The only reason people ever stay at this dump of a hotel is to park their cars long term while travelling, and I returned to find my vehicle had its tires and rims stolen. While I understand that I incurred some risk and liability in parking my car long term, I also expected Econo Lodge Aerport in Montreal to abide by some duty of care in attending to my car in exchange for payment, which they absolutely did not.
1) the have no car checkout procedure - I went in and asked if I had to check out my car (before finding out what happened to it). They said no checkout is necessary. This means they don't even really care about periodically running an inventory of a lot---the whole purpose of providing your car's license plate # and information at check in is to sign a waiver and place liability solely in your hands.
2) I talked to a Mr. Singh who works at the lot. He said he reported what happened to my car around the 2nd of January to a manager named Toni. She did not act on his report or notify me of what happened immediately. Instead, I had to wait until I arrived on the early hours of the 7th to find out what happened. It also appeared that the receptionists were surprised to hear what happened when I found out, which again suggests very scant attention is paid to the actual lot. Meanwhile, new customers kept parking their cars around my vandalized car in a complete free for all environment.
3) complete lack of customer service after finding out the vandalism happened - when I told the receptionist about the theft, she just shrugged and pointed towards the phone to call 911. Since I was stranded there as I found out everything at 1 in the morning, I actually had to pressure to get a complimentary room for the night, and she said it was really management's discretion over the next few days to determine whether I'd actually get charged for the room. The receptionist also refused to give out the hotel owner's phone number, even during regular daylight hours when I was still stranded there the next day. The hotel didn't offer to help with any phone calls, providing a rental car to help me run errands required to replace my car's wheels (I had to have family drive up from the US instead).
In short, this Econo Lodge is charging money for providing no more of a service than leaving your car for 2 weeks on any given street. At least I'd be clearly aware of the risks involved with parking on any given street and wouldn't have parked my car. Econo Lodge Aeroport, by charging for parking, and by participating Airportparkingreservations.com and parksleepfly.com programs, is misleading customers into thinking there's some semblance of parking security and management when it really is a free for all and the risks are too great to ever park your car. read more