The Ramada Inn's Unfair and Deceptive Practices
From FiranMUX
Contents |
Review: Main Points
This is a review of the Ramada Inn BWI Airport Hotel in Hanover Maryland, and a very detailed outline of our horrible experiences with this hotel. Here are the highlights of our conclusions. The Ramada Inn BWI Airport:
- Seems to persistently overbook, despite complaints and warnings from their own employees
- Bumps reservations without notice
- Causes cancellations en masse
- Does not honor handwritten additions to its contracts
- Does not honor oral assurances given by its employees
- Does not treat convention guests or repeat customers with respect
- Can cost you time and money
- Can endanger the viability of your conventions
We recommend that you DO NOT book a convention at the Ramada Inn BWI Airport Hotel unless you want a last-minute debacle.
History
As many of you know, we have used the Ramada Inn BWI Airport Hotel in Hanover Maryland for our convention on Memorial Day in 2005 and 2006. In both years, our requirements were the same as they always are: all our hotel rooms blocked on a single floor so as not to disturb other guests, and gathering places for us to Meet and Greet, as well as conduct the LARP. We have had contracts in all instances, in which our specific needs were handwritten onto the contract. Our coordinators have always called and double-checked, working closely with the hotel staff.
This Year's Preparations
This year, as is our practice, our coordinator, Lisa Christie, arranged for our convention. She was told by Tanya L. Bean-Cromwell that another party had already booked the ballroom, as well as one of the suites on the seventh floor. However, we were assured that we needn't seek another hotel, because the remaining suite would meet our needs.
Pursuant to those assurances, Lisa signed a contract with the Ramada Inn BWI on December 12, 2006, and wrote in our request for the 6th and 7th floor and one or both of the suites on the 7th floor at the quoted price. Tanya L. Bean-Cromwell assured her that our request would be honored.
Tanya soon left the company, and Lisa reconfirmed all the details with the hotel manager, Dave LaMontagne on March 1, 2007. He wished to inform Lisa that he was the new manager and if there was anything the group needed, to make certain to let him know. Lisa inquired about the previous rooming arrangements and the contract at that time and was assured that just as in prior years, as part of our business practice with the Ramada Inn, our floor would be reserved and our suite would be available to us. He stated quite clearly that he would be honoring all arrangements made previously by Tanya.
On Tuesday, April 17, 2007 at 2:22 pm, the new Director of Sales, Ms. Brandy Salizzoni, called to ask if Lisa would be needing the entire block of rooms that they had set aside, as the group had a block of 35 rooms set aside; the 7th floor, minus one suite and one king room that Tanya informed her about, and the entire 6th floor of the hotel. Each floor has 19 rooms. Ms. Salizzoni informed Lisa that she was only showing 18 reservations at the time. The phone call ended amicably. Lisa called then checked her records and noticed that they had 21 rooms booked, so called Ms. Salizzoni back to go over the room listing. Ms. Salizzoni asked Lisa to forward her a room list via fax. The fax was sent at the end of the conversation. No further phone calls or information were exchanged on this day.
The Hotel Overbooks
On Wednesday, April 18th 2007 at 9:08 am, Ms. Salizzoni called Lisa back after going over the rooming list and apologized, saying that the hotel had overbooked both of the suites for Memorial Day, and also wondered again if we would be needing all the rooms we had on hold. She gave the impression that there was some urgency to needing the rooms released. She told Lisa that Tanya had been in error when reserving our suite for us--that another party had already reserved it, and we couldn't have it. The suite is two connecting king rooms with one designated as a bedroom and one designated as a living room. She said the room had already been booked as far back as August 2006.
She stated that the assistant general manager had canceled the reservation for the suite our party had booked. No one bothered to inform Adam Dray, who made the reservations, that the suite, had been canceled. Adam had a confirmation for the suite with confirmation number P1419501.
Furthermore, our rooms would no longer be guaranteed to be blocked together on a single floor.
When Lisa pointed out the contract, the woman said that they were not bound to follow any oral agreements, and that our handwritten additions to the contract would not be honored.
Here's Lisa Christie's notes on what happened:
Attached is the contract that was given to me and sent over to the hotel. I had hand written on it that we requested the 6th and 7th floors and either one or both of the suites at the quoted price of $159 (I think) per night - Per Tanya. We knew at that time that the one suite would be taken by a family reunion and were assured they would have no problems with our being loud. Tanya was the manager at the time. Dave, the new manager, told me all agreements would be honored and was again informed about the importance of our being together because we'd be loud. He said that would not be a problem since we were on the top floor. Brandy, the new Director of Sales, is stating that because of wedding parties coming in for the weekend and because that we indicated we would be "loud" she would be bumping us off the 7th floor. She also stated that Tanya never checked the data base (she did) and saw that the suites we booked were already booked. (They were not showing at the time Tanya checked) So they canceled Adam's booking for the two suite rooms (and didn't bother to notify anyone until I sent them the list.) She feels that she can bump us because they have wedding parties coming in for that weekend. She claims they've been booked since August of last year.
Confrontation With Person who was Identified as the Owner
Belligerent Tone
I called on Wednesday, April 18th and after arguing with Ms. Salizzoni, asked to speak to a manager. Ms. Salizzoni indignantly said that she was a manager. I asked if she had a boss. She said it was the owner of the hotel. I asked to speak to the owner of the hotel, she agreed, and transferred me to a woman who identified herself as "Melissa".
I politely explained the situation and asked what they were going to do to make it right. Melissa was belligerent and told me that it sounded like I wanted them to build a new suite onto their hotel or else I wouldn't be satisfied. I told her that since it was the hotel that had made the mistake, I thought they'd be eager to help find a solution, perhaps a ballroom, or a gathering space, or a large king sized room that she could give us for free to serve as the missing communal area that they had overbooked.
Hotel Refuses To Accept Responsibility For Their Own Error
Melissa then proceeded to raise her voice to me and tell me that they hadn't made a mistake. That it was our mistake for 'assuming' that the suite would be available and that I just wanted something for free. With a confirmation number (P1419501), we didn't think we were wrong to 'assume' we had the suite reserved.
(Certainly, making specific reservations three years in a row, and making constant inquiries to make sure that the arrangements are settled, while secretly hoping that the hotel will overbook, and you might get something for free out of it, is a genius plan if I ever heard of one.)
I asked her why her agent had called to apologize for overbooking and disrupting our convention if they hadn't made a mistake. She had no answer for this, and just kept repeating that they hadn't done anything wrong.
I got her to confirm that Tanya--who had given us the reassurances we needed not to seek out another hotel--had been one of her employees and spoke with authority for the hotel. She also admitted that none of her employees registered any objections to our original contract and Lisa's handwritten additions to the contract until now.
I told her that I was perfectly willing to pay for a space as originally agreed and that we didn't assume anything, but reconfirmed the details several times. Moreover, we had actually booked the suite on our credit card (confirmation #P1419501)--so there was no assumption involved.
Hotel Refuses to Help Fix Mistake
Melissa said she had no proof of this, and therefore didn't believe it. I asked her if she was calling me a liar. She told me she welcomed us to find another hotel.
I told her that with so little notice, it would be difficult to relocate an entire convention on Memorial Day weekend, but I would welcome her help in finding us alternative arrangements at the same rate. She offered no help in doing so.
She angrily suggested that all she had was the restaurant, at which point I interrupted her and told her that the restaurant could suit our purposes, and if she could make that available for us that'd be great. But she made no assurances that the rate would be the same as the suite we were promised, nor did she even take down my phone number to get back to me.
Subsequent Dealings with and Deceptions by the Ramada Inn BWI
However, on April 19th, Ms. Salizzoni, the Director of Sales, faxed a letter referring to the April 18th conversation (original spelling retained):
"Thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to give us feedback on your reservation. As per our conversation April 18, 2007 I have reserved the back portion of the restaurant for you're use on May 25, 2007 from six pm to ten pm. The cost is $75. Please understand that this is not a private section and since it is a public location appropriate behavior is expected. No outside food or beverage will be permitted. Further more I want to reiterate as per our conversation on April 18, 2007 that the hotel will not allow for any loud disturbances. The floors that your rooms are on will not be for your exclusive use. Please sign this letter below and return it to me with a check made out to "Key West" for $75. We must have this within seven business days otherwise the arrangement for the restaurant will be cancelled."
Ms. Salizzoni also called Lisa at work asking for me or Stephanie Wolfinger, one of our guests. Lisa told her that neither of us work where Lisa does and that the convention had nothing to do with Lisa's place of work. Ms. Salizzoni asked what our group was and was informed that we are an online community. Lisa gave her my contact information, and Ms. Salizzoni asked whether or not I was a lawyer. She also asked whether or not we'd decided to go to the Holday Inn instead. When Lisa could not confirm that, Ms. Salizzoni said that I had told her that we would be taking our business to the Holiday Inn.
I never told her any such thing. The last person I spoke to was Melissa. We never made any reservation of any kind at the Holiday Inn, but Ms. Salizzoni's deception confirmed our suspicions that the Ramada Inn BWI was simply eager to be rid of us and release our rooms to other guests due to overbooking.
Vicki Friend, our treasurer, called Ms. Salizzoni on April 19th to get more details in regard to the rental of the restaurant. Ms. Salizzoni directed her to Carole Suser, who handles the management of the Key West catering area, which is operated separately from the hotel. Vicki explained the letter that we had been sent as well as the fact that we had other options that might work better for us.
After a very pleasant conversation with Carole, the letter sent by Ms. Salizzoni was faxed for Carole's review by Vicki. Later the same afternoon, Carole faxed over proposals for the FiranCon group to consider and said she would be very happy to work with them however she could.
On April 24th, Carole called Vicki to follow up. Vicki returned Carole's call on the 25th (having been absent from work the 24th and unable to receive the voice mail). With much regret because of all Carole has done for our group in the past, we said we were going to take up other options. Vicki thanked her for all of her help. Additionally, as an extra thank you to Carole, we had two dozen chocolate covered strawberries delivered to her attention on May 1st signed by 'The FiranCon Crew!', which were signed for by Brent.
Conclusions
Deceptive Business Practices
Ms. Salizzoni, exhibited a pattern of dishonesty that leads us to conclude that the Ramada Inn engaged in the unfair and deceptive business practice of overbooking, and put the burden on us to find new arrangements with only a few short weeks before the Convention. The hotel not only offered no inducement for us to stay with them, but actively encouraged us to leave so they could rent their rooms to other parties.
The hotel showed no respect to our previous business arrangement, given that we're repeat customers. They were insulting, rude, and seem to utterly lack customer relations skills.
Costs to Customers
Their actions have caused lost work hours from our staff as we scramble to find new arrangements, and will likely cause our attendees to have to pay higher room rates at an alternative hotel. Their actions have threatened to force us to cancel the convention altogether, which would cost our attendees cancellation fees for airline tickets and lost vacation time.
Update May 2, 2007
After causing us such trouble without any apparent regret, Ms. Salizzoni from the Ramada Inn BWI gave me a phone call today at about 2:45PM (a day after our thank you gift was delivered to Carole at Key West). She said that the owner had found this web page, and "he" was demanding that we take it down because it was "defamation of character". (Interestingly, this is the same Ms. Salizzoni who, when I asked to speak to the owner last time, transferred me to a woman who identified herself as "Melissa" who, subsequent research indicates is not the owner of the hotel.)
I denied that it was defamation, as this page is an accurate and documented account of our experiences with the Ramada Inn BWI. Yet, Ms. Salizzoni said that this page "wasn't true" and indicated it was actionable as libel.
The nerve of this statement in addition to everything else that the Ramada Inn BWI has put us through this month, convinced me that further dialog was not helpful. We have documented our interactions with the hotel honestly and fairly, so I invited her to sue me and hung up the phone. However, I did have our staff go through its records, and document our assertions and fix any errors.
I have no intention of removing this page, because it serves as an explanation to all our guests as to why our Convention plans have been disrupted this year, and why our staffers have been scrambling doing extra work that has taken them away from their usual duties.
Adam called at 10PM on May 2 to cancel his reservations with the Ramada Inn BWI in good faith. We had reserved three rooms (or four, if you count both rooms of the "suite" separately). Adam discovered that the hotel has nothing reserved under his name or the three confirmation numbers. This was a surprise, as we thought they'd canceled only the one reservation (for the suite).
Adam asked to confirm each of the confirmation numbers (P1419501 for the suite, P1419500 for the room for Adam and Steph, and P1519402 for the extra "safety" room) but the hotel said they had no confirmations listed for "Dray" on May 25 or May 26.
Update May 3, 2007
This morning, Adam mailed a letter to Mr. Gus Triantis of the Ramada Inn BWI. In it, we invited the hotel to alert us to any mistake of fact on our website, and promised to review and correct it if we were in error. We also requested that all communication between our group and the hotel be in writing from now on.
Today at about 2:30PM I received a phone call from Ms. Brandy Salizonni. As soon as she identified herself, I explained that I had just sent a letter which, among other things, requested that all communication between us and the hotel be written.
She continued anyway, saying that this was a call of a personal nature, requesting that her name be removed from our site. I let her finish, without comment or interruption, then reiterated that all communication should be in writing, and gave her my email address.
