Is this enough compensation? A $10 voucher for a filthy hotel room

Days Inn doesn’t exactly have a reputation for sparkling clean rooms and five-star customer service. Then again, Alyssa Erikson didn’t choose the hotel — Priceline did when she booked it through the site’s popular “Name Your Own Price” service.

She ended up with a room at the Days Inn Davis, Calif., which gets so-so reviews.

Erikson explains what happened after she checked in.

As I readied the pullout couch for my daughter, I questioned if the sheets had been changed or cleaned. There was an old toy, the sheets were rumpled, and had a few crumbs on them.

It was late and my daughter was sleeping, so I gave the hotel the benefit of the doubt that the sheets were clean.

In the morning, I got in the shower and saw an old bar of soap with a hair in it and hair on the shower wall. So, clearly it wasn’t clean. I got out and went to the front desk (dressed, of course).

The manager was surprised that there was a pullout couch, stating that they had gotten rid of all of them. So probably (from her), it wasn’t clean. Basically, she told my husband and me that she couldn’t give us a refund because our room was prepaid through Priceline. Call Priceline and they would issue a refund, she said.

Erikson phoned Priceline, but it did her little good. The online agency contacted the hotel and then sent her a form email that said she didn’t lodge her complaint during her stay — which wasn’t true — and so they wouldn’t issue a refund.

I called the manager and spoke with her and she basically gave me about 500 different reasons she couldn’t refund our stay — one of which was that I should have inspected the room and shower when we checked in, and if it wasn’t up to our standards, then complain at that time.

I told her that we spoke with her immediately after discovering the dirty shower. I called Priceline again and they told me that they are unavailable to verify whether or not we lodged a complaint during our stay, so they can not do any more for my complaint.

Complaints to Days Inn at the corporate level and the Better Business Bureau have yielded nothing. The Days Inn property offered Erikson a $10 voucher and Priceline kicked in a “$10 off” for a five-night hotel booking for a future purchase.

“I’m not seeking anything unreasonable,” she told me. “I think a refund — or even a partial refund — is fair.”

We had a similar situation yesterday, where a hotel guest used the room but was unhappy with the service. Since Erikson only stayed at Days Inn in Davis for one night, there was very little the hotel could do to “fix” the issue, other than instruct housekeeping to give the room some much-needed attention.

I’m unsure of this one. I think Days Inn and Priceline could have handled her complaint better, but I don’t know how much more they could have done. Then again, if it was my daughter sleeping on dirty sheets, I’d be pretty steamed. Wouldn’t you?

What do you think?

Update: (2 p.m.) I’ve asked Priceline about this case. Its records say the Erikson requested an early check-in, and was given a room. “Sometimes, they don’t have time to clean those rooms,” a Priceline representative said. According to the hotel’s records, she didn’t mention anything about the condition of the room until she checked out.

(Photo: Notoriou Sjen/Flickr Creative Commons)

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  • http://cestbeth.com Beth

    Regarding the 2:00 pm update, that has to be the lamest excuse ever. If the room isn’t clean, don’t allow someone to check into it. Priceline should not be condoning that as a real excuse. Please.

  • MichelleLV

    @Nancy

    “Ordering rooms through the opague sites doesn’t mean it’ll be a rat hole with a flashing light outside advertising “Rooms for rent”. It’s not going to be the Four Seasons but it should at least be clean with fresh sheets.”

    This statement isn’t true. Priceline does offer different star levels, and the customer chooses the star level. I have stayed in some of the nicest hotels in many cities across the US. With Priceline you are “guaranteed” a hotel room with a star level of your choosing, and the area that you choose. Depending on the hotel concentrations, and city size the area can a square mile or a whole city. But they will show you upfront the area. What are you not guaranteed is a room with more than 1 double bed (though I have only had this issue once), a non smoking room, or a room on a particular floor. The hotel is not going to offer you any extra perks or discounts that they may offer other patrons. Rooms are non refundable, or transferable. Meaning I also bid, no more than a week before I travel. If I am traveling with someone other than my spouse, I’m aware that I may need to bid again and get a second hotel room to get a second bed (never had to do this though). All rooms should be clean and in working order and if they are not, the hotel has always moved me to a room or rectified the situation without much of a hassle.

    This is from my own personal experience of using Priceline bidding for hotel about 100 times during the last 10 years.

  • MichelleLV

    @OTC
    “In my opion Days Inn are best left to the junkies and hookers.”

    I have never stayed in clean Days Inn or Econo Lodge.
    I can’t say they are all dirty but from my experience I do avoid these motels. This is besides the point. The OP bought a hotel room that should have been clean. It does not matter if she used a third party or not. UNFORTUNATELY she did not go about it the right way so I don’t think she is entitled to a refund. I think it would be a nice gesture but not entitled. You have to assess the room when you check in. If there are issues than the front desk should be notified immediately. The hotel has to be given a chance to rectify the situation. It is the same with any business, if you use the service you should pay for the service. The fact is she DID use the room.

  • Ames

    The 2pm update does change things. With an early Check in there was time to ask for new sheets for the pull out bed. I would have asked even if they were just really rumpled and the crumbs had dropped through the couch cushions. That would be gross enough, I’d change the sheets myself not a big problem. But that might have inspired me to take a peek at the bathroom and realize the room was not ready. Even when a room IS ready, how clean is it really anyway?

  • Raven

    @Chris:
    Uhh…I worked in a HoJo during college. The property certainly wasn’t the Ritz, but we NEVER rented a dirty room. If someone asked for an early check-in, we would always find time to clean the room.

    Priceline’s response is going to be copy/pasted all over the internet by yours truly in the hopes that people steer clear of those scammers. I hate that site and I hate even more that they are justifying this filth.

  • Thalassa

    The early check in update makes a huge difference in my opinion.

    I had assumed they checked in late to the hotel, and while I still believe it’s your own responsibility to check the room out before sleeping, I understood that they were exhausted and so was the kid, and so they just crashed.

    But if they had early check in, that means it was probably before 6 PM. Maybe even earlier than that! There’s no excuse, if you found crumbs and a toy, that you don’t pick up the room phone and make a call. And they didn’t turn on a light in the bathroom until the next day? Yeah, I was on the traveler’s side until I found out about the early check in.

  • bodega

    Regarding the 2pm update. A Priceline rep really said that when you request an early checkin they may not have time to clean the room first? That is absurb and good reason never to use a company that is only there to sell and doesn’t service.

    I would like to hear what the motel has to say about this. Have you contacted them, too, Chris?

  • http://badbadwebbis.wordpress.com badbadwebbis

    I realize that Alyssa took it for granted that the room would be clean, and I’ll admit that sometimes it’s difficult to tell, from a cursory exploration, the difference between a dingy/dilapidated room and one that has not been cleaned.

    HOWEVER. It was not clean. Cleanliness, I believe, is part of the contract with the motel, even if it is a Day’s Inn. Even if it was purchased through Priceline. Even if it is shabby on the outside and not in the best part of town. Priceline contracts with the property, and I’m pretty sure that none of the star-ratings allows for filth.

    Chris, I hope you get some good results.

  • Jim

    Welcome to Priceline.

  • laura

    RE: “early check-in and whether they will have cleaned the room”

    Not a fan of Priceline but I don’t think the rep was saying you’ll be subjected to a dirty room.

    My father always had a thing about checking in early. Many times we were told at the early check-in that the room had not yet been cleaned, but this did not mean we were expected to tolerate it in that condition. If the room were not yet cleaned, the clerk would then inform us of our choices:

    1.wait until the room had been cleaned
    2.take another room (possibly not of the same classification, style, building location or whatever we had booked)
    3. place our luggage in the room and leave to go elsewhere and they would call us when the room had been cleaned.
    4. Leave luggage at the front deak to be placed in our room when cleaned (many guests actually only want an earlier check-in so they can dump luggage). One hotel offered to store our luggage until the room was open and gave us the use of the spa to take showers, complete with some great toiletries.

    At some properties, admittedly high-end ones, they would re-direct housekeeing to clean our room immediately if we had booked a particular room and wanted only that room.

    Even when I have stayed in facilities in third world countries, cleanliness was considered a basic requirement in providing a room, not an option.

  • Suz

    Days Inn is horrible. I will never stay there.

  • Michelle

    I worked at two different hotels during my college years. While neither would ever be considered a five star hotel (in a town of 3400, there’s no way that would ever happen), the one thing they insisted on were clean rooms. And you know what — if the customer asked for an early check-in and there wasn’t a clean room ready — WE SAID NO!

  • nhodehegop

     I entered my information to name my own price for a 3-star hotel in Napa Valley. I “won“ my bid, but it is a 1-star hotel. I would never request or stay in a 1-star hotel. I checked consumer reviews online and learned the hotel is dirty, moldy and generally disgusting. I called Priceline within minutes to have that removed and re-bid.

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