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“This place is a dump”

September 16, 2009

quintaIs a nonrefundable hotel rate really nonrefundable? Not really.

Even when you’re talking about the strictest of nonrefundability rules, like those imposed by so-called “opaque” sites such as Hotwire and Priceline, room rates can be refunded. Under the right circumstances.

Rebecca Elliott — no relation to me — had one of those occasions yesterday.


She explains her dilemma:

This morning, I booked a room in Marshall, Texas, for my 63-year-old parents through Hotwire.

The Hotwire Hot Rate quoted the La Quinta Marshall hotel as having a 2.5 star rating, but this place is a dump. It smells like dog feces, smoke and is mostly filthy. The parking lot does not have adequate security, lighting or locked exterior doors.

To make matters worse, this hotel does not even have an elevator. My father has horrible arthritis in his knees and ankles, so the fact that this “2.5 star hotel” doesn’t even have an elevator is just unacceptable. I tried to cancel my reservation due to inadequate facilities, but have so far not had any luck. The Hotwire customer service reps say I cannot refund my room. Please help!

I’m not sure if an elevator is an amenity every hotel guest should expect, but clean rooms are a must. If the hotel doesn’t meet its 2.5-star standards, Hotwire shouldn’t be selling it.

And what exactly are those standards?

These midscale establishments offer solid service that’s more than just the basics. Features often include:

* Guestrooms with couches and dedicated desks
* On-site dining
* An attractive, inviting lobby

A business administrative or health and fitness center may also be available. These properties are usually located near shopping or dining, and can be found in both downtown or resort areas and smaller cities.

There didn’t appear to be anything attractive or inviting about the hotel Elliott’s parents were booked in.

I asked Hotwire about her case. A few hours later, I heard back from Elliott:

You must be a Hotwire.com refund ninja! After receiving your last email, a Hotwire representative contacted me within an hour. She apologized for the inconvenience and offered to refund and rebook my trip at a more suitable hotel. After working with me to find a place in the requested area and star rating, we were unable to find anything. She refunded my entire reservation in full and sent me a refund confirmation within minutes. Thank you so much for your help.

I’m not sure about the ninja thing, but I’m reasonably sure that Hotwire would have done the right thing — eventually.

Bottom line: You have the right to a clean room when you book through an online travel agency like Hotwire. Or you have a right to a full refund.

Update (7 p.m.): Hotwire explains what happened.

As a general rule, we ask that customers follow-through with their check-in process in order to validate pre-stay quality concerns about a particular property. Oftentimes the customer reviews that are being cited can be outdated or otherwise not representative of the current state of the property. Or they may be specific issues that the property can easily work around. For example, by no longer booking guests into a particularly problematic room. If the guest isn’t able to get satisfactory resolution with the property at that time, that confirmation empowers us to then re-accommodate the guest as needed.

In many cases, the potential problems no longer exist and customers are very happy with their stay. However, sometimes the problems are confirmed and we have taken appropriate action. In this case, the customer lived nearby the hotel and was able to visit the property, which confirmed some of the quality issues. We were then able to work with the customer appropriately.

We’re researching this specific property more based on the feedback. Our current rating is in line with several other major online travel agencies, and ours is even lower in some cases. But we will certainly execute due diligence in looking into the quality concerns.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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19 comments

  • David Z

    Unfortunately the vendor also has the so-called “right” to deny you a refund, especially if the rules state it’s nonrefundable to begin with. Most likely someone from Hotwire asked the hotel to “reconsider”, the hotel did, and thus enabled Hotwire to do what eventually happened here.

    Good to see, though, it ended happily.

  • Carver

    Good job. But I want my elevator. Personally, I believe that in the US an elevator is an expected amenity in all but the most rundown no-tell motel. The lack of an elevator at a commercial hotel strongly suggests that the property hasn’t renovated in decades thus being grandfathered in and exempted from the American with Disabilities act.

    I’ll pass.

  • Annette

    Where was the hotel mentioned as being a 2.5 star hotel? According to Hotwire’s rating descriptions for a 2 star hotel:
    ”
    These economy establishments offer reliable accommodations with a few extra features. Features may include:
    * In-room coffee maker
    * Cable TV
    * Alarm clock
    * Continental breakfast
    Off-site dining is usually located within walking distance.
    Our 2-star hotel suppliers include”
    and then the LaQuinta logo. So if she had selected one of the 2.5 star hotels in Marshall or Longview, then Hotwire shouldn’t have sold her the LaQuinta given that it doesn’t meet up with their own criteria. If however she selected the considerably cheaper 2 star hotel in Longview that’s presented as an option through Hotwire, then she got what she reserved.

    I’ve seen people complain about “filthy” rooms that were perfectly clean, so I’m going to take those comments with a grain of salt for the moment. I think the biggest issue was the fact there was no elevator and the parents must have been assigned a room on the 2nd floor. I’m assuming there were no first floor rooms available, otherwise a sensible person would have been asked to be moved rather than demanding a refund.

    But the real lesson here is if you have a specific requirement then don’t use a site that a) doesn’t allow you to get information on your hotel before booking and b) doesn’t allow you to include that requirement in the search criteria. Especially when it’s something as important as this.

  • http://www.lonestar-travel.com Donna

    Umm… 2 1/2 stars based on 5 stars in my opinion will be a dump. You do get what you pay for. I went to Hotwire and you don’t know what you get for $69.00, it is one of three 2 1/2 stars in Marshall, TX. Why would anyone book on this site anyway? I want to know if this is a pet friendly hotel (that way if I don’t want to smell dog feces or have hair on the chairs I won’t stay there) Same goes for a nonsmoking hotel, I also don’t want to smell stale cigarettes or smoke. Some .com companies are okay, but when you are giving your CC online and it states non refundable you are taking a gamble on what you will be getting.

  • David Z

    Why would anyone book on this site anyway?

    Why else but price? :)

  • Carver Farrow

    @Donna

    I have to respectfully disagree with your post. Hotwire and Priceline serve a segment of the market that you presumably are not part of. That’s why we have both Motel 6 and the Four Season. Different people have different needs and desires.

    I personally avoid those sites like the plague. But I understand why others find them very useful.

  • Christopher Elliott

    I’m going to post this here, since I don’t know where else to put it. I’ve had several comments from readers in the recent past that praised the caliber of commenters on this site. I believe the phrase one used was “you have the smartest commenters.”

    Well, I knew that!

    So thank you, all, for making this a worthwhile site to read, not just for the posts, but also the comments. You’re the best.

    And now, back to the debate …

  • Kristina

    @Carver: I have to agree with you. The difference between a 2.5* and 5* hotel should not be room cleanliness, it should be based on the amenities the hotel provides. I would not stay at a La Quinta and expect a welcome gift or valet parking, but I would expect a clean room.

  • Chris in NC

    @ Kristina,
    Agree 100%, whether its a 1 star or a 5 star, it should be clean and sanitary. One of our favorite hotels is a 2 star Best Western in the mountains of NC. For anywhere from $49 to $79 a night, we get a no frills motel with friendly staff and CLEAN, ODORLESS rooms. It sure beats the Marriott (location unnamed) that smelled moldy with a poorly functioning A/C unit. Staff blamed the problem on “recent heavy rains.”

    My wife and I do a lot of travelling. Our ratings (and desire for going back) are based on 1) clean rooms, 2) clean rooms, 3) clean rooms, 4) clean rooms, then 5) price/value. Clean rooms may be found at any star property. Unfortunately, it seems that the lower star properties tend to be more of a crap-shoot than with the higher properties.

    As Kristina writes, star ratings have to do with amenities and services. When staying at a 2 star hotel, I still expect a clean room, I just don’t expect a concierge, valet parking, restaurant, gym, pool, business desk, FAX machines in room, turn-down service, etc.

  • Ronda

    hmm Mr. Elliott, i would just like to say. from all these stories where the hotel, or airline, or car rental company “do the right thing in the end” seems to at some point get a direct email from you or a direct mention of your name before they “do the right thing”. is it really “doing the right thing” when theyr’e doing it so as to not seem like a major a**hole on a website that thousands of poeple read daily?

  • Heronimous

    to Ronda: This is very true. The companies are doing the right thing only after helps from Mr Elliott. So I am still seeing these hotels, airlines and travel agents as bad. We, individual customers, would still need to struggle with them at the end. But this website really does help suggest us the right way to deal with them.

    to Mr Elliott: It is great to read all the saviour story on your blog, I have been following every single one since the beginning. I just wonder if we are not located in the states, what should we do?

  • ECB

    I am curious if Ms. Elliot was allowed to submit a review of that La Quinta on Hotwire after she received the refund. I ask because I had a similar situation with another online booking site, after leaving a hotel that was too dirty, loud, and generally unsafe to stay in. I was issued a refund, after providing a receipt showing that I had indeed checked into another hotel that same night. I was not, however, allowed to post a review of the hotel I left, as my stay there seemed to have been somehow erased. Perhaps the refund was treated as a cancellation, I really don’t know, but it was a bit frustrating not to be able to warn others off of that hotel.

  • John Royse

    Christopher – you say not every guest should expect an elevator. Any limit on this? 2 floors? 3 floors? 6 floors?

  • Elliott

    I have used Hotwire.com for years and in my past experiences with the site, I have been more than satisfied. I use Hotwire becasue USUALLY, they have amazing deals. I have never felt the need to refund any other reservation I’ve made through this site and have always come back from my vacations stoked about the amazing deals I was able to find. Some of my Hotwire reservations included:

    $32 a night deluxe room at the Westin Times Square in NYC after New Years
    $1200 5 day package to Paris including airfare, 4 star hotel and car for 2
    $185 round-trip flights to NYC from Dallas
    $40 a night suite at the Marriot in Lubbock, Tx during TTU Homecoming

    This incident with the La Quinta was the first time I have ever felt the need to complain. Now, I’m not that particular about the conditions of a place as long as the room is clean and relatively odorless, but the hotel in Marshall was a dump. I grew up on a ranch for Pete’s sake, and I can handle my share of bad smells, but a hotel room/lobby/hallway shouldn’t smell like a kennel. I can deal with a crap room, because I’m 27 and usually stay out all night anyway. My parents, however, were going to be in town for two days for a good friend’s funeral, so the last thing they should have to worry about is being stuck in a filthy dump that I trusted Hotwire to choose. When I book hotels on this site, I google hotels in the specified area and can usually guess what place Hotwire will choose. I also did my research on the site about which hotels were in each star rating, and assumed that La Quinta would not be in the 2.5 rating because its logo was in the 2.0. Don’t get me wrong, I have stayed in La Quintas my whole life and have always found them to be up to standard with clean rooms and friendly service. This one in particular was not.

    So, long story short, I generally do not have a problem with Hotwire.com or their no refund or exchanges policy. I have usually been thrilled with the deals I get on their site, but this time, I felt like the star rating and the quality of the chosen hotel were deceptive. The representative that handled my request was professional, apologetic and willing to help in any way to resolve the issue and I fully intend on using the site again. I have found too many steals to let this one incident change my overall perception of Hotwire. Not all La Quintas are dumps and not all 2.5 star hotels have bare minimum amenities, but this one in particular should not have been one of Howire’s trusted hotels. In fact, the 2.5 star Holiday Inn Express my parents ended up in was a mile down the road and was brand spanking new, with an elevator. To each their own….

  • Bela Fleck

    @ Carver – a lack of elevator does not necessarily indicate an older hotel that hasn’t been renovated recently. I’ve actually stayed in a hotel built since ADA was passed that had two floors and no elevator. It passes muster with ADA because ground-floor rooms are available and accessible. The key is requesting a ground-floor room if navigating stairs could be a problem. Although I haven’t stayed many places with no elevator, I always make sure to include this request when making my reservation, just in case. That’s the memory that won’t die.

    @ John, probably 3 floors is the limit for major chains, but frankly, I’d be very surprised to find anything taller than 2 stories with no elevator. It’s hard on the staff to have to go up and down so many stairs all day long. For a mom-and-pop operation, it could be anything.

  • Nobody

    What is the timeline of this scenerio?
    “This morning, I booked a room in Marshall, Texas, for my 63-year-old parents through Hotwire.

    “The Hotwire Hot Rate quoted the La Quinta Marshall hotel as having a 2.5 star rating, but this place is a dump. It smells like dog feces, smoke and is mostly filthy. The parking lot does not have adequate security, lighting or locked exterior doors.

    “To make matters worse, this hotel does not even have an elevator. My father has horrible arthritis in his knees and ankles, so the fact that this “2.5 star hotel” doesn’t even have an elevator is just unacceptable. I tried to cancel my reservation due to inadequate facilities, but have so far not had any luck. The Hotwire customer service reps say I cannot refund my room. Please help!”

    This person books a nonrefundable room and later that day, somehow finds out about the actual condition of the hotel? How? Reading the reviews after booking at a third-party site? Or was there travel to the dog feces smell, climbing the staircase (I assume the dump had one of these) to the dirty room and returning to the burgled car in the unsafe parking lot?
    Rebecca should know she can be sued for defamation by LaQuinta. Using the Internet over other methods is no protection.

    Here lies the Ninja
    RIP
    Nobody was faster

  • PJ

    @Nobody

    If what Rebecca is saying is true, how can she be sued for defamation by La Quinta?

  • Elliott

    @Nobody,

    I booked the room while traveling to Marshall, Tx for the funeral. When I got to the hotel, an hour later, I personally decided, as I stood in the lobby, that the place was a dump. I witnessed and smelled it myself.

  • http://www.twitter.com/claystorm Kevin Murray

    @Ronda & @Heronimous

    Actually, there are plenty of times that company’s do the right things, it just on a site like this, you will not see it that often. That is because Chris helps people who, for what ever reason, need extra help when the company’s are not living up to their end of things.

    For example, a company that did something right for me recently was American Airlines (a legacy carrier no-less, lol).

    Back in January, I booked two non-refundable, non-transferable, coach tickets for me and my 80 year old grandmother to fly to Wichita, KS for my cousins high school graduation. Well, a few weeks before the trip, she became very ill to the point she was hospitalized for 5 days and then spent the next month in a skilled nursing facility. Because she was in the facility, and under a doctors care, she could not go on the trip.

    After trying unsuccessfully to talk to someone in American Airlines Refund department (you can’t do it, the menu just sends you in circles or disconnects you), I e-mailed AA Manager of Customer Relations with my problem of needing to talk to someone in the refund department. Well, instead of passing me off to someone else, he and his team took on my issue.

    In the end, AA issued me a transportation voucher, in my name, for the full purchase price of my grandmothers ticket. Did they have to do this, no, not at all. But in the end, they did the right thing. They could have just said sorry, you knew it was a non-refundable, non-transferable, ticket and kept the money and sent me on my way.

    I think far too often we only hear about the bad side of company’s, because when they do something right, we are happy & have no reason to complain or contact someone like Chris.

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