On Tuesday, August 9th, while enjoying a few days on Mackinac Island celebrating my in-laws' 50th wedding anniversary, my father-in-law became ill in the middle of the night and had to be hospitalized in Saint Ignace. When it was determined the hospital wanted to observe him overnight, I made a reservation for my mother-in-law and brother-in-law at the Quality Inn Lakefront, which was nearby the hospital and appeared, from Trip Advisor reviews, to be a decent place to stay. I couldn't have been more wrong.
I made the reservation with the Quality Inn over the phone at 2:24pm. Check in is stated to be 3:00pm. By this point, my mother-in-law had been up most of the night with her sick husband, as well as sitting in hospitals with him since around 7:30am. Needless to say, she was exhausted. By brother-in-law packed up their room at our resort on Mackinac, brought it over on the ferry, then waited at the hospital with his mother. He was, likewise, exhausted. When I made the reservation on the phone, I explained to the situation that my father-in-law was in the hospital in Saint Ignace and I needed to reserve two rooms for them for the night. I reserved one room on the ground floor for my elderly mother-in-law who has mobility issues, and another room for my brother-in-law. I was not made aware when I made the reservation the room may not be ready at the time of check in.
At approximately 3:15 pm, My brother-in-law, with me in tow, checked in to the hotel and was told one room wasn't ready yet, but would be soon. We then went to eat a late lunch and returned to the hospital for a little while. At approximately 4:30 pm, my brother-in-law and mother-in-law returned to the hotel to find the second room was still not ready. They were told two cleaning staff quit, so they were short handed. The only room that was ready was the one on the third floor. At approximately 5:15 pm, over two hours after the posted check in time, with a father in the hospital and physically and emotionally exhausted mother with no where to rest, my brother-in-law decided he would need to find another hotel and asked for a refund for the rooms. He was told he would need to speak with the General Manager in the morning because the desk staff could not help him.
After checking into a new hotel, into two ready rooms, my brother-in-law contacted Choice Hotels customer service. He was told hotels are individually owned and they can file a complaint, but that is about all they can do. Later the same evening, he called customer service again, spoke with a second customer service rep and was told the computer system shows he and his mother as no shows. Choice Hotels contacted Quality Inn Lakefront and confirmed the two rooms were checked in to. They recommended he go back to the hotel and officially check out, to be sure he wouldn't be charged for the rooms. Upon his return to the Quality Inn Lakefront the staff refused to allow him to check out. He then contacted his credit card company to request they deny the charges for the two rooms, but he was told he would need to contact them again after the charges were posted to his account. At this point, my brother-in-law was prepared to pay for the room he spent a few short minutes in while waiting for his mothers' room to become ready, and only wanted a refund for the room neither had ever even been inside.
The next morning, my brother-in-law met with the General Manager, who indicated the registration information was thrown away by the hotel owner, and she had had no idea why computer showed them as a no show. She said all evidence of them having been at the hotel at all had been removed. She printed out paperwork showing them as no show. At this point, it was clear the hotel owner/management was being deceitful, therefore my brother-in-law requested a full refund. He was not given any sort of refund. He contacted Choice Hotels again, several times actually, and was told they will document everything, but that is the extent of their involvement.
On the morning of August 11th, my brother-in-law contacted his credit card company again, believing the charges for the two hotels rooms were probably posted by now and he could dispute them. His credit card company informed him the Quality Inn Lakefront charged his credit card FIVE times. There were three charges of $115 each, plus two charges for $120 each. As a result, my brother-in-law had to close his account and open a new one. My father-in-law is out of the hospital now and is resting at home, but the added stress of this horrible ordeal with Quality Inn Lakefront has exhausted the entire family. It is clearly evident the owner/management is at bare minimum immoral, and quite probably fraudulent, also. I have stayed at Choice Hotels quite a bit, but can no longer do so with ease seeing as they have no recourse when one of their "individually owned" hotels treats guests in such a manner. As for Quality Inn Lakefront in Saint Ignace, obviously I grea read more
