I reserved a room for June 2. It was a free reward night that I earned through Holiday Inn's reward program at this location for this stay. I had to enter my credit card information when reserving the room, even though it was a free night, because of any incidental charges that could occur, such as movie rental, room service, laundry, etc.
To be sure there was no confusion with the free reward night, I made sure with the front desk that the night was not billed to my credit card upon checking out. I was traveling with my wife and our three sons, all under five years old. I am a smoker, and usually stay at hotels that have smoking rooms available. However, considering that I do not smoke in our home, a 100% non-smoking hotel property was not an issue with this night's stay.
We had been vacationing in the Chattanooga area, and the night we spent in the Holiday Inn was the last night of our trip. When I had been smoking outside, as I often do, I would extinguish the cigarette, and place the butt in my pocket. I then, again, as I often do, threw the cigarette butts in the trash can of the hotel room.
When I received my credit card statement this month, I saw a $100 charge from the Holiday Inn. I thought that perhaps there was confusion about this free reward night after all. So, I called and left a message with the manager's voice mail inbox. The next day, a gal called and informed me that the charge was for a smoking in a non-smoking room charge. I informed her that smoking had not occurred in the room.
After a few moments of discussion, she transferred me to Sonny, the manager. He informed me that "evidence" (discarded cigarette butts) were found in the room, and that he would not accept my explanation, and would certainly not reverse the charges.
I have dealt with Holiday Inn's corporate office many times, and have received "sorry for your inconvenience" messages, but no solutions for being robbed of $100. The bottom line is that I absolutely did not smoke anywhere in the Holiday Inn property. If the property had a "no discarding of cigarette butts in hotel trash cans" policy, I could see how I was in the wrong. However, this is not the case, and I did not violate the no smoking policy.
"Do not litter." "Do not smoke." "Be a responsible citizen." I honored the hotel's policy and did my best to not be a litterer. The complete lack of customer service and "go screw yourself" attitudes from the hotel manager and from Holiday Inn corporate is very upsetting. If you feel my pain, please make their lives inconvenient.
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