Everyone, get this:
My husband works out of town, and the last time he showed up at the La Quinta Inn in Franklin, TN a couple of days before the boss. The boss asked him to give the hotel our card to hold the room (paid us 50 bucks for the trouble.) Then boss man gave the hotel his card when he got in town, a full week before checkout. So nothing is supposed to come from our account at all. All’s well, right?
Check-out day:
The hotel charged our account anyway.
$280 (for a “holding fee”) + $287 and change.
Husband went down to front desk, this was on Saturday, and they assured him it was cleared up even though one of those charges would say “pending” until close of banking business on Monday night.
Tuesday morning.
Not cleared up. $280.
Then, $280 again.
Then, again. $280.
Then, you guessed it: again. $280
And one more time, this time for $287 and change.
FIVE charges on Tuesday morning instead of none. Tuesday they assured us it would be cleared up on Wednesday.
Not.
Wednesday they assured us it would be cleared up today.
Not.
So now, with all those charges PLUS overdraft fees the account is almost $800 negative. And I need to buy things. And I need to pay bills.
Fuck you, La Quinta Inn in Nashville, Franklin, TN. You are a bunch of incompetent morons.
Oh, yeah. No money to celebrate Valentines day.
UPDATE: Here’s someone else who had a grand time with La Quinta Inn. This site is also about how La Quinta Inn Sucks.
FURTHER UPDATE: The latest is that from today, five days after this started, they are saying it will be 3–5 business days before our original money is back in our account ~monday is a holiday, so we’re talking thursday or so~ and 2 weeks before they refund us the fees we have accrued in this mess. I called the customer service department for La Quinta Inns, and the woman on the other end told me there was nothing she could do.
So I asked her, “It sounds to me like you are saying that because of banking procedures (set up to work under normal circumstances) your hands are tied, and you feel no responsibility for the incompetence of YOUR employees, considering that we owed La Quinta NOTHING. Her response:
“If your husband’s boss had been there at check-in none of this would have happened.”
Way to own up to your mistakes. Fantastic business practice. Good luck with that, La Quinta.
If there’s anybody at La Quinta Inns & Suites with enough sense, I suggest you start reading Seth Godin’s blog.
*** Help me by Stumbling this article! Maybe if more people see it, I’ll get my money sooner! ***
I'm Taylor. This is my classroom. There used to be a "real" teacher behind this blog, but she nagged me all the time about not saying this and not saying that. ~all she ever did was type anyway, since my fingers are stuck together~ So I've taken over.
Yes, I'm an imitation Barbie knock-off doll. What of it? Barbie's got nothing on me! Let me take you to school.
Apparently, on June 20th of last year, my wife and I posted 2 signs in Philadelphia, claiming that the street side parking was reserved for our Day Care facility.
1. We own no day care facility
2. I would never, EVER set foot in the area listed in the two code violation tickets we received. I’d be dead and chopped in to wind chimes in seconds.
3. On said date, both violations occurred, according to the tickets, at the EXACT SAME TIME. Interesting, b/c the one ticket is listed on the 500 block of the street and the other, the 800 block.
4. Of greater interest, the tickets, apparently written at the exact same time, were written by ONE OFFICER (must be a clone).
5. So now, on June 4th, I have to attend a hearing and prove that I do not own a day care center in an area where children are presumably consumed like fresh vegetables by an impecunious and drug-addled neighborhood.
6. Best part, the city wants me to provide “documentation that I do not own a child care facility”. Um…I suppose I’ll bring the same documentation that claims I do not have ownership over a cilantro packing facility.
So welcome to America.
Although, grousing about no money for Valentine’s Day sounds American enough, right?
Just give the man a hug. Maybe a kiss. Indulge a fetish.
Me, I’m gonna roll around in some cilantro.
XOXO
ken’s last blog post..inspirational throw-away
Ken, your mind works in mysterious ways.
He’s out of town anyway, for Valentine’s Day. It’s not the holiday, it’s the seventeen hundred bucks (and counting.)
Hotels suck at reimbursing people … we had the sae thing at Mellow Mushroom pizza in winston-Salem … we bought 5 peoples dinner that night .. and not once did they EVER apologize … hope it gets cleared up soon for you …
The big chain hotels in the US seem to not pay their staff very well. The professionalism is somewhat lacking to say the least.
@mark No kidding! This is been outrageous.
So it’s never the person’s fault…? I have seen many signs stating that if you use a DEBIT/CHECK card, the funds are taken out right away yet I hear people complaining non stop about how they have no money and have an overdraft fee. It’s the hotel’s fault that you presented a method of payment with no money?? Checking someone in is very easy and VERY safe. They cannot swipe your credit card and then “decide” to charge you 2x, 3x 8x as much. In my career, about 85-95% of hotel billing issues is the actual card holder and their bank. A hotel can send a request to your bank that we will charge you $100 from your initial $120 authorization, thus releasing $20. Some banks do not allow second auths on the same card (Bank issue) then resulting in a new $120 auth and a $100 charge with a total of $340 showing up on your statement even though the hotel only charged $100, the rest releases on the bank’s time. It is out of the Hotel’s hands and it is your bank’s policy. The operators at your bank are paid less and will say just about anything to make you happy due to the phone survey at the end of the call. A Hotel Front Desk Clerk is paid well in accordance to the demographics and will work hard to get a promotion. It’s not that they won’t give you your $$$ back, it’s that they can’t. Read ALL the very fine print on the agreement when you get a new credit card. It states it very clearly that it is up to the bank’s discretion to release funds or allow charges from pending holds or authorizations…this is their way to get overdraft fees and a simple attempt to stop theft. Educate yourself first before you go on an idiotic rant.
@MS: You must be a hotel employee. ANd if so you are justifying. I have managed several front desks and let me tell you, hotels are horrible at refunding money. Holiday Inn requires, as part of the QA inspection that all cash refunds be signed by the GM, BEFORE they are issued. But what if the GM is not there that day? no other manager has that authority (I was Front Office Manager and I didn’t) I was also General Manager at Extended Stay America. And while they are really good at refunds it does cause problems. Ussually it is GSR’s screewing it up. sometimes it’s employees doing it out of spite. Sometimes it’s banking rules. But even then. I have spend hours talking to banks to release authorizations on cards we have done by mistake. If a hotel operator is not willing to do some leg work for his guests/customer/boss, then they don’t deserve them.
Also, just for the record hotels can and do charge your card even if your card is not present. Once they scan it once, their system stores the cards data and they can charge you whatever they want. Wether it will stand up to cardholder dispute is something else.
I am actually a General Manager. I doubt that an FDSR or GSR would do that in spite. I think with this eceonomy, anybody will complain about the price of “soft goods”. Guests come in all the time and complain that they were here 2 months ago and the rate was $12 lower or that they “come here all the time”. This isn’t a nightclub. You can come every day but if you are not a Governement Employee, work for the company down the street or a pilot, you are paying the best available rate. I cannot give you a “deal” and there is nothing called the “Manager Special.” and there is nothing that I can do for you because we go wayyy back.
It is easier to understand the hotel like a gas station. They pretty much make just .5 cents per gallon sold. Everything else is taken to pay for all general expenses…thus, prices go up or down. If they raise prices, that is because all the costs to get the gas in their tanks is higher. They can lower prices because the cost is lower and they need to stay competetive.
We have something called a cost per rented room; for every room occupied that night, this is the cost to staff, advertise, employ, power, clean and change the amenities and sheets for the room. Anything less than that amount is a loss, anything more is a profit but stil not bottom line money. I cannot get into that because that will take me all day!
So when you checked in last Sunday, we had no rooms occupied so we are lowered rate to entice people to choose our hotel. Once our occupancy goes up, costs raise thus the rate raises. And, no…we cannot adjust the rate just for you. It is a prespecified and well calculated rate that cannot be altered or overidden. Just a tip, book in advance and be very nice to the hotel staff. It will get you MUCH further than looking for an issue to happen so you can complain and possibly get something for free. Tipping is also unessesary for the Front Desk.
If a hotel is at only 30% occupancy, we can have a low rate to bring in the business.
Also, MS is 100$ correct in what he said.
Banks are horrible to their customers and I actually was on a 3-way call with a guest and her bank and they stated that we messed up and tried to steal her money and she should complain to try to get a free night and possibly more.
Let me just say that she was pretty surprised that I was on the phone.
You are justified in the way you feel, however as a manager…..of a LaQuinta…..myself and my staff will go above and beyond to take care of issues like this. I hope this does not keep you from staying at a LaQuinta agin!
I was a guest at the LaQuinta Inns and suites in Jacksonville Florida
I was electrocuted from an exposed electrical wire, I have photos,
I have yet to receive any release from LaQuinta for medical treatment
it has been months, I keep getting the run around with claim adjusters.
I don’t know that to do, these types of corporations need to be exposed, anyone out there that wants to download these photos of faulty
wiring give get in touch with me.