Budget Travel - motel nightmare -- need advice

A question for someone who has more experience with motel stays than I do: if one has multiple ongoing problems during a motel stay, is one entitled to a full refund?

I did not take this room as a tourist, but because I needed a place to relax for a couple of days and get some work done on my computer. I made a reservation over the phone. I was told I could not cancel my reservation without 48 hours notice (in other words--no way to cancel it, because I was calling the day before).

When I arrived I saw construction was taking place--something I had not been informed of on the phone when I made my reservation. Not only that: I was to be lodged in a room next to the room in which construction was taking place.

I immediately asked for a different room and was told none was available.

A few things that happened:

I was told the construction would only be going on there for first day of my stay, and given a slight discount for that day: but it continued the second. Both days I was told work would stop at a certain hour, but it didn't stop at that hour.

Amenities that were supposed to be in the room when I arrived were not there, and needed to be brought in later in the afternoon.

Several things were not working properly in the room I stayed in. Maintenance needed to be brought into my room several times to fix things (toilet needed to be fixed twice.)

Then, to top everything off, on the last night of my stay I found a cockroach in the bathroom.

During the course of my stay I asked several times to change rooms and was always told no other room was available.

What bothered me most of all, is that, as can be seen from some of what I've said above, management intentionally misled me. They were shamelessly dishonest. When on the last night of my stay I had had enough, said I was very unhappy with the situation, and asked what compensation management could offer me for all I'd been through, I met with more lies, minimization of the problems, and deflection of responsibility.

My intuition told me getting a full refund from people like this would be impossible. So I requested one night free. I was told that was impossible and offered another $5 off. I declined. They called back a bit later and offered me 25%. I declined again and said I'd contact the motel owner about my problem, if they could not help me. (The lady who I had previously been told was the owner told me she was just the manager, and had no authority to make that decision, when I requested the free night!!). They said they were not going to give me the owner's number (!!). At this point I was planning to just pack my things, leave the motel, find another place to stay, and contact my credit card company upon returning home to resolve the issue. Then, not longer after, I got another -- unexpected -- call from management saying they'd refund me for one day's stay (the day they discounted, of course).

Being worn out and frazzled I accepted this, though now I wish I had just followed my impulse and left the motel. I was issued the partial refund at check-out. But now being back home and thinking it over, I think it is crazy I did not get my entire stay refunded, given all the problems I experienced, my inability to get any work done while I was there, and the unscrupulous way I was treated by management.

Is there still some way for me to get full refund at this point? If anyone who has resolved a similar situation successfully in the past could advise me, I'd appreciate it.

Sorry, but I'd say you've done as well as can be expected at this point. They made an offer, you accepted it. In the big scheme of things, you did stay there. It might not have been ideal, and you did make your concerns known, but you didn't leave. You can't expect to get the entire stay refunded - that would mean you'd gotten something for nothing. The something you got was sub par, but it was still something.

At this point, you really have to ask yourself if the money that is lost is worth the frustration and fretting that you're assigning it. Or, if getting even just a bit more of it back would be worth the time, effort, and, no doubt, frustration that would accompany your efforts to do so.

More information would help. Is this a chain or a local motel? If it's a chain, are you a member of their frequent stay club? Do you have elite status? You may have more leverage complaining "up the chain" so to speak if it's a national brand and you have elite status, and might be offered extra points for the hassles you put up with. A full refund at this point is unlikely.

Thanks for your replies.

It was a local motel--not part of any chain so far as I know. I suspect the owner of the motel was the lady working there who was referred to as the owner during my stay (though she said she was just a manager on the last night, when I asked about compensation).

If a full refund is unlikely and not to be expected in this situation, I won't pursue it.

Your best bet is to make sure enough people know about your incident that the motel will change its ways. Post your review to tripadvisor and let the world know how dishonest they were. Hit them where it really hurts.

I agree with ScottC. The motel sounds like a real dump, and one of the best uses of sites like Trip Advisor is to warn people away and, in so doing, apply economic pressure to get them to change their ways. With TA it's important to be factual in descriptions (don't use too many adjectives), and it really helps where possible to add photos.

BTW, the construction-noise issue is something you sometimes run into on "blind" sites like Priceline. A hotel under renovation takes in PL bids at lower than the rate they'd usually accept, and then guess where they assign your room? Those to whom that happens can really feel blindsided. Even worse is if they're using PL to try to bid on a 5-star or Resort-level hang-the-moon type trip with a significant other and something like that happens.

If you've exhausted all other reasonable methods of solving the problem, dispute the charge with your credit card (assuming you paid with one!) company on the grounds that you did not receive the service you were promised.

Sorry, but I'd say you've done as well as can be expected at this point. They made an offer, you accepted it.

Gotta agree.

The only other thing you can do is post on a site like Tripadvisor - some of us read it.

My guess is that all you'll do by perusing this is causing yourself more aggravation without getting any more money.

EmailKid

PS, sorry for the experience. Been there .....

It is actually reviews on tripadvisor that made me decide on this particular motel! Of all those in the area, it was the best reviewed. I will be sure to post there about what I experienced.

jackal,

if I were going to dispute the charge with my cc, wouldn't I need to contact the motel first and ask for a full refund, and be refused by them, since while there I only asked for partial? ... If so, I'm a little hesitant to do that, since I expect they will not want to grant it, and it will just revive all the stress of my visit.

jackal,

if I were going to dispute the charge with my cc, wouldn't I need to contact the motel first and ask for a full refund, and be refused by them, since while there I only asked for partial? ... If so, I'm a little hesitant to do that, since I expect they will not want to grant it, and it will just revive all the stress of my visit.

Technically, you're supposed to exhaust all reasonable means of fixing the problem with the merchant. However, I see people dispute charges all the time without even letting the merchant know they're doing so, and many times, they win. It may be worth a shot.

If you feel like you need to make one more effort, contact the "manager" and threaten an unflattering online review - no need to mention the one you've posted here since you don't id the property. Don't mention the specific website(s) you plan to post in. Ask for exactly what you want - a full refund. Whether you get the refund or not, you owe a warning to your fellow travelers. We're all in this together, right?

If you feel like you need to make one more effort, contact the "manager" and threaten an unflattering online review - no need to mention the one you've posted here since you don't id the property. Don't mention the specific website(s) you plan to post in. Ask for exactly what you want - a full refund. Whether you get the refund or not, you owe a warning to your fellow travelers. We're all in this together, right?

I'd follow BamaVol's advice, but I expect you're unlikely to get (and hardly deserve) a full refund. You should have quickly voted with your feet, actually as my wife has perhaps too often done, immediately after check-in. That which begins badly rarely improves much. I'd be not happy with but feel deserving of a one night's refund or equivalent thereof.

As for a CC dispute, after all, the motel provided you a room, the same accommodations provided to the other guests during your stay. You may not have liked the service provided, but to refuse to pay for it raises the same sort of flag that stopping payment on a check does, the old value received question....the legendary "One man's inedible steak and refusal of payment is the local restaurant owner's call to the police and 'Pay or jail' confrontation". I don't think you really have a leg to stand on, as you arrived, entered into a contract and did not revoke it immediately or quickly, making it enforceable in general terms.

Your incident would have been common 50 years ago and prompted of the development of the "chains" and franchising programs, too many travelers coming upon the late night neon vacancy signs of "NoTell Motels" and "DoDrop Inns", and finding them to be horror stories. Looking back to the early 50s, those old Holiday Inns with all their glass were not very luxurious, but sure better than the local competitors in most cases (and compared to the old decaying downtown hotel roach palaces, nicer, convenient and except for the trucks on the highway in front, quieter, absent the sounds of late night revelry and the high heels of the prefessional services providers coming and going in the night - and the gigantic "Whoosh" of vacuum flushed toilets several doors down the hall).

Your incident would have been common 50 years ago and prompted of the development of the "chains" and franchising programs, too many travelers coming upon the late night neon vacancy signs of "NoTell Motels" and "DoDrop Inns", and finding them to be horror stories. Looking back to the early 50s, those old Holiday Inns with all their glass were not very luxurious, but sure better than the local competitors in most cases (and compared to the old decaying downtown hotel roach palaces, nicer, convenient and except for the trucks on the highway in front, quieter, absent the sounds of late night revelry and the high heels of the prefessional services providers coming and going in the night - and the gigantic "Whoosh" of vacuum flushed toilets several doors down the hall).

The independents continue to go down in flames. Our local newspaper, The Anniston (AL) Star ran a feature story this morning on 2 local properties filing for bankruptcy. One began life as a Holiday Inn. On its downward spiral, it lived on as a Best Western for a while and was renamed 2 or 3 more times in the last couple years. The property also incorporates a former HoJos next door.

In the last 5 years, there's been a flurry of building that has left us with just about every low to mid-range lodging option. That has been the death knell for these older places. I can easily picture the OP taking place in one of our low end, older, rebranded-multiple-times ratholes.