Hi there! I know it has taken a long time but I wanted to post the whole experience once everything has ended. And that just happened last week!

To make a long history short... I still donīt know how much the hotel screwed me up. But these are the facts:

1. The hotel kept saying that they tried to remove the stains and that they would not come out. After insisting for about one week (at a point where the hotel would not even answer emails), they sent me an invoice with all the details of the charges. Impressingly, according to them, all the linen in the room was damaged (that is, all the linen for the two beds in the room).

2. I requested the hotel to hand over the damaged linen to me. I have a friend in the area who actually picked it up (he lives on the other side of Houston and took some times for him to have a chance to drive up to the hotel, and I must say that the hotel actually pushed a lot to have the damaged linen picked up soon or "it would be discarded"). I live around 1000 miles away of the hotel and therefore it was impossible for me to have it personally picked up. My friend is holding the linen for handing over to me during my next vacation there (when, BTW, I am planning on visiting him). However, my friend has not physically confirmed that the items the hotel marks in the invoice are precisely what the hotel handed to him.

3. I did not dispute the charges with my CC company (AMEX) given that I suddenly recalled that when I purchased my car insurance last year I was offered some sort of "general liability insurance for charges caused by the family", and I added that coverage. So I called my insurance company, explained what had happened, and filed a claim with them. They advised that they may request some documentation to the hotel, therefore, I did not want to make the conflict bigger by filing the CC dispute (I wanted the hotel to be cooperative).

4. The insurance company actually requested me the hotel documentation (invoice, details, a copy of all email correspondence, etc.) which I provided, and a letter from the hotel confirming that they had collected everything they needed to collect. Although I expected the hotel to be cooperative on this, they never sent the letter. Indeed, I personally called the guest service manager to politely explain why the letter was needed, and although she said three times on three different calls that they had sent the letter, the insurance company never got it and the hotel never sent me a copy of the letter even while I requested it several times.

5. Nevertheless, the insurance company acted diligently and processed the claim even without the letter. I JUST GOT THE REIMBURSEMENT IN MY BANK ACCOUNT ON FRIDAY!!!!! The insurance company reimbursed me the equivalent to $233 USD (after deducting "depreciation of the item").

So far... I am glad I had that coverage in my insurance.