I had a GUARANTEED reservation at the Quality Inn South. The day before I was to arrive a message was left at my home stating that the hotel was no longer a Quality Inn but instead an Econo Lodge. The message also stated that my confirmed reservation was still in the system and nothing had changed. I was told to call the hotel with any questions I had.
My boyfriend called the hotel and was told by the general manager that they were *NOT* an Econo Lodge but instead switching to a Best Western and that my reservation wasn't in the computer-it was cancelled! (Confused yet? I sure was!) He was then told our reservation would not be honored and had been cancelled. My boyfriend asked why and was told that the hotel lost their franchise from Choice Hotels International. "If Choice is gonna screw us, then we'll screw them!" were the GENERAL MANAGER's exact words.
I work in a Choice hotel and the whole thing made no sense to me so I decided to call the hotel myself to understand what was going on. The front desk clerk who picked up the phone answered "Quality Inn-May I help you?". I immediatly asked to speak to a supervisor. The supervisor answered the phone and right away I asked, "Are you a Quality Inn or Best Western?". The supervisor asked me what I meant and I repeated my question. He stuttered and finally told me it was "undecided". I asked him if it was undecided then why did his desk clerk identify the business as a Quality Inn. "Well, we are a Quality Inn!" was his response.
I was even more confused at this point and asked the supervisor if the hotel was still a Quality Inn, then why was my reservation cancelled in the first place. "Look, you made the reservation through Choice Hotels International. They pulled our franchise and it's up to us if we want to honor the reservation made through them. I can tell you right now we're not going to honor it. If they want to play hardball then so can we!" were his *EXACT WORDS*.
I was obviously wasting my time with this guy so I hung up the phone. I immediatly called Choice Hotels International and spoke to the complaint department. They confirmed the hotel lost the franchise and could no longer identify itself with the brand. I told them the hotel was still calling itself a Quality Inn and explained the situation to them. I also plan on getting in touch with someone at Best Western International and letting them know. My guess is this hotel has no contract in the works with their company either and is fraudulently associating itself with their brand as well.
I warn everyone to steer clear of this "business". I'm seeing some legal problems for them in the future...
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