DO NOT STAY HERE!!!
I wish I could leave 0 stars. The Star Motel ruined my vacation and anniversary. Summary: they refused to fix multiple issues (electric, parking) and harassed us, lied to the police, and promised a refund they then backtracked on. I'm disgusted with these people and how they bullied a young couple just trying to enjoy their anniversary.
They also called the police on us for damage and fighting, which was ridiculous but super scary and traumatizing for my minority partner (and me, to be fair :( read more below for details:
I arrived this weekend and booked the hotel for 2 nights a few weeks back, so we were pretty excited to be up on Sedona! The motel advertises parking, but just lets anyone park wherever - which was annoying because we had to park down the block and carry our stuff. Just not what we expected again, due to the advertised parking under amenities. We called and asked for the car in the spot to be moved, and they said no.
Next, we had electric issues. We called again, and the lady who answered (receptionist maybe?) was super flustered and not helpful. Kept telling us to just leave then. Where are we going to go at 10 pm in a tourist city? The owner called us (from California) and yelled at us that he had family visiting and we ruined their evening meal. Yes, because we called to complain about electrical issues and parking. He also ruined our dinner reservations plans, and we asked if he could switch us to another room (they said they were fully booked but online I could still book many other rooms), the owner told us to leave and again we said that wasn't right and wasn't fair. The owner SCREAMED at us on the phone, and bullied us, before making himself the victim. He kept repeating how we were ruining HIS evening. Like ????? We were ruining HIS night by again, simply asking for help??? It was outrageous and he tried to make us small and push us around, and when that didn't work he told us to leave l, knowing that wasn't a fair solution. His wife also repeatedly called and said we were dressing them out and causing "drama". Again, because we complained about the broken stuff and the lack of parking !?! No offer was made of money off, or any other compromise or anything to fix this situation.
I said they could book us something else, but that we had no other options and we would stay the night and to please leave us alone if they cannot fix the issues. That was the last convo I had with the owners. It ended ona frustrated, but calmer note.
Funnily enough, they called the police and said we were fighting with other tenants and doing damage. How crazy!!! The officers knocked on the door and we answered - me in fluffy pajamas and my partner in a towel! After a stressful couple of minutes, we explained the situation and the officers ended up being pretty nice (but a little weird and uncomfortable my partner). They talked with us for a while and told us to stay the evening. Still, super mentally traumatizing as my partner is a minority and felt like they singled him out - asking for his ID and separating us for questioning. We found out they essentially LIED TO THE POLICE to get them there and wasted their time and further wrecked our evening. At this point we felt bullied, harassed and just exhausted from everything. To call the police on a minority for complaining about stuff is just... so insane. I really thought people weren't like this in real life, and the police were for emergencies, but they lied to the cops and had two young adults scared shitless - especially the MINORITY one.
The place has cameras! We filed a police report too for harassment and they are looking into it. I didn't want to escalate this, but the owners left us with no choice :(
Cheap place, small rooms. If stuff is broken, you're Shit Out of Luck. And they agreed to refund us in full over the phone and didn't. I've never had a run in with the police before, and while (hopefully) it'll be a funny memory in a decade, it was scary, and stressful and ruined the first evening of our vacation. My partner is not over it and it has This was the WORST experience I had ever had travelling. My partner and I are both mid to late 20s, and we were being yelled at by middle aged adults. We tried everything - to get help, to move rooms, and then said we would suck it up for the night and touch base tomorrow. The last thing I said was "please stop contacting me, you've already taken up too much of my time and I just want to try and enjoy my vacation". I can add a video of the cops knocking on our door... or the motel can! I'd love to share it because it really is just so insane the owners lied to them and harassed us like this. I pointed out the cameras the owners had to the cops too and showed them (declined) repeated phone calls.
If you read this owners, please do the right thing and fix some of the damage you have caused me and my partner mentally and emotionally and just refund us. read more