Horrible Hotel Experience at the Quality Inn & Suites in Niagara Falls

During one of our planned summer vacations, my husband and I decided to take our 5 year old on a road trip.  We planned to visit 4 cities in 7 days.  For the most part, we had a wonderful time and even planned part of the trip so that my niece and her family would tour around with us.

Our stay at the Niagara Falls Quality Inn & Suites on Ferry St. was not what I would have ever expected and I’ve been traveling around the world with my family and on my own for a number of decades.  I have enjoyed many types of accommodation, everything from a camping caravan to a 5 diamond hotel in Rome.

Upon my return home from our trip, the Quality Inn web site sent me an automated message asking me to complete a survey of my stay.

Normally, when I have a less than average stay, I still give the hotel the benefit of the doubt and give them a pleasant review.  This time I could not.  The survey did not give me enough space to fully describe my stay so I sent them an e-mail to the Customer Support department (grdesk@choicehotels.com) posted on their web site.  I have not received even an acknowledgement that are investigating my stay so I thought that I would post my letter below… for my own piece of mind.

I simply feel that future guests should be made aware of issues with this hotel and make an informed decision before deciding to make a reservation.

eMail sent to : grdesk@choicehotels.com on July 29th 2016 3:04pm

 

Subject: Quality Inn & Suites (CN856) – Hotel issues

I recently reserved a room at the Quality Inn & Suites, 5234 Ferry St., Niagara Falls.  It has been my most horrible experience to date in any hotel I have stated at in over two decades.

Our reservation was for two adults and one 5 year old.  We also travelled with my niece and her family (also two adults and a 7 year old) and did receive rooms next to each other.

The hotel claims to offer free Wifi… at no time could we ever log onto the system.  When I spoke with the maintenance manager, he did not seem too surprised and said he would re-boot the system (which did nothing).

Also, the hotel did not have any cable.  It ran a cable wire into the tv but only had 3 stations on the feed that was super grainy and difficult to watch.

Here are the additional events that occurred:

Day 1

• Upon check-in to the room we notice our remote for our doesn’t work and there are lights burned out in the bathroom
  • We called front desk who sent over someone named Dylan.  He tried to fix the remote.  Came back and forth to the room 3x and then disappeared with our remote and never returned.
• The pool was out of order
  • We were told the pump was broken
    • We were told it would be open the next day
    • (the main reason for our stay at this location was that it is an economy hotel with a pool)
  • We noticed there was an issue with the door and that we had to shut it extremely hard to ensure the door locked.
    • I advised the front desk of this and they said it was normal.

Day 2

• We called front desk again to advise that we now have no remote for the TV and the burned out lights bathroom were still not replaced
  • This time the head of maintenance came by with a new remote and fixed the light bulbs
  • I also spoke to this maintenance person about the fact that my door doesn’t close properly and even showed him that when you close the door it doesn’t lock.  He said this was the first time he has ever seen this issue with the door and said to simply close it harder.
• We went out touring for the day and as we were leaving spoke with the person assigned to cleaning our room (as she was standing out front) and let her know we only need the towels changed and garbage emptied.  We slammed the door and I made sure it was securely locked.
  • Upon our return, 6 hours later, our room was unlocked.  The door was closed but easily pushed open without a key.  I was freaked out.  I felt violated by the hotel regardless of whether something was taken or not.  Thankfully, our belongings were all intact.
  • I went to the front desk furious that this would happen.
    • They first tried to tell me that this was my fault
    • They then tried to tell me the maid never entered the room
      • Which I could prove she was… the towels and garbage were removed
    • They then inferred I was overreacting
      • disgusting customer service
    • When they finally realized I could prove it was their maid that left my door unlocked, they then tried to make me feel bad by telling me they would let her go.
      • This is super unprofessional.  The hotel should take ownership of the fact that it was a hotel maintenance issue.
      • You can’t tell me that this is the “first time” they realized this door didn’t close properly…
    • Their fix, for the door, was to put some oil on the locking mechanism
  • To top off the day… the pool was still out of order
    • They told us they now had to rebuild the pump
  • The pool was still out of order during our second day and only reopened in the evening of our third day.

Day 3

• The door worked a bit better, and we were told by the hotel representative the evening prior that the maid entering the room to clean it would ensure it was securely closed upon her departure.
  • I was still very uneasy during the day worried that I would return to an unlocked room
• Upon our arrival back at the hotel, after touring we found we were locked out of our room.  Both my husband’s and my key cards were deactivated.
  • I went to the front desk and was told that it was my fault the cards were deactivated… we must have placed them near our phones or a magnetic item.
  • I ensured him we did not and that my husband had the key in his side pocket of his cargo pants not near a phone or anything magnetic.
  • He was very clear that this was my fault, not the hotels
    • Are you kidding me, I said to him.  With everything that has happen to me so far, this is his response.
  • As I returned to my room, with two new key cards, my niece discovered her key cards were also deactivated.
    • Front desk was much kinder to her saying that it was hotel policy to deactivate the key cards after a two night stay.
    • Was this a load of bull or what…

 

Upon check-out

Around 8 am, I went to the front desk to ask what would be done to compensate me for all the issues relating to the hotel breach of security along with all the other customer issues.

• The front desk agent was not aware of any issues with my reservation and asked me to recount again everything that happened
• She then said that the hotel manager will be in at 9am, they would review my file and let me know later that morning.

 

Upon my return, the front desk person advised that it was the hotel day-managers last day and she did not leave any details.

 

The night manager offered the following:

• Complimentary parking (*$15.00 /day) * this was offered to everyone because the pool was out of order
• 50% off my first night stay (were to refund $67.24)

Note: The room rate of $104.53/per night was prepaid directly by the Choice Hotel site (total $313.59)

 

I was disgusted with their offer as it seemed they wanted me to negotiate with them so they low-balled the compensation.

 

It still makes me sick thinking of everything that happened, the security breach of the room is the worst thing that could happen to anyone.

 

To top everything off, I returned home a week later and checked my on-line statements and the hotel had yet to refund the amount they posted on my statement.  I had to contact the hotel to complain (again) and finally they refunded my credit card.

• It felt as though they were hoping I would forget about the refund…

 

I am really not satisfied with their compensation based on all the horrible issues that occurred and would appreciate whatever support or services you may offer regarding this situation.  What they should have offered me was an apology and a full refund.

— end–

The one thing I can say is that even with the horrible experiences we endured at the Quality Inn & Suites in Niagara Falls … once we stepped out of our hotel, the city of Niagara Falls was wonderful and those are the memories I will remember.

 

Update on this story: August 19th 2016

I am thankful to say that my letter to the Canadian Guest Relations Department for the Choice Hotels International did not go unanswered.

They responded to my inquiry on Thursday, August 18th to offer their apologies and although they are unable to compensate me for my issues with the hotel, they are forwarding my message to the hotel General Manager and should nothing be done they will then step in to take action.

Later that same day, the General Manager of the hotel contacted me to advise they will offer me a full refund.

As soon as the refund is posted, I will provide another update.  It means a lot when a hotel takes responsibility.

 

Final update for this story: August 22nd 2016

I am very happy to share that the hotel has fully refunded the price paid for the room reservation.

Though I don’t plan to every stay at this particular hotel again, I don’t hold any ill will towards the Quality Hotel brand and do plan to stay at other locations in the future.