandable of our needs, and would accommodate us for the second nights stay that we would not be staying.
This is how that transaction went down.
“What did you expect? Did you read the reviews?” - The hotel manager
I had my boyfriend call Priceline to see if there was anything they could do. Since we booked through them and knew we couldn’t get a refund, we figured we’d still try.
At first, Priceline politely enforced their policy and stated they would not allow any refunds. After describing our situation to them, however, and providing proof of pictures of the conditions we were in, they didn’t hesitate to give us a help-line and call Ramada Inn themselves.
My boyfriend was sent downstairs to speak with the manager directly. He was gone for so long I thought, “oh, things must be going good. They are just gathering information, getting credit cards, things like that.”
When he came storming back into the room, the first thing he said to me was, “Get your s**t. We are leaving. Now.” When I asked him what happened, he proceeded to tell me that the manager’s response to his request was nothing short of disparaging, depreciatory, and snide.
We had requested a refund at 12:50pm. Check-out is at noon. The hotel manager remarked, “Had you made this request at noon, I would have refunded you the money. But you didn’t complain until now, so now I will have to charge you $50 for a late check-out instead.”
Floored, my boyfriend responded, “But we did complain… last night… at two in the morning when we asked for a room change.”
“Well you stayed in the room all day today, so if you leave now I will have to charge you.”
“...It’s 12:51pm… I’m less than an hour short…”
(I was in the room at this time so everything that happens at this point is hear-say until I come down to speak with her myself, but I’m sure the cameras would speak for themselves.)
“Listen, the rooms are filthy. The first room didn’t work so we got changed. That room was dirty, also. The only reason we didn’t complain last night is because it was already 2:30 in the morning and we had to sleep, and I had to call Priceline in the morning first before I talked to you.”
She responded to him, unbelievably I might add, “I can book you in a dirty room if I want to.”
Understandably becoming internally irate, my boyfriend stepped back and said, “Are you kidding me? What did you just say to me? Can I get that in writing?”
“No. I don’t have to do anything for you.” - The hotel manager said.
“Is this some sort of joke? You’re f***ing me right now. You KNOW you’re f***ing me right now.”
He comes back upstairs and relays this information to me. I take a turn.
I promise you with all of my might I stay as calm as silent night. I know diplomacy calls for calm interaction, so I go into this conversation knowing she might be a little shook up from the recent transaction.
“Hi, I’m in room 235, my boyfriend just came down here and there was a fight? May I ask what happened?”
Immediately, I was shut off by her tone and she responded. “Yes. I gave him the $20 refund for the second night’s stay. (64 dollars minus the $50 late-fee she was to charge us.)”
“Do you have proof of the $50 late-fee policy written down somewhere?”
“No. I don’t have to. I can do anything I want to do.”
“What?? Is that even legal? If you don’t have it in writing, how are guests supposed to know? And what stops you from changing it every single time?”
“I don’t have to have anything in writing. I can do anything I want to.”
Recognizing that she obviously felt attacked, I tried to lower my tone even more.
“Ma’am, the rooms are filthy, we complained when we got a room change at two in the morning, and the only reason we didn’t come sooner was because we thought you’d be just as accommodating as your attendant was last night.”
Her response was, “You booked a hotel that doesn’t require a cash deposit. What do you expect? You should have read the reviews.” A little smile on her face.
“You’re advertising this hotel as 3 stars,” I said. “This is not a 3 star experience.”
“Oh yeah we are, we have a pool.”
“Having a pool doesn’t make you a 3 star hotel.”
“Oh, yes it does. I gave your boyfriend his $20 refund and I’ll retract it now. Do you want me to call the police?”
“If you want to. You know what you’re doing is illegal, right? And highly wrong? I can pull legal action if I want to?”
“You have 15 minutes to leave this property.”
In a calm state of rage, I gather my things and let her know how I was feeling. “You know what, I sincerely hope you have a really nice day. And you get some incredibly good people in here to show you that you don’t have to be such a b***h.”
On my way out, she exclaims to me, “You just want free s**t ‘cause you’re homeless!”
The reason I am even writing this review is not because I think I am better than anyone else, but because nobody deserves to be treated like this. No matter what or where you come from. I am not homeless. In fact, this stay was a gift from my boyfriend’s parents to stay warm while our heater got fixed. But what if I was? Is this how you would treat me? If I was homeless and the only money I had was spent on a hotel to stay warm and instead of getting my money back for a crappy room, I got treated like crap instead? Never mind the money, but the humanity? Are you really going to let your people treat people this way? Should we, as a society, really just let situations like this go? Not stand up to bullies? Not fight for what’s right? Just let people get taken advantage of and take an “L” because they can? Wyndham. Ramada Inn. What are you going to do about this? I really want to know.
Now that I’m speaking up, remember… your silence speaks volumes.
