What would you do if you ended up with a horrible hotel/motel stay?

The last crappy (for lack of better terms) motel I stayed in was a Motel 6. I ended up there last summer because my gas budget ran dry, and the only other money I had was hotel money…you get the idea.

Anyway, I go there and the guy at the front desk was a Spanish speaking man who thought his English was just fine. In school, Spanish class was nap class so I was clueless. However, it was educational for both of us. I learned how to say idiot in Spanish: idiota. He learned that “frustrating pea-brained man” in English was not a compliment.

Well, I finally climbed the stairs and visited my room: 113. It turned out, the man at the front desk had given me the keys for room 114, so I went back down to “haggle” for the right ones. That took awhile.

I finally get into my room…which appeared ok, until I went into the bathroom. No towels, and the toilet revealed evidence of recent use…and than there was the smell.

Later that evening, I turned on the air conditioner….only, it blew fire hot air…and it wouldn’t shut off…I also discovered that lamp by the bed didn’t work by a long shot.

I went out to dinner…it was the best part of the night. I came back to discover that the maids had cleaned my room…and some of my personal belongings. Thankfully, the “cleaned” items consisted of merely one nightgown, an imitation ring and the few dollars of snack money I had left.

That night, families kept arriving by the bucket load. I fell asleep to the bang of suitcases, the squeak of luggage carts, a crying child and a race in progress by two teen-aged boys.

The next morning started with a bang…it turned out the people above me were in the middle of an argument…an argument involving physical force. I partook of the continental breakfast offered at that Motel 6…a continental breakfast of half stale baggels, semi-hard boiled eggs and this black stuff they called coffee.

That is my worse motel experience to date.

Usually (this has happened more than once), if the service is sub-par and the general appearance and ambiance of the place is a bit off i’ll speak to the manager expecting either an upgrade or some form of compensation and unless it is provided will stay at a different hotel and not pay.

@Spinel Dude…....I was not there and I want to run from the room! @Dr_C How do you NOT pay when they have your card information on file already when you booked the room?

Quite simply… you can call your bank and have them stop payment or deny access.
Also.. they may have your card information but cannot charge you for time not spent at their hotel.

I went to a hotel once that had a dirty bath room. Before I even check completely in, I always check the room first. Unless its packed and I don’t have any other options. I went to the room and found the bathroom not cleaned. I asked if they had anything else available that was in cleaner conditions and they offered me another room. Actually, they were nice enough to offer me 2 other rooms on the same floor and told me to let them know which was acceptable. I was nice about it though. When they said the room had been cleaned, I offer the excuse that the rest of the room was clean and perhaps they overlooked the bathroom, however I could not stay in that room. If I had felt the staff was rude or no attempts where made to fix the situation then I would slam them on a ratings website and leave a comment card. I did stay in a smelly, but clean hotel in Florida and didn’t complain because the room was free. You get what you paid for. LOL, Of course it was packed. It was being renevated and we stayed in the old part. It was one of those condo rental package deals where they put you up somewhere crappy and then show you vacation condos. Never doing that again.

I find when that happens. I become a bigger ass then you all see me as. :-)

I get what I need or I will move on. I usually get what I want. ;-)

I would ask to speak to the Manager. i would calmly tell the manager what the problems were, and how I wanted them rectified.

If I did not get satisfaction, I would not stay in the hotel again.

I would not do what @Dr_C advises, because unless you brought the problems to management’s attention and had a record of your complaint, you would be hard placed to prove that you did not owe the money for the stay.

@Hypocrisy_Central Who can blame you? I know I sure did – but it was there or the car…I still wonder which would have been the better choice…