Complaint Review: Econo Lodge (Fairgrounds) - Des Moines Iowa

I booked a room at this location through hotels.com. I only planned to be there 4-5 hours while some work was being completed at my home and it was to noisy to concentrate on my work. I checked in and told the girl I wouldnt be there all night, that I was there while work was being finished on my home. I left 4.5 hours after checking in. The following morning I checked my bank account online to confirm that I was charged by hotels.com and the hotel also. To my dismay I found a $25 charge and a $125 charge from the hotel. I called and they said it was because I smoked in the room. Their penalty fee is $125.

I told the person on the phone that I have never smoked in my entire life. She called the housekeeper over and the housekeeper said they found a cigarette butt in the toilet and the room smelled freshly of cigarette smoke when they cleaned it around 12 noon. I left the hotel and went home at 12:30am, almost 12 hours earlier and left the two key cards on the desk I was working at. How could it possibly smell of fresh cigarette smoke when noone had been there for almost 12 hours?? I talked to the hotel manager who was rude. Said we take smoking in the rooms seriously. I told her I have never even tried a cigarette and I had no guests or anyone else in the room. It is impossible that a cigarette butt was in the toilet and even more impossible for the room to have smelled of fresh smoke.

She refused to do anything for me. I notified the complaint people at Choice Hotels ([email protected]) and they said I should call hotels.com and basically passed the buck. I called hotels.com who called the hotel and they told me they could not do anything was up to the hotel. I went back and forth with the complaint people at Choice Hotels website ([email protected]) and got nowhere. Finally I was given the General Managers email address of [email protected] and I spent another half hour emailing the whole story to the General Manager and the email bounced back stating the email address was "over its quota". I emailed [email protected] again and advised that the Gen Manager email they gave me is over quota and my email was undeliverable. They have still not responded to me with any additional contact information for the Gen Manager.

This has been a complete nightmare and I could care less about the $150, it is the principal and it is the terrible rude and obnoxious people I have had to deal with and the time I have had to put into emails and calls, etc. I truly believe that the girl at the desk, when she saw me leave and knew I was not coming back, gave the room to friends or someone who apparently smoked in it because it was not me. And I had even given them a good review on hotels.com prior to seeing the additional charges in my account. My bank even said nothing I can do. So a housekeeper could put a cigarette butt in a toilet and say they found it and the guest gets banged for whatever they feel like charging as a penalty for smoking in the room. It is either a scam they are pulling at the hotel or the girl gave my room to someone else after I went home for the night. Worst part for me is that I have absolutely no recourse in a situation that is entirely made up.