Shae and I stayed 5 nights at the TownePlace Suites Gallup, NM last month. Normally I’d write a review of our stay like I always do (I’ve reviewed 134 hotels at the time of publishing this), but this one will be different to normal.
The reason why is because we received such awful service from both the Manager and General Manager of the hotel that they don’t deserve a regular review (despite the stay itself not being terrible).
Here’s what happened.
Check-In
Our issues weren’t related to the check-in experience, but in hindsight what happened before and at check-in was indicative of the subsequent problems we had.
A night or two before our stay I checked Marriott’s website to see if there were any one bedroom suites available. We were booked into a studio suite using points, but I was hoping to get an upgrade to a one bedroom suite due to our status. Sure enough, there were one bedroom suites available and so I messaged the hotel using Marriott’s app.
Every single time I’ve done this in the past, we’ve gotten an upgrade. However, this time the reply was that they couldn’t upgrade us as they didn’t have any one bedroom suites available. I mentioned that they were still selling them online, but their response was that it must be a website glitch. I wasn’t convinced by that, but it’s not like there was anything we could do to verify if they were telling the truth or not.
When checking in, we asked again about an upgrade just in case seeing as the one bedroom suites were still being sold online. I can’t remember what the specific reply was, but the context was that because we were staying five days they weren’t going to upgrade us. The way it was phrased seemed like it was because they didn’t want to upgrade someone for that long, rather than because there weren’t any one bedroom suites available.
Check-Out
The stay itself was fine – the problem occurred at check-out. The TownePlace Suites Gallup emailed me a copy of our bill the night before we checked out. There weren’t any room charges on there because we paid using points, but there was a $125 pet fee listed.
Although we knew there was a pet fee because of having Truffles with us, it was higher than we’d been expecting. My records had their pet fee listed as $100 per stay and when checking the screenshot I’d taken when booking our stay (something I always do), sure enough – it said it was $100 per stay.
The next day, Shae went to check us out while I loaded up the car with all our stuff. I asked her to have them reduce the pet fee to $100 and to then pay for it with a Marriott gift card. That gift card had been bought for 20% off, so it would save us a few extra bucks on our stay.
The Problems Begin
About 5-10 minutes later, Shae came out looking frustrated. The front desk agent hadn’t been sure what to do about the pet fee, so she asked her manager Andrea Sherman to help her. However, the manager refused to reduce the cost of the pet fee. Her reasoning was that they charge $25 per night and so with us staying five nights, we owed $125.
Shae stated that their website said the fee was $100, but the manager countered by saying we signed a Pet Acceptance Agreement that said we’d be charged $25 per night. Shae asked for a copy of it and this is what was provided:
After reading the first bullet point, Shae pointed out to the manager Andrea that the Pet Acceptance Agreement stated that the pet fee was $25 per stay, not per night. Despite this, Andrea refused to budge and wouldn’t lower the pet fee any further. Clearly not getting anywhere, Shae paid the fee with the gift card and came back out.
When she told me what happened and that the form we’d signed when checking in said we only owed $25 rather than $100 or $125, I went in to discuss it with the manager. She had a smug look on her face, like she was taking satisfaction from the fact that they were overcharging us by $100 and once again refused to do anything about it.
I asked to speak to her manager and she said she wasn’t there. I asked her to call the General Manager so that I could discuss the issue with her, but she said she wasn’t available today and so wouldn’t do that, but that I could take her card and contact her myself.
So I did.
The Service Gets Worse
One thing I should note is that ordinarily I’d have just disputed the charge on our credit card seeing as we had clear evidence that they’d overcharged us. However, because we’d switched payment to a Marriott gift card, that wasn’t possible.
As a result, that evening I dropped the following email to Vivian Atine, the General Manager of the TownePlace Suites Gallup:
Dear Vivian
My wife and I had a very poor experience at the TownePlace Suites Gallup today when checking out and so I’d appreciate your assistance getting our issue resolved as the Front Office Manager Andrea Sherman refused to help.
My wife and I stayed from September 20-25 under reservation number xxxxxxxx. It was booked under my wife’s account (Shae Pepper – member number xxxxxxxxx).
The hotel’s website states that the pet fee is $100 per stay. When checking out, we noticed that we were charged $125, so while I packed up our car my wife went back to the front desk to get $25 refunded due to us being overcharged.
The front desk agent wasn’t able to help, so she went to get the manager (Andrea). She refused to refund the $25 because she stated the hotel’s pet policy is that they charge $25 per day. That’s not what the website says and the Pet Acceptance Agreement we signed when checking in (a copy of the form is attached) states that the pet fee is $25 per stay, not per day.
That means that we were overcharged by $100. Despite explaining this to Andrea, she maintained that we had to pay $125 and that she wouldn’t refund us.
When my wife came out to the car and explained what had happened, I went inside to try to get it resolved. Once again, Andrea was dismissive and didn’t care that they’d overcharged us. She said we could take it up with the General Manager, so I asked her to call you. She refused to do that and said I needed to take your business card and contact you myself, hence this email.
Please could you therefore refund us the $100 that we were overcharged for the pet fee. I have Titanium status and my wife just earned Titanium status having completed this stay, so being treated like this as loyal Marriott Bonvoy members is completely unacceptable. Having said that, it would be unacceptable even if neither of us had status. If the room rate was $150 per night, the hotel can’t decide to charge guests $250 when checking out just because they want them to pay more. The same should go with the pet fee – we signed the Pet Acceptance Agreement provided by the TownePlace Suites Gallup where we agreed to pay $25 for the entire stay, so there’s no way that we should be charged $125 just because the Front Office Manager wants to make more money.
If the issue was that a front desk employee didn’t know how to process the refund, that’d be understandable. However, that’s not the case. In this case, the Front Office Manager is actively refusing to refund us despite knowing that they’ve deliberately overcharged us.
Kind regards
Stephen Pepper
The next morning Shae received a voicemail from Vivian asking her to call back so that she could issue a refund. Due to us paying with a gift card, she couldn’t refund to that.
I also received an email reply from her which said the following:
On behalf of TownePlace Suites – Gallup, NM – I apologize for your check out experience. Our website should have been updated by now as we have added “per stay.” The $25 pet fee, per pet, per night is until the $100 is updated on-line. The website also does state to, Contact Hotel for Details.Andrea was addressed on how this situation was handled by her and I will be crediting back your $25 as soon as you give me a call at 505.722.6500 – I cannot credit a gift card so that is why I do need to speak with you for a credit card to credit.
When checking out, we had expected to only pay $100 as the pet fee. However, given the attitude the manager Andrea gave both of us and the fact that we’d signed their agreement stating we only owed $25 for the entire stay, I sent this reply to Vivian:
Thanks for your reply. Given Andrea’s insistence that we pay the official pet fee, we’re expecting a $100 refund as the agreement provided by the hotel which we signed confirmed that we only owed $25 for the stay. When making our reservation, there was an American Express card on the reservation ending xxxxx – please could you refund the $100 to that card.
Despite the fact that we had that signed agreement that we only owed $25, the General Manager tried arguing otherwise:
You’re most welcome on the email response. The original complaint at checkout & to Marriott, was getting over charged $25 – That is what I will be refunding since the Marriott site does state the $100 per stay that you and Mrs. Pepper insisted. I emailed yesterday, I cannot refund a Gift Card, the system will not allow it being a Gift Card as these are like pre-paid cards.
I will need a debit card or credit card to credit the $25 back to you. I will also update Marriott as well about the $25 refund, not $100.
That was a ridiculous reply. She’d effectively said in a previous reply that the pet fee on the website was incorrect and that what the property actually stated at check-in was the correct rule. Now she was saying that we should ignore the contract we signed and that the pet fee listed on the website – which she claimed was incorrect – was how much we owed them.
I therefore sent her this reply:
I’m sorry, but that’s unacceptable. While we were expecting to pay $100 for our stay initially based on the fee listed on the website, the signed agreement – on the form provided by the hotel – said we had to pay $25 for the stay. That is why we’re expecting a refund of $100. As per your original reply, you stated that the website said to contact the hotel for details, so I’m not sure why you’re now stating that we should pay the fee listed on the website when that’s not what the hotel subsequently had us sign a form for.
I therefore look forward to your confirmation that you will be refunding us with $100; we’ll then call with our credit card number.
Despite them being in the wrong, Vivian still steadfastly refused to do the right thing:
Again, I will be refunding the $25 as you originally requested – not $100. I have also updated Marriott as I stated in the last email, and they agree. I will be expecting your call for the credit or debit card number to be refunded. I will not go back and forth on this issue.
She won’t be going back and forth on this issue? Fine. At this point it was a matter of principle, so I emailed her the following request:
In which case please could you provide the email address of your manager as I wish to escalate this further.
Now We’re Getting Somewhere
Apparently invoking her manager did the trick. When the General Manager explained the situation to him, I’d like to think the conversation went something like this:
So you had these guests sign an agreement saying they’d pay you $25 as the pet fee. Then you charged them $125 and are refusing to give them the $100 back. What the hell are you thinking? Give them their $100 back and stop wasting your time being so ridiculous.
I have no idea if that’s how their conversation actually went, but this was the reply I received from Vivian:
Mr. Pepper – I have spoken with my superior and caught him up with the entire issue from your original request to now. He has agreed to refund your 2nd request of the $100. Please email me your card # & expiration date immediately so I can get this processed as soon as possible.
Finally! Relieved that they were finally doing the right thing, I emailed her back:
Thanks, I appreciate it. The card details are:
***************
**/**
Now, I know you can’t always read someone’s tone in an email, but is it just me or is her subsequent reply rude? For reference, the bolding and underlining was done by her – it wasn’t added by me.
This is the Gift Card that I have been telling you I cannot refund. The system will not allow it.
I will need a debit card or credit card, again – not a gift card.
Despite the fact that I’d told her in a previous email that this was an American Express card and that that should’ve been obvious based on the card number and the fact that I’d also sent her an expiration date, she’d chosen to be rude and abrupt with me based on her own misunderstanding.
I was done with the rudeness and hassle from both her and the hotel manager by this point, so my reply included a little bit of sarcasm.
Thanks for continuing to be so pleasant. That is a credit card – it’s not a gift card.
I don’t think she picked up on the fact that I was being sarcastic in response to her rudeness, but her next reply was a sea change in tone compared to everything that had gone before.
I apologize this is taking some time, I am not sure why this is not allowing me to do a credit to this credit card. American Express is a great credit card and sometimes it is very secure. Is there any way you can call the American Express card company and have them call me? When you have time of course. Maybe we can do the credit that way.
Before I had a chance to reply, I received another email:
I have reached out to our system support team as well for assistance. I will keep you posted if I get any further on getting the refund credited back to you on the card you have provided.
I then sent her a different card to try:
Thanks. If that card continues not working, please could you try ****************, expiry **/**.
As it turns out, it wasn’t an issue with my card.
Thank you, Mr., Pepper for the Visa card so I could try the refund. Now I see it is not the cards that are the problem, it is my computer POS system. It will not refund to that card as well. I have escalated my case with Marriott as well as the POS support system to get this issue resolved as soon as possible so I can get this amount credited back to you.
Finally, five days after the ridiculousness had started, they were finally able to process the refund.
Good morning Mr. Pepper,
I am so happy to say that this has finally been resolved and I have successfully refunded the $100 to your American Express ending in 1006. I cannot apologize enough about the time it took to get this issued to you, as well as the awful situations you have been through with our property. This has been a learning experience for myself as well as my team.
Thank you for your patience and we wish you well on the rest of your trip and stay safe.
Conclusion
I know this post was a lengthy complaint about something as silly as a pet fee, but like I said earlier – it was the principle of the thing. If a hotel website says their fee is $100 but they then have you sign a form that says you only have to pay $25, you should only be charged $25.
You certainly shouldn’t be charged an arbitrary amount of $125. And if you are, that should be immediately rectified. What shouldn’t happen is the hotel manager smugly taking pleasure in not refunding you, then also having the General Manager refuse to refund you the correct amount and have her be rude to you over email in the process.
It was such a ridiculous situation. We’d have given the hotel a good review if they’d simply done the right thing as the stay itself was mostly fine, but their insistence on overcharging us and refusing to refund us until the General Manager’s manager was asked to get involved means they get this almost-3,000 word diatribe sharing how crappy they are instead. Congratulations Andrea and Vivian – you’re a lesson in how customer service shouldn’t be done.
Deborah Poznansky says
I couldn’t read the entire correspondence but I’m so glad you got a refund.
I hate silliness like that!
The hotel doesn’t earn anything by this.
And I’m happy Shae is ok even though the experience was a bit harrowing to say the least!
Make sure she rests up even if the dr says its not necessary. Sometimes they tend to minimize things!
stephen says
Thank you. She came out with me to Rite Aid today just to move around a little, but she’s resting up now. She seems to be doing well all things considered.
Nancy says
Ugh. I’m old school. The customer is always right. That refund should have been done immediately.
May I tell you about an experience we had at a Hampton Inn in Madison, WI? We went there for a Paul McCartney concert and hubby’s 64th birthday in 2019. We got there early and they upgraded us to a beautiful top floor room (I think we had reserved the least expensive room since this was a spendy trip). Such a thrill. So unexpected and such a kindness on their part. We haven’t traveled since covid, but if we have a choice I will pick a Hampton property every time.
stephen says
That’s awesome, it’s so nice when you get unexpected upgrades like that.
rogbre says
Pet Policy
https://www.marriott.com/hotels/fact-sheet/travel/gupts-towneplace-suites-gallup/
This is what that hotel’s website currently says. 2 pets at $175, per pet, per night. So if Truffles had a sibling, the cost would be $350 per night. They really need to get over themselves.
stephen says
Yeah, I don’t know what’s up with that new pet fee. We stayed 5 nights, so that would’ve been $875 for the stay – crazy!
dee says
WOW..So glad you finally got your$$$ back… I agree with you and your persistence!!!Hope Shae is healing well
stephen says
Yes, she’s doing well – thank you!
Jean says
So sorry to read of your hassles over something that should have been cleared up from the beginning. I have never had so many problems with hotels before in my life, as I have during the pandemic. I have written before on the management of a Candlewood Suites location that completely fabricated a story in order to justify charging me a cleaning fee. I now take photos of every room before checking out. It’s awful and the whole notion of hospitality has been turned on its head. I am so glad you stuck to your guns.
stephen says
Yep, I’m definitely glad I was persistent. I can certainly understand why you’d take photos of your room after checking out given what happened before.