Holiday Inn-College Park

This letter is in response to Revdex.com Complaint ID [redacted] ( [redacted] )We sincerely apologize for the situation that arose from the guest not being able to pump or nurse her infant while attending a meeting at our hotel facilitiesThe details are not correct in her account; although the adjacent room was unoccupied at the time, it was contracted and paid for by another organization Although a group was not physically in a room, we cannot violate the terms of a contract to allow someone into a room that was contracted and paid for in advanceThe hotel occupancy was almost at complete capacity meaning near sold out, which is why our manager offered the room at $as it was one of the last rooms available in our room inventoryAgain, we are unable to give a complimentary guest room on a time of 99% occupancy for the hotel If we are not at 100% occupancy we are in the hospitality industry would try our best to accommodate all guest requestsWe have made the staff aware that if it occurs in the future to try and offer a chair and access to outlets and to be as helpful as possible to all guest including those attending meetings at the property We sincerely apologize to the guest for not being able to accommodate her needsI would suggest in the future if she is aware that she requires special assistance, call ahead to make arrangements in advance so we can have ample time to fulfill our obligations to ail of our customers Sincerely

This letter is in response to Revdex.com Complaint ID [redacted]). We sincerely apologize for the situation that arose from the guest not being able to pump or nurse her infant while attending a meeting at our hotel facilities. The details are not correct in her account; although the adjacent room...

was unoccupied at the time, it was contracted and paid for by another organization.
Although a group was not physically in a room, we cannot violate the terms of a contract to allow someone into a room that was contracted and paid for in advance. The hotel occupancy was almost at complete capacity meaning near sold out, which is why our manager offered the room at $139 as it was one of the last rooms available in our room inventory. Again, we are unable to give a complimentary guest room on a time of 99% occupancy for the hotel.
If we are not at 100% occupancy we are in the hospitality industry would try our best to accommodate all guest requests. We have made the staff aware that if it occurs in the future to try and offer a chair and access to outlets and to be as helpful as possible to all guest including those attending meetings at the property.
We sincerely apologize to the guest for not being able to accommodate her needs. I would suggest in the future if she is aware that she requires special assistance, call ahead to make arrangements in advance so we can have ample time to fulfill our obligations to ail of our customers.
Sincerely

Review: On Tuesday, February 11, 2014, I attended a conference at the Holiday Inn on [redacted], MD that took place from 8 - 4pm. Before going into the conference room, I spoke to the manager, [redacted], and explained to him that I was a nursing mother. I then asked the manager if there is a private area I could use to pump (for nursing) for 10 minutes during lunch break because I would be there for 8 hours. It has been recommended by my 5 month infant's pediatrician to exclusively breastfeed if possible for the first 6 months of his life. In order to this, it is important that I am able to pump when I am not near him. I tried to explain to him the importance of this. I was dismissed. I was told that he could not provide any of the conference rooms (although they were free). Instead, I was told that if I needed to that, I could use the women's restroom. I felt insulted. I explained to him that this is not a sanitary nor private area to pump. Again, I was dismissed and was told that if I didn't want to do that, I could rent a room for $139 to pump (for 10 minutes). That is absurd. When I declined both options, I was told there was nothing else he could do for me. The host of the conference asked again for me and she was told the same thing. Because I was desperate to pump, I did check the women's restroom closest to our conference room and did not understand how I was expected to pump in there anyway. There were no chairs (except for the toilet seats) and only 2 plug outlets (1 near one of the bathroom stalls and the other in a wide open area in front of the mirror with NO privacy at all). I couldn't do it. The thought of possibly giving my son an infection from pumping in the bathroom was quite upsetting. Because the room adjacent to our conference room was empty during lunch, I quickly attempted to pump in there. However, I felt completely humiliated because of the lack of privacy and the possibility of exposing myself on a camera. I paid $199 to attend this conference for 8 hours at this facility. It is shocking and unbelievable I was treated this way, especially because it is the LAW to provide a nursing mother a private area to either breastfeed or pump if she is required to be at that location for a certain period of time. I'm not sure if the staff and manager is unaware of this law but I highly recommend your team research it and not treat another nursing mother in this same manner. It is humiliating, upsetting, and absurd. Here is the link explaining the law http://www.ncsl.org/research/health/breastfeeding-state-laws.aspxDesired Settlement: Better future service

Business

Response:

This letter is in response to Revdex.com Complaint ID [redacted] ([redacted]). We sincerely apologize for the situation that arose from the guest not being able to pump or nurse her infant while attending a meeting at our hotel facilities. The details are not correct in her account; although the adjacent room was unoccupied at the time, it was contracted and paid for by another organization.

Although a group was not physically in a room, we cannot violate the terms of a contract to allow someone into a room that was contracted and paid for in advance. The hotel occupancy was almost at complete capacity meaning near sold out, which is why our manager offered the room at $139 as it was one of the last rooms available in our room inventory. Again, we are unable to give a complimentary guest room on a time of 99% occupancy for the hotel.

If we are not at 100% occupancy we are in the hospitality industry would try our best to accommodate all guest requests. We have made the staff aware that if it occurs in the future to try and offer a chair and access to outlets and to be as helpful as possible to all guest including those attending meetings at the property.

We sincerely apologize to the guest for not being able to accommodate her needs. I would suggest in the future if she is aware that she requires special assistance, call ahead to make arrangements in advance so we can have ample time to fulfill our obligations to ail of our customers.

Sincerely