Howard Johnson

Review: This hotel is absolutely disgusting, unsafe and is in appalling condition. It is run by terrible, rude and uncaring management. We stayed here during a 17 hour trip and had no choice as it was a holiday weekend and all other hotels were unfortunately booked. We were not expecting much, but this was unacceptable. The room smelled terrible, everything was in disrepair. The blinds did not close completely and an annoyingly bright light shone into our room for the entire 5 hours that we stayed there. The shower was filthy as was the entire bathroom. During the middle of the night, I received a phone call soliciting me for an inappropriate interaction. We left as soon as possible and informed management about the conditions of the room and the phone call. All he said was "that's okay". When I tried to ask him how that could possibly be okay, he simply ignored me. The hotel also offers "complimentary" breakfast which was some cereal and a few Hostess muffins and donuts. I asked the front desk if we could take two muffins as we wanted to get out of there as soon as possible and he refused. He said we had to eat the muffins in the "breakfast room". I contacted Howard Johnson corporate office and they informed me they were giving me a refund for the room. I had to contact the third party booking agency and when I did they stated that the manager, [redacted], was only refunded $15. I was told I needed to speak to [redacted] to receive a greater refund. When I attempted to contact him, he screamed over everything I said and refused to let me talk and proceeded to hang up on me.Desired Settlement: I would like a full refund for the room charges ($82.47) and a written apology by the manager. I would also like someone to review the conditions of the hotel so that this situation is remedied for future customers. Though I strongly believe due to the current condition of the hotel that it should be shut down for immediate repairs and not reopened until deemed safe.

Consumer

Response:

Yes that is correct. I received a phone call from your corporate office stating I would receive a refund but that I would have to contact the third party booking agencies. When I called them they stated the hotel only offered a $15 refund and I am asking for a full refund of $82.47. I called the hotel and the manager was extremely rude, yelled over everything I said and then hung up on me. Horrible experience

Review: On December 7th 2015, I paid for one night stay at the Econo Lodge on Madison Avenue in El Cajon, california.So with a $50 deposit the total was 111.00. I was given no receipt while checking in I was given a card only for the door of the room with the email and the internet passcode on it. I was also told for an additional $7 for the room and an additional $50 totaling 100 for the deposit I could have a suite. I replied that was not necessary and stayed in the handicap suite room 109. The next morning I could not be there at 11 o'clock for check out so I asked my friend if he could check out for me. The front desk said that was not possible and that I would have to come in person to receive my deposit back.So I return there around 4:30 that evening to get my deposit. I handed the gentleman my ID, he told me there was going to be additional charges for missing items in the room I asked him exactly what was missing from the room and then he began talking with his coworkers and made a phone call. After his phone call he no longer complained of missing items from the room but then accused me of leaving cigarette burns everywhere in the room and showed me a picture of a table with cigarette burns on his iPhone I told him that was impossible and that I never saw any cigarette burns I told him I would like to see the room he said that was impossible because it was being occupied and he was then going to charge me $400 for damages and keep my deposit I am not even sure I even smoked one cigarette in that room I had been helping a friend move and spent very little time that evening in it. I showered in the morning got dressed and left. When I sent my friend to get my deposit he asked me how much and I told him $50 he claims they said my deposit was only $25 I find they are keeping my deposit. Making ridiculous accusations that I damage their property. I will never do business with these people again and I would like my $50 deposit back.Desired Settlement: I would like my $50 deposit return to me for I have done nothing wrong nor caused any destruction to these premises. I want to be assured that I am NOT sued somewhere down the line for something I didn't do

Business

Response:

To Whom it may Concern

Review: This is the worst place to stay! I Stayed at this hotel this past weekend and after having the housekeepers do their job some of my items were stolen that cost over $300. I'm not one to leave my valuable items lying around these people took the liberty to go through my luggage to see what suited them best. After realizing my items were missing I brought it up to the woman who claimed to be the "Manager", This lady got so defensive and started yelling at me!!! This lady would not even let me speak she was acting as if she was the victim, "PROVE IT... PROVE IT you liar" was all she was saying. Anyhow I ended up filing a police report and they basically said that there's not much they can do but it's always good to file a report because after so many complaints the staff would eventually get investigatedDesired Settlement: I would just like to get a full refund I booked two rooms for the weekend and the item's that were stolen by there staff were worth more money then what we paid for the rooms. I'm a good person and I don't have much but I work hard for what I do have. I was treated as a perpetrator instead of a victim. All I could do was cry by the way I was treated and the fact that I was never gonna see my items which had sentimental value and item's with such meaning could never be replaced.

Business

Response:

To Whom it may concern;

I have checked your name against our guest register and found no stays at this hotel. Typically when a guest tells us something is missing from the room we ask them to call the police, since they are the best at investigating this matter. I have complete trust in my housekeeping staff. they have been working at this hotel for many years. In the past they have turned in expensive items left behind by the guest such as laptops, phone, jewelry, cameras and many high dollar items including cash. These housekeeper are hard working people and are not risk their jobs for $300 in my opinion.

At this time the best thing I suggest is call police file a police report and let them do their investigation. Hotel is not responsible for leaving items in the room. Rooms are provided with a safe at no additional cost for the guest to store their valuables. Sorry but there is nothing we can do.

Sincerely

Review: I believe the owners of this hotel are involved in credit card fraud. In other words, the card that you give them at check in, will get charged for a small charge or few, hoping that you won't notice, and won't ask. This has nothing to do with refundable deposit at check-in. In addition to that, the staff of this hotel unjustly takes advantage of their clients and denied courtesies that all other hotels I ever stayed with offer. If you check-out even few minutes late, they charge you a late check-out fee...even if you call ahead and ask for a little bit of time to leave.

It looks like their business model is built around getting people in for a good price, hope that customers are even few minutes late at check-out, and then charge late check-out fee charges in order to "up-sell the customer". In addition to that, I believe that during their stay, this hotel charges customers few small charges (between $20-$30), hoping that they won't be noticed. If you ask about them, they just ignore you, and hope that because the charges are small, you won't bother complaining about them.

Here is the email I wrote to them after checking out, asking them about possibly fraudulent charges. I also submitted contact form through their website, called and left a message with manager to call me back. To this day, nobody got back to me.

Hello Howard Johnson on 588 N. Mollison Ave., El Cajon, CA 92021.

I stayed in rooms 222 and 229 for the last 3 nights, which I pre-paid through [redacted]. I just checked out about 2 hours and 40 minutes ago.

At about 11:30 am this morning, I called the front desk, and asked for a 1 pm late checkout, because I assumed the checkout is at 12 pm. The man who spoke to me identified himself as the owner, and told me that check out is at 11:00 am, and I already owe him $30 per room, and if I stay after 12:00 pm, I will owe him additional $75 per room.

I told him that all hotels I ever stayed with before allow at least 1 hour courtesy after check-out, told him that I'll leave right away (before 12 pm), and asked him to not charge me $30 per room. The man told me that he will definitely charge me, because I signed a contract when I checked in, outlining the late charges.

I explained that I am a VIP member of Hotwire and respected member of Expedia, I've booked literally hundreds of hotel nights via these services, and I've never experienced such unfair treatment. I proposed that if they choose to take advantage of their customers in such way, they should verbally speak it at check-in that even if you are 1 minute late, you'll be charged $30 fee.

I again asked for an exception, but was told that there definitely won't be one.

I became concerned that this particular hotel is operating not honestly. That this hotel's business model is to sell the rooms at good rates, and then charge their customers for whatever extra charges they could come up with, and was concerned that they possibly charge cards fraudulently, hoping that card holders don't notice, so I went to check my card, which I gave them at check-in.

I saw 2 charges from yesterday, one for $1, and one for $24.31. My reservation was fully prepaid via [redacted], I did not ask for any upgrades at check-in, and I had no idea what these charges were 1 full day before check-out and 2 days after check-in, so I closed my credit card, due to what I believe is fraud, and disputed these 2 charges.

Though I was treated very unreasonably, I am willing to meet my contractual obligations, and I am willing to send you check for whatever money I owe, that are above my pre-paid booking.

Please kindly email me back with an itemized bill, and I'll send you a check.

As the owner may remember, I spoke to him the entire time very courteously in a very calm tone, especially because I just finished my meditation before calling. In fact, the reason I asked for late check out, is because I wanted to finish my meditation, which would take approximately 45 more minutes.

In response to my very calm feedback that I feel he is unjustly taking advantage of his customers, and that I plan to dispute his charges with my credit card company, he told me quite rudely that he will report me to the police.

Please note that I will be submitting complaints about this quite outrageous treatment and my worst hotel experience ever. I will be complaining to Howard Johnson head quarters, California Revdex.com, and whatever other fraud prevention and customer protection agencies I can find in the jurisdiction.

Not because I am angry, but because I wish to protect future and past guests.

I will also be submitting appropriate reviews for this hotel on all popular hotel review sites that I could find on Google.

Thank you and I look forward to your reply with the final bill!Desired Settlement: Unreasonable late check-out charges need to be eliminated, and courtesy extended to customers. Clearly, unauthorized credit card charges need to stop.

Business

Response:

Mr. [redacted].

We thank you for your business, as all other hotels we authorize 15% of the total bill as incidental deposit, this deposit is released once the guest has checked out. Unfortunately if the guest paid with a debit card the banks take up to 10 days to reflect the credit on your account. As for the late check out fees. We clearly state the late check out policy and fees on our registration cards, we also ask the guests to initial upon check-in so that they are aware of the late check out policy and fees. As a courtesy we do remind people at 11am about our check out policy and fees, if they vacant the room in reasonable time we do waive the fees, but if someone take much longer to vacant the room, we do charge $30 for late checkout based on the policy that was disclosed upon check-in.

Our business model is to provide a clean, comfortable room at a reasonable price. In return we expect the guest to follow the policy of the hotel which was disclosed on the registration card.

We are sorry for any confusion, you are welcome to come and see what you had signed upon check-in,

Sincerely

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

The hotel staff says that they call at 11:00 am to remind people to check out, and if the guest leaves within reasonable amount of time, they don't charge late check out fees. It's all a lie. I never received such courtesy call, and I reviewed negative responses about this hotel, where other people never received such courtesy call either. Even if people leave just few minutes after 11:00 am, this hotel charges late checkout fees. It's built into their profit center. They hope that people will check-out late, so that they could make more money. It's clear from my experience and other reviewers.

Regards,