Matt and his wife got into a power struggle with a hotel desk clerk at a Howard Johnson who refused to allow a non-employee to use a hotel bathroom. The couple ended up storming off and HoJo kept their money.

The argument would never have started had the hotel room been ready when the couple tried to check in a bit early.

Matt writes:

Am I crazy in finding this offensive? My wife and I arrived a little early to check in, and they told us the room was not ready, had to be cleaned. My wife, a nursing mother who gave birth a few months back, still has some urgency issues. We had driven a while, and she was in pretty serious discomfort. She asks if she can use the restroom, and the guy behind the desk tells her, “No, no public restroom.”

I took issue with him and pointed out, “We’re not the public, we’re customers, and my wife needs some accommodation.” He just refuses, saying “No public restroom.”

I got quite hot about this and told him if he couldn’t find a toilet somewhere in the entire hotel, he was not getting our money either, and I would be sure to let folks know about his behavior. He in turn told me, “I’m not scared of you! Do it!”

Oh, and apparently Howard Johnson’s gets to keep my money because the reservation was made online and they won’t cancel it because it was some special rate. Yeah, I guess I missed it in the fine print, but even so, does that mean they can treat you as poorly as they want and you still have to pay? I would think there should be some kind of minimum acceptable service standard for that agreement to apply.

For the record, telling my wife to soil herself rather then let her into one of, what, fifty bathrooms or more on the site, does not meet my minimum standards for service.

How would you have reacted to the hardball-playing desk dude?

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