Budget Inn Motel

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 9, 2015/08/25) */
He came & messed up the bed and the bathroomHe said he didn't like the room and he made all the reservations onlineHe didn't stay but minutesWe do not give refunds for any situationHe threw everything on the floor, towels &
everything

As I mentioned before on the phone with you earlier today, we have no record of the guest staying with us under that name.  She also mentions the words "Budget Inn", "swamp cooler" and a "women owner".  We are called the St. George Inn and Suites and have been since 2011 and we have had...

the same owner since the hotel was built back in 1992.  He does not work here at the hotel.  I also checked with my staff and have no record of an A/C unit (we do not have swamp coolers in rooms) being repaired on that date for "being smokey and sparking up".  I'm sorry about the experience she had, but I think in this case she may have mistaken us with another hotel.  There is a hotel here in St. George named The Inn at St. George and sometimes guests get it confused with our name. Thank you for your help in this matter.  I look forward to hearing from you.Regards,

This business accepted a NON-REFUNDABLE reservation in June, and days before our arrival in August chose to no longer honor this reservation because they felt they could make more renting to people attending a local festival (their words in the email). This majorly disrupted our complicated travel plans. Do not trust this business-it seems that there are no repercussions for their actions, even though if I were to cancel my non-refundable reservation with them last minute I have no doubt I would lose my payment. How is this even legal??

Review: Rented a room at Budget Inn. About 3 to 4 hours after occupying the room, we turned the TV on, instead of a broadcasting station coming up on the screen, all that was seen was similar to a LCD smartphone with a damaged display screen although there was no sign of physical damage on the screen. You could see a point of impact pattern of the liquid crystal forming a circle in a spiral pattern like it had been punched. Immediately I called the front office from the room phone to report the issue. The front desk employee came to the room a couple minutes later to check out the tv , we advised her it was the first time we had the chance to turn on the TV and wanted to report it to them immediately to make them aware of the problem. The front desk employee apologized for the inconvenience, advised us that unfortunately she wouldn't be able to have it replaced with a working television until the following day. She thanked us for bringing it to their attention and normally don't find out about issues like that until a customer reports it to them because they do not turn TV's on to check if they work when customers check out. I specifically asked the employee, "Since the TV cannot be changed out tonight, is this going to be an issue tomorrow morning when we check out? I don't want to lose my deposit because of something we didn't do. That's part of the reason I reported it to you the second we saw it." The employee said there shouldn't be a problem and would note in our account that we reported it and she came right up to check it out and she saw no reason to question the TV damage was done prior to our check in. The following morning I called the front office to ask for an extended check out and was informed that we were being asked to leave because they couldn't confirm the damage of the TV was done before or after we had reported it, but reassured us we'd still get our full deposit retuned. Upon check out, they refused to refund our deposit for damage of the TV.Desired Settlement: Full refund of pet and key deposit of $45 we paid at time of check in, an apology for the false accusations of criminal acts they claimed we had done and a suggestion/or consider some type of course/training in dispute resolution for businesses.

Business

Response:

Our housekeeping staff checks every television at the time of cleaning. The television in this room was in working order when the room was received. HOURS later, they reported this problem. It was our determination that the guest filing this complaint was the one that broke it, and subsequently made up a story to not take the blame/responsibility. We did keep the security deposit for this room, and these guests are not allowed to stay here in the future unless they pay for the balance of the cost of the TV, and apologize for their actions. Even then, we most likely don't want them to stay here again. The "desired settlement" is comical--these people were not accused of any criminal acts; they broke something of ours and we hold them responsible. Suggesting we need training in dispute resolution can only be translated to mean that they want us to agree to their version of the story even though the television worked when they received the room, and was broken hours after they received the room.