An Open Letter to Ramada Hotels
PORTLAND, OR 97217
September 6, 2004
Lawrence P. Horwitz
NORTHWEST LODGING INTERNATIONAL INC.
PO BOX 19167
Seattle, WA 98109
Dear Lawrence P. Horwitz,
On a recent trip to Seattle over Labor Day weekend, I had the opportunity to stay at the downtown Seattle Ramada. My fiancee and I were very satisfied with the location, being just a few blocks from both the Space Needle and the waterfront. The price of the room seemed a relative bargain, and we were happy to find there were rooms still available, despite the busy weekend and the fact that the Bumbershoot music festival was taking place just a few blocks away. We paid $109 and checked into room #205 on 9/4 for an overnight stay. The manager was very pleasant and helpful at directing us to a nearby restaurant. The customer service was exceptionally nice, on par with the very best Ramada has to offer.
Within a few hours after checking in and settling into our room, we began noticing several problems with the room we were given. At first, these problems were minimal inconveniences, nothing worth complaining about, certainly not worthy of our re-packing to change rooms. I have stayed at other Ramada hotels across the country and I am aware of the quality level of the rooms, knowing that a bargain can sometimes mean a lack of luxury or quality. Nevertheless, my other stays have always been enjoyable. Not so this time, however.
Upon entering the room, everything appeared adequate. My first disappointment, however, was with the size of the television: it was incredibly small, considering most hotel televisions are at least 19" or larger. This one looked about 17", hardly good for watching a game. Of course, our stay in Seattle wasn't about watching television, and I'm not one to nitpick about something unimportant, so that didn't really matter. I thought maybe my expectations were too large, considering the price of the room, location, and the quality of other Ramada hotels I've stayed at. We settled into our room and thought nothing of it, noticing the curtains and several of the lampshades had "yellowed" and looked a little dingy. Not a big deal. That sometimes happens, even in 5-star hotels.
Next, after turning down the bed, we discovered several cigarette burns in the blanket. Considering it was a smoking room, that was to be expected, and though we found it a bit tacky for a hotel of the Ramada's caliber to re-use a burned blanket, we continued to enjoy our stay. We are by no means pretentious people, having stayed in places such as Motel 6 in our past, so we chalked it up to an unlucky room and left it at that.
Overnight, we noticed the air conditioner was broken. It would work properly for several minutes, and then it would shut down and make a wild racket. Luckily, it wasn't that hot, so I shut it off and turned on the fan. Once again, no big deal. Having kicked off the comforter on the bed, I turned and encountered the biggest, most horrible-looking, unsavory stain on the box spring. In all my life I have never knowingly slept on something so disgusting. Upon closer inspection, I saw it was all over the box spring, the highest concentration at the foot of the bed. Clearly, this was something that could have been avoided by using a box spring cover. Needless to say, my night was ruined and I could not sleep, knowing I was sleeping on something so disgusting and utterly filthy.
Of course, I became hyper-aware of the nature of our room after that point. I noticed the bathroom wall had unsightly stains next to the toilet, at eye level, where someone had apparently used the wall as a snot rag. The maid, unfortunately, ignored this fact entirely. The shower had some disturbing-looking reddish stains on the back wall. There was also a filthy stain on the entry wall, where someone had apparently spilled a soda or something. Finally, when my fiancee decided she needed to iron a shirt that next morning, she was treated to a stained ironing board that looked as if someone had used it as a toilet.
Needless to say, our stay at the downtown Ramada was a horrifying experience. We had grown to expect something better from Ramada hotels. Certainly, for $109 a night, we thought we would at least be staying in a clean room, rather than something equitable to a sleazy motel. We were very, very disappointed with our stay. Had the manager asked us, I would have alerted him that the room was in need of a good deep cleaning, but he was busy when we checked out and we are not the types to make a scene.
It is highly unlikely that I would recommend that particular Ramada location to any of our associates, despite its great location and customer service. As time passes, I am increasingly angered that my trip to Seattle was essentially dashed because of lack of sleep. I was considerably unenergetic the next day and we were forced to cut our trip short. We often visit Seattle and usually stay at the Springhill by Marriott or, occasionally, the Summerfield Suites. Unfortunately, those other hotels were overbooked this time and we were forced to find something quickly in the vicinity. In the future, it will be a good idea for us to stay elsewhere.
I have no doubt the manager of this particular location is doing a great job: his customer service skills were wonderful. However, whoever is in charge of housecleaning at the Ramada is not performing proper inspections. I have no doubt Ramada's standards are much higher than what we encountered on our recent stay. I am alerting you about this fact because I'm afraid your name brand hotel is in jeopardy of becoming something equitable to a sleazy sex motel on Skid Row.
Respectfully yours,
[Noir]
It's safe to say I'll never stay at a Ramada again, or recommend it to anyone I know. In fact, I will go out of my way to convince anyone I can to find a better place to stay. Funny, all of this could have been avoided by simply replying to my letter. Notice, I didn't ask for anything at all; not a free stay, not a credit. Nevertheless, a simple reply would have gone a long way toward maintaining my goodwill.
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2 comments:
Actually, you sent it to the wrong person. L. Horwitz was the owner of the hotel management company that ran that particular Ramada. By the time you had your experience, his shoddy company was on verge of bankruptcy and not spending any money on anything. You needed to write to the chain itself, which would have taken away the Ramada name of that particular hotel, or to the owners of the hotel, to alert them to failure of the management company to maintain the franchise standards. Going for the president of the franchise (in this case Ramada) is usually the most useful - they're the ones with a name to protect.
I find your blog very interesting. Ramada, Inc. is one of the nation largest hotel chains in the country. The company deserves its good reputation due to the years in the business, however not every customer is satisfied with the services. I learned about customers’ feed back from www.pissedconsumer.com and that was really something that made me reconsider my hotel choices after all.
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