CaliguyNYC

Had this happen to me. W Westwood. They accused me of $500 in damage. Breaking things and taking an ash tray that was for sale in the room. Said it was like a huge party was in the room. Maid swore to it. They had pictures etc for the date I checked out. One problem, I never left the room. I had a second reservation. so checked out and checked right back in to the same room (ie I never left). Boom they were caught and I only reminded them of the second reservation when it had gone to the manager (first the hospitality head dealt with me).

So to those that say (1) hotels don't lie -- wrong (2) the cleaning staff are never in on scams - wrong and (3) hotel management would then take action - wrong - they refused to fire or report the maid and offered me 1000 or so points (big deal - don't want points want justice). Well moved my business to another hotel. And at least 10 of my colleagues never stay there anymore. I will say shocking that 5 star hotels would even attempt this to people and especially those on corporate visits & rates.

Dr. HFH

Kudos to you for bringing the mistakes which were in your favor to the hotel's attention. Reading the mistake fare/rate threads, one might easily get the impression that FTers are a bunch of self-centered people whose only interest is taking advantage of travel vendors.

BenSenise

isn't this called extortion or fraud? i would have asked to see the pictures and then i would have called the police. you are obviously much more kind hearted than i am. i would never tolerate this and would have pursued this to the full extent of the law.

HK47

All,

Thanks for all of the replies - useful information about my options. Sorry I took so long to get back to you.

I complained to SPG corporate. I also disputed the charge with the credit card company, but unfortunately I was using the small business card so as I understand it my legal protection here is less extensive.

Here is the cost breakdown the GM gave me. $240 in labor seems a bit excessive but the replacement costs seem plausible:

Double Room Replacement and Cleaning
Queen Foam Pillow
$17.44
Queen Feather Pillow
$65.06
Duvet (Decorative Cvr)
$44.50
Skirt
$30.08
Blanket Feather
$41.55
Boudoir Pillow
$4.22
Boudoir Cover
$9.64
Sub Total Material
$ 212.49
Labor

Deep Clean
$ 81.00
R. A Cleaning
$ 81.00
Supervisor
$ 81.00

$ 243.00
Misc Chemicals
$ 50.00
Total
$ 505.49

Here are some images taken from the room. We left some glasses of wine out and declined housekeeping one day so the room was messy, but didn't pour the wine all over the place or write ".... u" on the mirror:

forumpersona999

Wow. Looks like an illicit romantic encounter gone wrong after you checked out.

Or someone was using Ambien to sleep and had major side effects

This is a horrible situation to be in. The hotel will use key logs and say you were last in. Not sure where the burden of proof rests in this sort of thing. Photos, key logs and a sworn affidavit from the maid can probably keep this going for quite a while.

Hope you will ever find out what happened.

Jesperss

Maybe a housekeeper you ticked off by leaving the place a pit.

Let me guess...didn't leave a tip?

f0xx

That's a lot of food next to the bed....
Also looks like a woman's handwriting on the mirror...

remymartin

The handwriting's pretty unique - perhaps use that as some sort of evidence?

wobbly wings

Seems well enough for a visit to the police.

GUWonder

It seems like someone was upset at the OP, at someone else, at the hotel or at one or more of the mentioned.

Did the OP and/or accompanying guest(s) by any chance leave the room door in part open/unlocked after final departure from the room?

It's not that unheard for guests to have left the room without making sure the door is fully closed and locked when leaving the room to check out. That opens the possibility for the damage to be done by a party that is not housekeeping staff and that is not the OP.

atxtraveler

I am with the poster who mentioned a handwriting sample. That would prove you innocent or guilty very quickly. If you were proven innocent of the handwriting, I would bring in every member of the house keeping staff to validate their handwriting.

I am now firmly on the OP's side... I think it was a case of not "pre-cleaning" a room, and a devious housekeeping staff member figuring he/she could get away with a little mayhem and then blame it on the guest.

clublounger

I'm not on the side of anybody that would leave that much crap on the nightstand, or glasses full or half full of wine. Pigs do that, not respectful humans. There are trash cans and sinks to utilize.

I don't know what that means.

schmoove

Agreed, just because you aren't at home doesn't mean you should just leave junk all over the place.

atxtraveler

You pretty much nailed what pre-cleaning means, in my opinion. I do my best to get any trash into bins, and any drinks into the sink and then the plastic cups in the bin. This is likely a case of the housekeeper having too much stress and walking into a target rich environment, left by the OP.

farbster

Just because the hotel logs say something doesn't make it right. Remember the lesson from The Wire. The newspaper didn't care about the truth, it didn't make a good story.

We stayed one night before a very early flight at an airport hotel. When we checked out they tried sticking us with a long distance call. I carried on that we have cell phones with free long distance (this was 15 years ago) and we'd never use their phone. They said they looked at the records, blah blah blah. I told them I don't know anyone where they said I was calling (Indiana maybe?) and their computer was wrong.

They kept insisting that they were right. I told them that the only way that was possible was if someone snuck into our room at night and made the call. I told them that I'd start walking through the hotel screaming that there was an intruder. That got them to reverse the charges asap.