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The Worst of Best Western
The Travel Troubleshooter · June 21, 2002

Q: Recently my daughter and I drove to Charleston, S.C., to visit relatives. We had reservations for four nights at the Best Western Sweetgrass Inn near James Island. But when we arrived, we were told that no reservation existed for us and that no rooms were available. Eventually, the assistant manager found a room.

That's when the real nightmare began. As we turned off the lights to go to bed, the room remained as bright as it was before. We noticed that two halogen lights existed both outside the window and at the front entrance door. There were no switches to turn them off.

The large curtain at the window was inadequate to prevent the light from bursting from the perimeters of the window. A small frosted window located near the front door had no covering at all over it. I called the desk and it rang 20 times with no answer. I then proceeded to empty my suitcase of all dark clothing and stuffed it around the openings in the curtain and stuffed my rain coat against the frosted window.

The following morning I spoke to the assistant manager about the situation. He promised to have someone unscrew the bulbs out of the lights. Sounded good to us. Later that evening, we discovered nothing had been done. We then marched to the front desk and spoke with a desk clerk who said, "Well, we have never had this complaint about the lights before." He said he would try to put a covering on the lights.

The next night we looked more closely at the box they had taped to shield the front door light and noticed that it was an empty tampon box. We want Best Western to know how one of their associates insulted their good name and to prevent this from happening again to other travelers who expect the "best" out of Best Western. Do you have any suggestions on how to best take care of this situation?

-- Holly Lemons

A: Best Western owes you an apology at the very least for subjecting you to the halogen lights and the humiliation of having an empty tampon box hanging above your door.

Having bright lights close to a bedroom can be dangerous, if recent studies by the University of Connecticut Health Center are to be believed. Researchers found there may be a link between light exposure and breast cancer, according to an article in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. So Best Western isn't just offending you, it's putting you in danger.

I contacted the hotel chain on your behalf to see if we could resolve this. Although it took some time, Best Western eventually credited your American Express card in the amount of $188.38 and offered an apology.

"I will be thoroughly looking into this matter about the outside lighting," Brenda Pieper, the hotel's general manager, wrote. "As a policy of ours we don't like to cover any of our lighting due to security reasons and will certainly look into the situation that you described. I sincerely don't want you to think that I would feel that this was a laughing matter because as a woman I don't and can certainly see how you would feel about such an incident."

Pieper did the right thing by apologizing and the refund was an unexpected bonus. However, I would have felt better if she - and Best Western - would also review its policy on lighting to ensure that guests aren't just safe from crime, but also from light pollution.

Christopher Elliott is a travel commentator based in Key Largo, Fla. All e-mailed questions may be edited, condensed or republished at the site's discretion. ChrisCrossings appears weekly on this site.