brighambf
1 februari 2023
Here's my first one-star-review ever! First the back story: My wife and 9-yr-old son booked this hotel for a Mother-son vacation in New York City. They booked online--three nights in October 2022. When they checked-in, they soon started having some concerns about their safety and also the comfort of the room. First, the room door was already open a crack when they first checked-in. Second, the faucet in the bathroom was hyper sensitive and it was difficult to get it to set at anything besides straight cold and way-to-hot. Third, the room was so narrow that in order to get to the other side of the room, they just about had to crawl over the bed. My wife called me concerned that she and my son did not feel safe, particularly with the room not being secured prior to their arrival. Of course I worried as well. I immediately called the front desk and explained that my wife's plans changed and they would need to check out early. The front desk clerk said she would see if the manager would permit that, she said she would call back. She did and she reported that they would be able to check out the next morning and receive a refund of the last two nights. All good so far. The next morning when they were checking out, my wife asked for a copy of the invoice. The clerk said one would be emailed to her. My wife and son checked in to another hotel and enjoyed the rest of their vacation in NY. Now the frustration. My wife never received an emailed invoice but when we received our credit-card bill, the full three nights were charged on it. I immediately reached out to the hotel. The front desk staff directed me to the manager's email address. I emailed the manager explaining the whole story. I did not receive a prompt reply. When I eventually did receive a reply, it appeared that the manager had not understood what I was asking. I responded back, reiterating the situation and requesting a refund for the final two nights. No response. We decided to contest the charge through the credit card company. The hotel was very active in responding to American Express. They finally provided a copy of the invoice stating my wife and son stayed the full three nights. AMEX affirmed the charges based on the invoice I ended up calling Choice Hotels (the parent company) to request a refund. Choice Hotels expressed regret at our experience but noted they could not help us because by this time, more than 90 days had passed and their policies prohibit refunds beyond that time frame. We definitely do not recommend the hotel based on its safety and poor state of maintenance. We definitely do not recommend the hotel based on how the Hotel staff failed to honor their agreement to allow my wife and son to check out early. We are out more than $500 for the two nights my wife and son did not stay and we are not happy :-(
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