By way of update to our previous story, the general manager of a Holiday Inn Express in Raton, New Mexico has provided us commentary on an alleged incident posted to Travel Grumps where a disgruntled vet says they were told the hotel does not change the bedding between stays.
Yesterday we published a story where a disgruntled hotel guest shared a lengthy diatribe about a Holiday Inn Express in Raton, New Mexico. In the piece, a couple, one of which claims to be a veteran, alleges they were told by the hotel’s general manager that they do not change the bedding between hotel guests. They also describe a dispute between the hotel and them regarding the disclosure of service dogs and, in their view, overcharging related to cleaning fees, etc. Readers can get caught up on the incident here.
We reached out to the hotel and the general manager, Pat Farmer, offered the following comments regarding both the overall incident involving service dogs and the allegations about changing bedding. We’ve published the feedback in its entirety (unedited).
“Good Morning Jeremy, I don’t what and how to explain but this is really what happened is as below. This guest had booking and had 2 dogs, she says they are 2 service dogs However our hotel policy even if you have service dogs you still to declare and sign the wavier so we know what room we assign and then clean that room accordingly also then we can put them in certain hallway so we respect and help other guest who are allergic to pets. Jeremy, this guest did not declare the dogs, did not sign the wavier but she did sign the reg- card which says she has no dogs and sneak out dogs in the room and we were able to find out next door guest came and complain that those dogs where barking whole night and he is allergic to pet hairs he is still in house which he can write on paper this complain due to all this above whole incident we have to charge to deep clean room, wash carpet and drapes. Jeremy, if you have any question, please feel free to contact me also we can also get video for this.” (sic)
Emailed response to query from our team from Raton, NM Holiday Inn Express Pat Farmer
We followed up with a pointed question about their cleaning protocols, to which Pat Farmer replied:
“I cannot believe she said that we are IHG hotel means HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS and we have to and we do change bedding daily basis.” (sic)
Follow up repsonse from Raton, NM Holiday Inn Express GM Pat Farmer
There you have it. As we noted yesterday, we find the claims related to cleaning protocols dubious. Certainly not impossible, but definitely dubious.
Our best guess is that we have an irritated guest who either unintentionally violated the pet policy or intentionally did so and in either case was shocked by the cleaning charges, etc. In this tight economy, and with inflation being what it is these days it’s not too surprising that the charges were impactful. And, in a bid to try to recoup the costs, the couple is appealing to the Travel Grumps community. Judging from the comments in the FB post it probably didn’t go entirely like they thought it would.
It’s hard to say who’s right here. As is often the case, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.
