An uncomfortable night at the Comfort Suites

January 4, 2013

1-hospital bed How do you say “I’m sorry” for a really bad hotel stay?

That probably depends on how bad “bad” is, right? Well, here’s what happened when Tracy Hart checked into a Comfort Inn in Fairfield, NJ, recently.

Before I get to her story, I should probably say that she’s one of the hotel chain’s better customers. She carries a Choice Privileges credit card and “often” stays in its hotels when traveling on business or driving from Pennsylvania to Florida, where she has a vacation home. In other words, she knows this hotel chain really well.

She redeemed 16,000 award points for a night at the Comfort Inn, which seemed like the best place to stay because she had plans to be in New York until 11 p.m., on a recent evening. When she checked in, she was shocked by what she found.

“Wow,” she says. “I don’t know how this particular hotel manages to have the Comfort Inn name out front.”

The hotel was located in an iffy neighborhood, right next to a large “Adult Emporium” store.

The entryway was dirty linoleum tile, the whole place was shabby, the room didn’t seem clean, didn’t look like anyone had vacuumed. The sheets were limp.

Pretty yuck, but what were we going to do at this time of night? I asked to see another room, which they reluctantly let me do, but it was worse: there was a burn mark on the bedspread and just as shabby and dirty.

That’s not what she expected, nor is it what she should have expected. Comfort Inn bills itself as the exact opposite. From its website:

From the moment you arrive at Comfort Inn hotels, we want you to relax and feel at home. We offer a warm atmosphere and helpful service. You’ll restore yourself in our clean cozy rooms and you can stay connected with free high-speed internet access.

In the morning, you’ll enjoy the complimentary new Your Morning Breakfast with lots of options and hot items as well as a free newspaper. It all helps you start your day feeling renewed.

I’ll let Hart continue.

So we went to bed. At 9:30 the next morning, we were just waking up, and someone started to bang on the door.

We said “Hey we’re in here! Go away!” or something like that. The banging continued and then a key card was put into the slot and the door opened.

We could hear a man’s voice. Luckily, the chain was on the door. He rattled the door and the chain, but it held. I called the front desk; they weakly apologized.

I should have called the police, but it didn’t occur to me at that time.

She contacted me to find out how to handle the stay. Although I might have said something before checking out, I can understand why she would just want to leave as soon as possible. I suggested that she send a brief email to Choice Hotels, explaining her disappointment (and, of course, carefully vetting any future Choice stays).

She did. Here’s what happened.

Choice Privileges apologized and told me that in fact they are investigating that particular Comfort Inn location. They also gave me 8,000 points in my account.

I got the impression that they really don’t want to have hotel properties that don’t measure up to their brand image. This was the first bad experience I have ever had with the brand, and told them that. I am just glad we put the chain on the door.

Is that enough of an apology? Hart says she’s OK with getting half her points back, and I’m happy with the Choice promise to investigate this particular property. It looks squeaky clean from the outside. The user-generated reviews? Not so much.

Just for once, I’d like to see one of these properties lose its flag in response to a consumer complaint. In the meantime, what do you make of Choice’s response?

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Raven_Altosk

That is likely a franchise property. They always tend to be the slummiest places on earth.

As far as the guy banging on the door like a nutjob? Was that a hotel employee? If so, more compensation is definitely deserved. While I can’t fault a hotel for drunk or crazy guests, they should be able to manage their own people.
Sam Varshavchik

Looking at Google maps and streetview, the adult emporium building seems to be a fair bit of a distance away, and there’s some landscaping separating the two commercial properties. Unless there are bright neon lights on that thing flashing into my room, I probably would not’ve even noticed it. The building’s closer to RT46, and I’d probably be more bothered by the traffic on this busy highway, all night.

Having stayed at various Choice properties, occasionally, I wouldn’t expect 5-star service. They’re a budget place to crash down for the night, that’s all. As long as the beds and the bathroom are clean, that’s all I care about. Except for the hotel employee trying to barge into the room — which would be a valid bone to pick, sounds to me like someone is looking for a reason to complain, here.
sirwired

Raven,

Pretty much all hotel brands have plenty of franchise properties. I don’t think I’ve ever stayed in a Courtyard or Hampton that WASN’T a franchise. And I know I’ve stayed in Mariott’s, Hyatt’s, Crowne Plaza’s, and Holiday Inns that were franchise. I think it’s even common all the way up to the “main” brand for each lodging company.
Ed Boston

About the person trying to get in, if it wasn’t a hotel employee, I’d say they deserve a hell of a lot more compensation, including a police report on how a non-employee got access to a master card.
backprop

I can’t get too excited about this one. Most everything was subjective and mentioned in passing: “dirty linoleum tile”, “didn’t look like anyone had vacuumed” (why – were there hairballs? piles of dirt? candy wrappers? got pics?), “room didn’t seem clean” (why – mildew? soap scum? fingerprints?), and using “shabby” twice. And the staff was “reluctant” and later “weakly” apologized.

In other words, OP is using all sorts of vague subjective words to spread her disappointment far and wide.

The person at the door is a legit complaint – wish we had more details if it was an employee or what.

I think the compensation was plenty.
BillCCC

I voted yes. You can’t blame the neighborhood on the hotel chain. The person coming into the room was probably cleaning or maintenance staff. I think that the 8,000 point was enough compensation for a room that was not clean.
Adam1222

1) Having a credit card doesn’t make her one of the chain’s “better customers”. There’s no correlation. It makes her a customer of Barclays. Was she a Choice Privileges Platinum or Diamond? Then, maybe, she’d be one of their better customers.

2) It’s a Comfort Inn in Fairfield, NJ, not the Ritz. The reviews on Tripadvisor are very clear as to what the hotel offers. A search at room rates shows between $67 and $79 a night. You get what you (figuratively) pay for.

3) Calling the police because someone tried and failed to enter the room? Who very likely was a hotel worker? Seriously? Histrionics. 9:30 is a pretty standard time for housekeeping to be coming around.
Adam1222

Your guess whether it was or wasn’t a hotel employee is as good as mine. Why you would assume it wasn’t beats me.
Ed Boston

I said “IF”. I, like you, don’t know if it was a hotel employee or not. My reply said “IF it wasn’t a hotel employee.
http://flyicarusfly.com/ Fly, Icarus, Fly

Half her points back is fair. And knowing the property is being investigated is a plus. Sounds like not a very pleasant stay, though…
http://www.eyeonannapolis.net/ John Frenaye

She’s fine. If it was so horrible, she should have checked out and left and fought for return of all points. But she did stay. She did utilize the property and did so for ha;f price!
Jim Daniel

It’s NOT a credit card, it”s a LOYALTY CARD. I have one with another chain that allows me to call them last minute, and they will find me a room. When I arrive, they thank me for coming, look at my ID, and hand me my key. That;s it. She is a high volume traveler and should get some esxtra respect.
http://www.facebook.com/geoffrey.millstone Geoffrey Millstone

Where is the client getting information on the location of a hotel? That is all important to me. A little research would tell me it was near a porno shop. Was this the only hotel that was available for her points? Also how was the hotel rated; 1star, 3 star, on the Choice hotel site? Never trust Trip Adviser, they are almost always wrong or faked. If this were a Hampton hotel, a full credit would be returned, and I do believe under the described circumstances, I would demand a full credit. Her high standing with Choice should lead to additional compensation. The further inspection of the hotel has no bearing on Hart’s compensation. That should be expected.
The Book Doctor

I voted No. Probably because we just suffered a similar fate at a Days Inn in Austin. I’m quite familiar with Days Inn and didn’t expect luxury, so we opted for the motel nearest our family’s home and Texas University. When we arrived (fairly late), we found grit in the rug and hand-sized stains that appeared to be wax, dirt piles in the corners, and clumps of hair and lint on the bathroom floor. There was no shampoo, only one tiny bar of soap, no drinking glasses or coffee cups, and only about 1/4 roll of toilet paper (no spare). The basin drain wouldn’t close.

We reported all of these deficiencies to the night manager, who blamed them on a “maid in training.” He handed us a bar of soap, some shampoo, and a roll of TP; he said he’d notify his boss “when he comes in.” The same man was on duty in the morning–no boss. When we returned in the evening, we found several broken beer bottles outside our door, beer cans in our parking space, and used dental floss on the door mat. The drain was still broken; the floors still had the same dirt. A different assistant was at the desk; no sign of the manager. We said we’d be leaving in the morning if we didn’t hear from him. The next day the manager was still among the missing. The assistant refused to refund our prepaid third night. We found another hotel anyway.

My husband emailed the Days Inn headquarters and got a form letter saying that Days Inn regrets our unsatisfactory experience. We won’t be risking another one.
Adam1222

Jim, please re-read the original post, which states “She carries a Choice Privileges credit card”. This is a credit card offered by Barclays bank, offered to anyone.

As I said, if she was a high volume traveler, she would be a Platinum or Diamond member, which is a loyalty status. I am quite aware what a loyalty program is. The choice privileges credit card is not one of them.
Trudi

I’ve been a Choice member since their program started, and I’ve run into similar situations. I no longer stay at Comfort Inn – only at Comfort Suites, and I ALWAYS look at the place before I sign in. After almost 10 years I’ve seen a distinctive decline in the quality of their hotels. I THINK that as the hotels age, the corporation sells them off as franchises. If that’s true, then the company doesn’t seem to care much about those franchises; the corporate inns are almost always very nice. At least that seems to be the case. Still, I’ve recently switched my loyalty to Country Inn and Suites which tend to be much nicer and the company (so far) seems interested in maintaining their quality. My Barclay credit card isn’t that important to me anymore and for 16,000 points I epect more quality than Choice seems able to maintain.
Trudi

Choice does have a credit card through Barclays bank and it acts as both a loyalty and a credit card giving more points for using it at a Choice Hotel.
emanon256

I am curious about her definition of often. She, “‘often’ stays in its hotels when traveling on business or driving
from Pennsylvania to Florida, where she has a vacation home.”

I was talking to someone the other day who was bragging about how often they stay at hotels, and said they were a true road warrior. Sadly, I have had the same conversation many times, usually with the same results. I asked him what hotel status level he was and he said “The Top.” As we talked more, he said he is always traveling for business, and so on. (Sitting at the airport, not much else to talk about). As the conversation unfolded, it turns out he fly’s about 5 times a year for work, and stay at a hotel 10 to 12 nights a year.

I have sadly had the same conversation many times with people who think they travel a lot and think they are top level elites in the loyalty programs and brag about it, and they usually are the lowest level, or no level at all and hardly travel at all. I stopped telling them I fly 150,000 miles a year and stay at a hotel over 200 nights a year because they usually don’t believe me.
emanon256

I voted yes. She got more than I expected and I am glad she is happy with it. That was 50% off a night, after the fact. If she was not happy, she should have raised a fuss at the time, not given in and agreed to stay.

I have stayed at Comfort Inns, a few other choice properties, and even and Days Inns. They are exactly what I expect, a crappy budget hotel with no real amenities, not the highest standards in cleaning, and horrible beds and sheets often with cigarette burns in them. And expecting not to see an adult emporium in NJ? Come on.

I stand by my old saying, if they have to put “Comfort” or “Quality” in the name, its not going to be comfortable, and its not going to be Quality.
Nikki

Part of me says “well, the OP stayed… they’re lucky they got anything back”… the other part of me says “no one deserves to stay in a rathole – at all.”

I should be surprised that the front desk didn’t do more for her – - sadly, I’m not.

I wish Choice could/would do more to bring their properties up to what the brand requirements are. Start enforcing fines, start yanking brands for non-compliance, etc. – I’ve worked for way too many Choice hotels that fell well below Choice’s ordinarily high standards. Of the few bright spots I’ve had with those properties, Choice Privileges has been the best of them. I’ve seen them try their damndest to make things better for their members. They really can only do so much, though, when the owner/s refuse to comply with Choice.
MissFitz88

What difference does it make how often she stays in hotels, or whether or not she does, or does not, have a Loyalty card, or a high Loyalty member status? Chris is just affirming that she is not an unsophisticated, whiney traveller. Her experience at this sub-par property that has a Corporate brand is the issue here.
Raven_Altosk

Trufax. That’s even more disturbing…
Raven_Altosk

Yeah, but lower-end motel franchises seem to be the bottom of the barrel in my experience. They’re often owned by people who don’t care about the brand name and are just out to make a quick buck.
backprop

I wonder whatever happened to just not patronizing a business that you don’t like. Maybe it’s because I read this column regularly but it seems like every bad business experience turns into “What do I deserve?” or “How do they make up for X?” or “Is this enough compensation?”

This is a perfect example. The customer is not out anything: her luggage wasn’t stolen, a brick didn’t fall off the hotel and damage her car, or anything. She just didn’t like the place, and felt it didn’t meet her subjective expectations.

When you don’t care for an experience – at a hotel, restaurant, gas station – don’t return. Simple as that. Don’t go fishing for compensation.
LFH0

The first thing I did after reading the story was also to take a look at Google maps and street view. I have been through Fairfield several times and never viewed it as an “iffy” neighborhood, and Google street view confirms it. It is typical New Jersey highway, pedestrian unfriendly, but nothing out of the ordinary. Yes, there’s an adult establishment next door, but so what? Many hotels in midtown Manhattan are within a similar distance of retail stores selling the same type of merchandise.

The lesson here is that if surrounding land use is important in deciding on where to spend the night, make inquiries. Look at Google street views, or call around and ask what businesses are next door. The hotel is responsible for its property, not the use of neighboring properties (zoning is a generally a municipal responsibility, so blame the municipality for any incompatible land uses). A hotel may sell itself by taking advantage of nearby natural resources (e.g., an ocean view), but in the absence of the hotel selling its environment as part of its sales pitch, it is up to consumer to determine if he or she desires to patronize a business in a particular location.
Carrie Charney

Not on this subject, but on the subject of hotels: Hilton has upped the amount of stays needed to achieve gold status, from 16 to 20. I usually check these things at the beginning of the year because Hilton doesn’t notify me of any changes. Perhaps there is someone reading this column that didn’t know this but should.
http://twitter.com/DutchessPDX Dutchess

You forgot to mention it was near an “Adult Emporium” I mean how did she sleep at all that night knowing that people were looking at dirty smut all night, right next door?!? Oh the humanity!

I agree, I think the people who vote that she didn’t get enough compensation on here have unreasonable expectations. She did after all have a place to stay. I’m not sure why people expect hotels or any business to refund you completely when you still used their service. If she left and found another hotel, then they should have refunded fully, otherwise take half the credit and move on with your life.
http://twitter.com/DutchessPDX Dutchess

No, you see, you’re supposed to be shocked and disgusted that any business would dare set-up shop next to those peddlers of smut!

I think she was unhappy with her stay and decided to inflate her complaints by doing the “Laundry List” complaint letter and it worked. She got a partial refund.
LeeAnneClark

I hear what you’re saying…on the other hand, I can understand wanting to get some money (or in this case points) back when you don’t feel you got what you paid for. If I paid a hundred bucks for something, but the product I got was only worth 50, I’d want 50 back. So from that perspective I can see someone wanting to get something back when they didn’t get the experience they felt they should have.

This case, though…seems to me she got exactly what she paid for. The place is a cheap chain motel franchise. She could have done just the tiniest bit of research and discovered what the place was like. Then she could have decided if it was worth the 16,000 points.

As for the guy trying to get in – couldn’t she have at least made a quick phone call to the front desk? I certainly would like to know who was trying to barge into my room! Since she didn’t do that, she has no leg to stand on since it was likely housekeeping (yes, some housekeepers are male). I’ve had housekeeping walk in on me when I slept that late – that’s not uncommon at all.

With all the online resources available these days to find out what to expect at hotels, I simply have no sympathy anymore for people who have a bad experience that they could have predicted had they spent just a few minutes online.
backprop

That’s my point – she got what she paid for….everything she didn’t like was subjective in nature. Had she not gotten advertised wi-fi, that’s objective. Had they not served the promised breakfast, that’s objective. Each of those could have opened the door for compensation, as could, say, damages or loss of property.

This is like going to a restaurant and not caring for the food. The answer: don’t go back.
LeeAnneClark

I agree with you – sorry if that wasn’t clear in my post. I guess the only part I didn’t agree with is the first sentence, in which you seem to decry anyone asking for compensation when they have a bad experience. In this case I didn’t think she deserved anything back. But there are other cases in which they do.

But anyway, bottom line, on this case you and I are in complete agreement.
JenniferFinger

Well, she can’t get compensation for the hotel being located near an Adult Emporium, and I’d be really pissed about the guy entering her room, but if she’s okay with what she got, then she got enough compensation.
TonyA_says

What do you expect? It’s Jersey and Comfort Inn. If you really want a comfortable stay after a late night in New York City, then stay in Manhattan and pay the price.
y_p_w

I’ve paid $30 for a motel and felt I got my money’s worth. I’ve paid $150 for a hotel and felt I got my money’s worth. I’ve paid $100 for a hotel and felt ripped off. I’ve also paid $40 for a motel and felt ripped off.

Sometimes I wish that people would leave the price paid out of the equation. That often has only a tenuous relation to what should be expected. Judging by hotel type and known location should be the standard.

It’s too easy these days to look up a place with mapping websites. One can choose a satellite image and see exactly what’s around the neighborhood.
y_p_w

Wasn’t there a recent blog article here about a Hilton in Paris that lost its relationship, with a reservation on HHonors points being summarily switched to another Hilton hotel?
bodega3

Why have we come to the point where we feel compensation is required LeeAnne? I am more impressed with people when they bring a less than satifactory situation to the attention to the higher ups in hopes of improving things for the next person and not because there could be a reward for reporting it.
judyserienagy

Choice should have recognized her status by refunding ALL the points, they missed a good PR investment.
dourdan

Famous pro wrestler Kane once told a similar story; he was given a key card by the front desk but when he went to the room, it was already occupied (and the terrified couple inside had not put the chain lock up.)

How can a hotel do that? don’t they have a record of what room is occupied and what room isn’t?

UNLESS (in the case of the OP) did a random drunk guy stumble up the front desk and claim “I lost my key, but I’m in room —-” resulting in a free key?

i think the OP deserves at least all her points back.
TonyA_says

Maybe an *unsophisticated* traveller would have done better. At least they might have a more realistic expectation of motels in the area and the low quality brand.
oldft

…what about the other 8,000 points (in other words, a “full refund”)? I have had similar experiences (a”bummer” in an otherwise respectable chain) and have received full refunds with apologies…
TonyA_says

The so-called smut shop website is named UPSCALE adult store nj dotcom. lol.
TonyA_says

Agree. If you read carefully, it seems like she chose the motel because of its PROXIMITY to New York (hopefully she meant NYC, or more specifically Manhattan) because she was checking in late after 11pm. It seems she drove from PA to NYC and stopped to stay the night at NJ on the way back to PA.

While she may be used to driving down South from PA to FL, I bet she no clue how lousy the areas between PA and NJ can be on the way North and East to NYC.
y_p_w

Depends on the hotel. Quite a few of the card key systems are tied to the reservations computers, and a new key has to come from pulling up the reservation or other record. However, some places do have “dumb” systems where the clerk simply keys in the room number, enters the number of keys, and encodes each card key.

These systems are also pretty simple. They have to know how each door lock is programmed. When a new set of keys is swiped, the door lock now locks out any previous keys. Any previous keys can probably be used until A) a timeout period is reached or B) the new guest keys have been used on the lock.
LeeAnneClark

Okay, so just to be clear: I believe compensation is required when I don’t get what I paid for, what was specifically promised to me, and what I can reasonably expect. Like I explained above – if I pay $100 for something, and get something worth half that, I want half my money back. I don’t care if it’s a product or a service. If I pay for 50 apples, and get 25 – I either want my other 25 apples, or I want half my money back. Same thing with a service – if I pay $100 to have my house cleaned, and they only clean the downstairs, I want $50 back.

If I stay at a hotel and am promised a full breakfast, I expect to have a functioning room and to eat breakfast in the morning. If I then get no hot water, no heater in the dead of winter so I’m freezing all night, and the restaurant is closed for repairs, I want some money back because I didn’t get what I was promised and what I should reasonably expect for the price of my room.

On the other hand, if I get a functioning room and breakfast, but the decor us ugly, the food is horrible, and there are stains on the carpet, and all of these deficiencies are clearly described on Trip Advisor…well then, I got what I paid for AND what I could reasonably expect. I may not have liked it, but too bad – I don’t deserve a penny back.

I hope this helps explain what I mean.
TonyA_says

Hey Emanon, ever think of moving back here to the East Coast? Looks like all you do is commute here from Colorado. :-) Happy New Year.
Jon

The lower end, less expensive hotels seem to have issues with keeping any type of standards or consistency through out their chain. I stopped staying in these hotels and I would recommend that Tracy try one of the travel websites to book last minute stays, and start collecting points at “better” properties. I am very surprised that Tracy didn’t get bedbugs from her stay!
Joe_D_Messina

Agree with this. Loyalty card or just a credit card, she’s not likely to earn points at a place she never stays at. And having familiarity with the chain demonstrates she had an idea of what to expect. And the chain actually affirmed that part of her story that this place didn’t measure up.
Joe_D_Messina

There’s an in-between stage between being totally satisfied and never going back to business you frequent. And that stage is reporting the problem. I agree people ask for compensation for things far too minor to warrant it, but the appeal of compensation is that it is a tangible acknowledgement that something wasn’t up to par.

I honestly believe people would ask for compensation less if more places manned up and actually apologized for mistakes, rather than issuing half-apologies and non-apologies-that-sort-of-sound-like-apologies, but that’s how things are in our overly legalistic society. And, in this case the chain had no problem with compensating her by giving her half her points back, so if they were willing to go the compensation route it seems silly to second-guess them.
Valerie McKay

How do you use 16,000 points and accept 8,000 for a horrific stay!!!!! No way!
Joe_D_Messina

Because one would hope an employee hearing somebody call out “we’re in here” wouldn’t proceed to use his key card to try and enter the room.

Granted, it was very likely an employee since the front desk offered an apology of sorts for the behavior, but even if the employee didn’t understand what was being said, under what circumstances would he try to enter an occupied room?

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