Rebecca is—as this story is being posted—locked out of her room at the Hotel Monaco in Denver, Colorado, where she’s attending a work related conference. She accidentally left her wallet and cell phone in her husband’s car on the way to the airport, so she’s trying to make do with a passport and debit card that she had on her when she realized what had happened. Hotel Monaco told her she had to have the room paid for by 5pm today, but while she was attending the conference this morning they changed their minds and locked her out at 12 noon.
I’m a longtime reader of consumerist and could definitely use y’alls help in my current situation. I am on a week long trip to Denver for a conference. The conference has been good, but the trip has been plagued with mishaps. I forgot my cell phone and my wallet in my husband’s car when he dropped me off at the airport….Luckily I had my passport and mini-wallet which contained my debit card. By the time I realized my phone and wallet were not with me, my husband was long gone and the verizon payphone at the airport would not allow me to call his verizon cell phone. So, no phone, no credit cards, but I figured I’d be okay for a week with a debit card.
Checked into the Hotel Monaco Denver on 2/29/2008 with no problems. They swiped the debit card and gave me my room key. All was fine until yesterday evening, 3/5/2008 around 5 p.m. Denver time. I get a call from a Lisa at the front desk who states that my card is not authorizing. As I’m not checking out until Friday afternoon, I ask why this is a problem. Apparently, they need authorization or I will just walk out of the hotel without paying. I am stunned that Lisa has just said this, and remark that I do not appreciate being called a thief. She tells me that I can bring a check down to the front desk to cover my expenses, and that is what I do. Face to face, she continues to be rude and insinuate that I am not going to pay. I write a check and explain that I am using my debit card (due to forgetting of the wallet) and that my husband will be depositing money into my account tomorrow to cover my stay. She says that that will be fine as long as the funds are there by 5 p.m. tomorrow (Thursday, 3/6/2008). I’m still a bit shell-shocked from being called a deadbeat and a thief, but I had an evening conference to attend.
Fast forward to this morning, where I had a conference from 8 am until noon. Afterwards, I stop and pick up a Arby’s roast beef sandwich to go. I plan to eat in my room before I go to my afternoon and evening appointments. When I get back to the hotel, my key does not work. I go down to the front desk and they call the manager, Tim, who tells me that they still cannot authorize the card. Again, as I explain to him, my husband will be depositing sufficient funds this afternoon because I only have my debit card. I also explain I have no cell phone and no other cards with me. I am then told that until they receive authorization, I will not be allowed in my room. I again state that I was told I had until 5 p.m. and that is also what my husband was made aware of. I am again told that I will not be allowed in my room until they have authorization. Tim also echoes the sentiment of the manager of the previous day and states that he does not believe that I will pay for my room.
At this point I am extremely frustrated, I was told I had until 5 p.m. to have the authorization go through, I have no cell phone, and I WAS NEVER TOLD I WOULD BE LOCKED OUT OF MY ROOM if authorization wasn’t there by noon. I have been accused of being a deadbeat and a thief and treated like trash. To add insult to injury, my sandwich is cold and my monthly girl time just started. So I’m also starving and without feminine hygiene products. It’s also really cold here in Denver and I’m in a skirt and heels.
I’ve emailed the Kimpton hotels customer service and got the standard sorry for your inconvience reply. However, I am absolutely furious at what has occurred and I’m locked out of my room. Any advice or publicity you can give to my plight would help, and the sooner the better. I have access to email at the convention center, but that is my only form of communication.
Our first thought is, can you contact anyone at your company to provide some emergency assistance? Almost every company or department has access to some means of paying for hotel rooms remotely, so it might be time to call in a favor or two. We also want to know if you’ve tried buying a long-distance calling card at a nearby gas station or drugstore and then getting your husband on the phone to make things right.
If this happens again (we know, we know, it won’t), we’d seriously consider FedExing your missing items overnight. Yes, it’s extra money that you probably don’t have, but being stuck by yourself in a strange city without proper access to your accounts is too risky should an emergency occur.
Readers, any suggestions?
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it’s not the hotel’s responsibility to take care of you. you are an adult. And so what if your husband would have to drive 30 minutes to a Kinko’s to fax the credit card authorization? you are the one who forgot your credit cards. A hotel is a business, and they need to get paid for the room. you already stayed one night and since your card wouldn’t authorize for the full amount, they didn’t get paid for that night.
I sympathize with forgetting your wallet, but seriously, you need to take responsibility. The hotel isn’t at fault here.
@DallasPath: “My husband would have had to drive 30-35 minutes one way to a kinkos, wait for the form, fill it out, and send it back. He was very concerned about the possibility of identity theft/credit card by this method.”
…as compared to your immediate safety and security?
You two need to reassess your priorities.
And whats his issue with a 30 minute drive; many of us wish we had THAT short a daily one-way commute.
@kbarrett: I’m not going to pile on with the thievery response, but I will say, $500 at a medical conference will last you about 2 hours.
@RebeccaS: What a drag! I feel for you, I really do. I hate conference travel anyway, and never had a “bad” trip really. Best of luck, I hope your return trip is awesome!
Like other posters have said, there were other ways to resolve it and get your bill paid. Take the lesson and enjoy the rest of your trip!
@jamesdenver: Oh and I have a copy of my drivers licence and pasport on my E-MAIL – so if I lose my photo ID I can go print it out somewhere.
Have you used the copies? I’m wondering if that would be accepted. At first I thought that was a pretty great idea, but now I’m thinking it might be futile.
Funny how her version seems to have the “ring of scamming”. No money in the accounts and she expects the hotel to cover her. Duhhh. Even here in the “country” no pay, no room. Oh, she should be happy the county didn’t pick up her bill….:)
@Black Bellamy: I think you’re on the wrong site. After reading the past few of your comments from other posts, You must not have noticed that this site is called “The Consumerist.” Not the Companyist, or the Corporate Apologist.
@ashburnite: Wow! Ease up! Yes, she shot herself in the foot by forgetting her stuff, but the hotel told her it was cool until 5 – then locked her out before noon! That’s the issue! There’s no problem here if the hotel had just done what they said they would do – let her have until 5 to fix it!
Actually, I explained to them on Wednesday evening that until my husband deposited the money into the account, both the card and check would be declined. Lisa was fully aware of that and told me I had until 5 pm for the funds to be authorized.
For everyone bashing my husband, we decided to transfer the money and pay in cash (essentially) after my initial encounter on Wednesday evening. At NO TIME was it mentioned that I would be locked out of my room and I was under the impression that I had until 5 pm BECAUSE I WAS TOLD THAT BY LISA.
I’m quite glad that Alan Paty feels that they worked with me diligently and with care. Accusing me of being a thief and deadbeat, not letting me in my room when I had begun my period, and changing the terms of an agreement to my detriment without any notice are SO DEFINITELY considered WITH CARE. And Alan can so nicely respond to an email from someone else, but not come to apologize to me? That’s some service there.
In my opinion, which has been said before by others on this thread…someone screwed up when I checked in. If there was a problem with authorization, I should have never been allowed to check in. It is when they realized their mistake, namely after banking hours on Wednesday, that they really dropped the ball.
@Jim:
Thank you for recognizing my exact complaint! An agreement was made, they decided to change the agreement and did not even give me chance to follow through on our agreement. Instead, door locked and additional accusations of theft.
Like I said, they were paid in the timeline and manner which was agreed upon when I was first made aware of the problem. I feel I held up my end of the bargain. I feel they failed miserably and are continuing to do so.
To the person who asked if I was black: No, I’m actually white, late 20′s and very conservative/clean cut. Think j.crew/banana republic. I’ve been dressed professionally my entire stay. I’m here until 5 today, so any Denver Consumerites are more than welcome to meet with me to verify that I am who I say I am.
Another point I would like to make to reiterate my perception of the honesty and forthrightness of the Hotel Monaco Denver: Lisa said they were not going to run the check I gave them. They were going to wait until 5 pm for my husband to transfer the funds. As is obviously evidenced by the email response in these comments from ALAN, the check was indeed run. So again, thanks for keeping your word Hotel Monaco!
I think most of these comments are missing the entire point; she did NOT naively expect them to give her a room without a deposit. Because of her extenuating circumstances, THEY agreed to accept payment at 5pm the following day, and then THEY changed the terms and locked her out without warning. Completely unacceptable.
Get your stuff.
Go to a nicer hotel than that dump. It is a dump.
Check in eat your disgusting sandwich.
Get a thingie for your woman parts (try not to do it while eating)
Success?
Why would you want to fight to stay at a hotel that is treating you like that. I know they are in the wrong and you’d like them to admit it, but your comfort isn’t worth it. Do it on the phone or something.
Well, I now know what hotel to avoid when I’m in the Denver area.
I’m glad to see things worked out in the end.
It doesn’t sound like anyone came even close to calling her a deadbeat or a thief. They simply wanted to make sure that she could pay for her room. All hotels run a prior authorization. It doesn’t sound like she is really as worldly as she thinks she is if she doesn’t even know that. Also, I have stayed at this hotel multiple times, and have never seen those front desk people even hint at a bit of rudeness, even when dealing with annoying people. Either she is exaggerating her treatment, or she was so horrible that even the most seasoned professional could not deal with her. Then she says, “To add insult to injury, my sandwich was cold and my monthly girl time just started.” What a whiner. A total victim. I imagine that things similar to this happen to her all of the time, but of course it is always someone else’s fault. And why does she not have any money in her bank account? I would think that any hotel would be skeptical of her ability to pay if she is staying in a $300+ per night room, and doesn’t have any money in her bank account.
I work in the hotel industry and you would be surpirised the amount of loss (theft of services)we deal with. As consumers you need to arm yourself with information on travel policies. Generally speaking, higher end hotels will authorize full room & tax plus a deposit for incidentals per night. If you don’t have sufficient funds we have the right to deny you entry or lock you out during your stay. Its the only option we have to ensuring that the guest comes to the desk to discuss their lack of funds. Most hotels will also allow a third party to provide payment. What the guest should have done was upon arrival asked to have them send her husband a third party authorization form, borrowed the phone from the hotel to call her husband to alert him to the fact that he will need to complete and send the form back to the hotel. As simple as that. She makes no mention of any attempt made to secure funds at the beginning of her stay (the authorization on a debit card holds those funds and makes them unavailable until post departure). She may not have been able to buy her Arby’s because of the hold on her funds. I’m not excusing the poor customer service the front desk agent provided. But educate yourself, ask questions, explore options.
@All Companies Who Pull Crap Like This:
Please do everyone, yourselves included, a favor and stop making promises/arrangements you have no intention of honoring.
If you don’t want to wait until 5pm to be paid then don’t tell the customer they have until 5pm to pay you. If you don’t want to be paid by check then don’t take it. It’s just that simple.
@Jim: You probably wouldn’t be able to use a photocopy for aiport security, but if you’re traveling abroad this is essential, it will speed things up immensely at the embassy if you and your passport have parted ways.
I have worked as travel coordinator on several large productions and know that each hotel acts differently with regards to credit authorizations. If the hotel manager didn’t bother to charge pre-authorize her card at the time of check-in, then there is no guarantee that they would have done a credit authorization correctly. To lock her out of the room when they have her information on file is reprehensible.
@themidget:
That’s the reason I have my DL and passport scanned and stored in my email.
I doubt I could use it to pass through security – but should some horrible event happen like ALL my belongings get ripped off at a hotel or something its a good start.
And your credit card 800#s too. domestic and toll-free intl.
@jamesdenver: Me too on both! I also include all ititneraries, plane tickets, and the phone numbers of American embassies wherever I’m going if it’s out of the country. And I email the whole package to someone not traveling with me in case I don’t have access to internet, they can print and fax it if absolutely necessary.
I agree that having a printout would go far in getting help with airlines, etc.
Just a quick note for the armchair lawyers in this group. – Next time you go into a hotel, read the legal notice posted on the back of the door. Not only does it list the maximum rate for the room, it generally also quotes the innkeeper’s laws in whatever state you’re in.
In most states the law provides for an “innkeeper’s lien” that allows an innkeeper to retain a customer’s belongings as a security for getting paid. They would be within their rights to do so. Your threats to call the police would likely result in a tresspass charge against you.
As for the folks who suggested that she bail on the bill, that’s theft. She’ll get arrested.
As for her writing a check prior to the funds being deposited, that’s also criminal (larceny by check).
The most logical thing for her to do would be to have hubby call in with the CC and if necessary, fax a copy of the card with a release. I’ve had to do that to bail out my employees before.
She could try to call her CC co. Depending on the card, they might help.
If the hotel is an O&O and not a franchise, they might let the husband pay at a local O&O location.
Fedex, DHL and UPS both could have her info their the next AM. UPS has an 8:30 AM option.
Having said all this, by her account, the hotel handled it badly. She should take it up with corporate. Of course, we don’t know the other side of the story. Was she screaming and abusive at the desk clerk?
Just a few thoughts. I’m not an attorney but I’ve been in my own businesses for 25 years.
@bvita:
I’m a long time consumerist reader…I know how to behave to clerks. I was calm and just kept asking for an explanation of why they were refusing to honor the agreement we had made the night before. I also asked why I had not been told that they would lock me out of my room and I was told that that was ‘implied’
If the agreement that was made between Lisa and I was not satisfactory to the hotel, then Lisa acting as an agent of the hotel should have never told me I had until 5 pm. They knew that the debit card would not authorize and that the check would not clear UNTIL my husband deposited the funds. They also told me they would not run the check….they did actually run the check, so score one for being able to believe them about anything.
As I have said in prior comments, I am in the medical profession. Theft or any other crime WOULD lose me my license. I have a great deal to lose and absolutely nothing to gain from skipping out on my hotel bill.
By the theory of the Hotel Monaco Denver, I reserved a room, joined their InTouch loyalty program prior to my stay, registered for an expensive conference, and attended said conference ALL AS A RUSE TO RIP THEM OFF. They had my debit card info AND a check. They had more than sufficient personal identification on me. They did NOT have to treat me like this. And to have two ‘front desk managers’ make unfounded accusations against me goes against everything I have ever heard about customer service.
To not receive an apology is actually the most insulting part. To read that email from the hotel manager that was posted earlier was also extremely insulting. This whole thing has been one huge debacle and I am just happy I am getting the heck out of here.
Ok, I’m a road warrior. My experience is that to stay in a hotel, you have to authorize the entire cost of the hotel room *and* incidentals when you check in. This has been my experience at every hotel in which I’ve stayed for the past three years. (And no, I really don’t recommend traveling with $500 in your wallet.)
Having said that, there is a lot to be said for a little customer service. I walk by that hotel every day on the way to the office; the service that I see provided by the valet staff makes me think that they have a culture of customer service there. If they offered points (and I didn’t live in Denver) I thought it might be a good hotel to stay in.
I don’t think that they handled your situation appropriately, mostly because they sound like they were insulting instead of helpful (not that I haven’t encountered that, too). Of all the advice given here (and no I haven’t read all the comments) there were a lot of options that they might have offered if they were really interested.
I do know that hotels are very rigid about pre-paying stays; we expense everything and sometimes don’t get the reimbursement in time to re-fund our cards. In this case, I have to be able to have another solution. Sometimes it’s splitting the reservation into two parts – the part before the reimbursement date and the part after. Sometimes it’s a debit cards but they’re problematic because they can tie up unused funds for up to a week after authorization.
Even when I’m staying in hotels of points, most require a credit card authorization to cover incidentals.
Now, as for surviving in downtown Denver with limited means: There is a US bank across the street from the hotel for getting cash with your debit card. The Walgreen’s on 16th (you’re between 18th and 17th) has a good selection of stuff, because it’s the closest thing to a grocery store for a couple of miles. It’s being re-modeled, so it’s not as great as it could be, but still… If you can swing it (and I’ve had to do this when luggage was lost – at midnight in Columbia, SC) there are myriad clothing stores to pick up a change on 16th street, not to mention many good places to dine or just to grab a snack. There’s a food court at both ends of the mall with a variety. I highly recommend the Peruvian and Indian buffets on Champa, the other side of 16th St.
If you want to change hotels (not that the requirements will necessarily be different) there is a Marriott RI just to the east of you, and a Marriott Courtyard a block west and a block north on 16th St. There’s a Hyatt south on 16th St, too.
Good luck!
@bvita: I don’t believe Colorado has an “Innkeeper’s Lien”. Several states have gotten rid of them as they the state supreme courts ruled them unconstitutional.
Miss Rebecca – up to the point you were locked out, you are blameless. Anyone who suggests otherwise is wrong. OK?
But….once you were locked out, the ONLY priority was for you to get back in that room. Your husband’s inconvenience or discomfort pales in comparison. Given that VISA?MC each completely, and I mean completely, absolve consumers from ALL liability for fraudulent usage of their cards, this issue is a strawman. Even if I accept that the hotel personnel behaved as absolute trolls, they would have lost their jobs if they wouldn’t have accepted a faxed authorization for payment capture.
Did you or your husband contact your CC customer service department in the hopes of achieving a resolution? I have had excellent responses from my CC companies when something unusual left me in a tight spot.
Why wasn’t a wire transfer possible from the time you were locked out, and the EOB on the day in question?
While I do accept that the hotel should have behaved better, it is difficult for me to believe that a professional such as yourself, was seemingly wholly ignorant of some basic remedies.
By the way, when I said I was certain some important details had been left out in your original post? The fact that your check was processed and rejected is precisely the type of thing to which I was referring. Convenient how you left out the fact that they had reason to be suspicious. And now for the coup de grace…
If your DEBIT card was tied to THAT checking account, how/why on earth would you have expected the hotel to be able to perform ANY payment capture? You knowingly presented a card that had no funds backing it, didn’t you? Why, when you first arrived and you knew you were forced to use that card, didn’t you tell your husband to march down to the bank and make sure that the checking account tied to your debit card had the funds to pay for your stay? You had days to do this. DAYS.
I am perfectly willing to accept that you had no illicit intent. Perfectly. But, the hotel had more than enough evidence to treat you as someone with less than stellar character.
I think that it might be worth stating, as another hotel worker who knows how these things go … I really don’t think it was a matter of the hotel not keeping their word nearly as much as it was Lisa overextending her empowerment.
I seriously doubt she was authorized to excuse a checked in guest from having any effective MOP. So, she did the wrong thing, and unfortunately, especially when you’re into the possibility of loss recovery, the mistake has to stop sometime and somebody has to say, “Well, sorry but what Lisa did and told you was wrong…” That doesn’t excuse being treated as a thief though …
Rebecca, my guess at what happened, if you’re curious, is that you got a really super customer service oriented person who hasn’t quite figured out what their real job is. We get told all the time that we’re supposed to do what it takes to make the guests happy la la la–especially by guests requesting low rates lol–but our real job at front desk is to make a profit and collect on it for the owners of the hotel.
Customer Service is super important to our job, but it’s just means of doing so [making profit]; if being rude made more money, they’d have us do that, make no doubt.
So you get a front desk agent now and then that meets someone like you, hears their story about the wallet loss, and tries to be nice in a way that just isn’t feasible because it doesn’t ensure collection.
It’s really too bad too, because they always get in trouble for it (I always did before I learned too) and regardless of how anyone else at the hotel acted after Lisa, this is all going to be Lisa’s fault in the morning, and no one else will ever take a share of the fault since hers was the obvious and glaring problem. Again, she fails to ensure collection=Lisa the only/main agent in trouble. Agent/Manager who insulted you=probably just going to say they were cleaning up Lisa’s mess and not get in trouble. It’s about customer service, but it’s also about earning in a much bigger way.
But anyway, just my guess … Lisa thought she was being nice and serving the guest, and overextended her empowerment. Hopefully, she’ll learn that trying to help and failing is a lot worse than sticking to policy.
Just to shed some light on the subject. I imagine that the desk agent that checked her in actaually did run the authorization. At that time she probably had sufficient funds to cover her stay. She probably used some of the services at the hotel and charged them to her room. When she utilized these services the hotel system probably sent out an authorization to ensure collection of these funds. For those of you that say that you are in the industry, it surprises me that this ommission would elude you.
Seriously, she was in the hotel for 6 days. She was knowingly ringing up charges on her room that she knew that she could not cover with her checking account. I am not saying that she intended to steal, but when was she going to figure out how to pay her bill if the agent “Lisa” did not call her down the previous day? When she checked out? And if she did not have the funds to settle up, was she just going to leave and figure it out later.
Hum, it seems to me that there may be another side to this.
I have been in the hotel business for over ten years and believe me, this sort of thing happens every day. You are not special and you are not being singled out, you are being treated in a way that is in accordance to an industry standard: you don’t have money to pay for your room, you can’t stay. It’s no different than anything else- same as the gas station. If you don’t pay, you don’t pump. Twisting this to mean that you are being called a thief or a deadbeat is a quantum leap- that is neither implied nor inferred anywhere in your scenario.
I will also advocate the two-way customer service channel. You have to understand that Lisa’s entire shift work must be accounted for. If you aren’t paying up your bill and are taking offense to a common business practice, she is probably going to have a difficult time arriving at an acceptable solution for both of you.
By the way, your “agreement” with Lisa is not a binding hotel contract. If you didn’t get it in writing and signed by a manager, then there was no agreement.
You are correct in assuming that they don’t care. They really don’t. John and Jane Does check in all the time and you are nobody special. They will not make an exception for you and they do not care if you will never return and if you tell everybody that you know never to go there. They will still make millions in room sales this year regardless of whether or not you can get your act together and pay for your room on time or not, and regardless of your “agreement” with Lisa. Get over yourself.