I enjoyed my stay mostly, but for an unfortunate and unforgettable experience on my first morning there, which was Sunday 11/1, I believe. I came for the Health Law conference, and was to arrive the evening of 10–31, but with trick or treating with my kids I got a late start, in ultimately, I don’t think I arrived at the hotel until after midnight. I was with my daughter and her boyfriend. We checked in and then went to our room to find it impossible to open the door because the inside door holder/latch was turned in the position, whereby it would not allow the door to open from the outside. Certainly, a bit of a pain, but not the end of the world. I went down to the desk and the clerk there initially said that she would call maintenance to meet me there, but then changed her mind and decided to issue us a new room assignment with a new room key. I found this to be reasonable and I found her to be accommodating. The next morning, I had just gotten out of the shower and was starting to get ready to go to the first event of the conference when I hear a knock at the door…..it was actually more like a banging. So with Velcro rollers still setting in my hair, I opened the door to a larger sort of man who said he was with security. He had a radio in his hand and had been talking to the front desk. He started with what I could only characterize as an interrogation. He said very gruffly, “What’s your name? Do you have a reservation?“ I told him my name and that yes I in fact had a reservation that’s why I was in this room. He starts talking on the radio to the front desk again. Then he pokes his head in halfway into the door and asks, “who’s in there with you?“ I reply my daughter’s here with me. Then he continues, “ Is there anyone else in there with you?“ I answer, “ yes, her boyfriend is here as well.“ Then I say, “what is this about anyway?“ Honestly, at this point in time, I felt as though I was going to be arrested. Then he starts talking on the radio again and asks me “could this reservation be under someone else’s name?” I explained that it possibly could be under my husband‘s name, Chris W., or perhaps Christopher W. since he made the reservation for me. I told him that I honestly didn’t remember my husband telling me if the reservation was under my name or his name, though I assumed he put it under my name. Then he talks into the radio, a little bit more and replies to me, “nah, nah, nah….. now this is starting to get too weird. There’s a Christopher W. down at the Desk right now trying to check into his room.“ I replied, “well that would be awesome if it were my husband, but I know 100% that he is at our son‘s baseball tournament this morning. Also, did you know that Christopher W. happens to be a very common name?” And then he tells me, “Nah, this is too weird. We’ll get back to you.” And then he walks away talking on his radio. About 10 minutes later, I’m still getting ready for the conference and there’s another loud knock at the door. I am greeted when I open the door by another unfriendly face, this one female. I think she described herself as the manager, though I can’t be certain. At any rate, she said to me, “I’m going to need for you to come down to the front desk because things aren’t making sense and we’re gonna need to clear it up.“ I replied, “now??? I am getting ready for the start of this conference?” She replied that she needed me to come down to the front desk now. In complete disbelief, I poke my head out into the hall, rollers still intact, and ask her,” am I on candid camera or something? This is just so ridiculous.” She then replies, “no ma’am you’re not on candid camera, but you’ll need to come down to the desk.” Needless to say, I was red hot pissed. As I am leaving, my daughter, pokes her head around to look at me and wonders with worry on her face what’s going on. I honestly felt as though I was being questioned by the police and being asked to come down to the station for more questioning. So we get down to the front desk and she takes me to this little stand where there’s some other manager person who was a male. At that point, she and the security guard from earlier are both just standing behind the counter, looking at me while this manager guy starts to question me. Wait, I forgot he didn’t start questioning me right away. No, I had to wait for him to finish checking some other guest in and answering their questions. Meanwhile, tiktok, tiktok , time is going by and I have less time to get ready for this conference. When he’s done with the other customer, he turns to me and says “can I see some ID?” At this point I am literally shaking because I am so angry. I then call my husband, put the phone on the desk and put him on speaker phone. Mind you, he had to pull himself from his third base coaching position in order to take my call. I quickly caught him up on what was going on, I’m sure I had some colorful descriptors in the mix. When I give this “manager“ my drivers license I tell him I want to know what the hell is going on. He made some comment about me staying last night without a reservation. I said “Nooooooo, not true my husband made the reservation for me.“ Then he asked what my husband‘s name is and so I tell him his name is Chris or perhaps it’s under Christopher W.. He still can’t find it so he says I’m going to need a reservation number. Mind you, this is also after looking up the reservation under my name on my license. My name happens to be Judith W. legally, but I go by JUDI. At any rate since I didn’t make the reservation, I don’t know where this reservation number was. I was super busy that week at work and my husband was good enough to take care of the details for me. But since Chris, my husband is still on speakerphone, I asked him to search his email to look for this reservation number. So he’s looking through his various accounts as his baseball team, who is batting now and is also now without a third base coach, carry on in the background . So, he is quickly trying to look up this reservation number and finally found it and started to read it. At the same time this manager had been looking through his computer and turned to me and said, “Could the reservation be under Judi W.?” And I reply that Yes, it absolutely could be. So at this point he, I guess begins to check me in again for a second time since I was under the impression that I had checked in the night before. He asked for my credit card again to which I said “I already gave it to you guys last night!” But he said he needed it to re-register me. OK, whatever. So he then hands me two new room keys and says, “Ok that’s it.” My reply to this was, “THAT’S IT???!!!??? You drag me down here like I am under arrest, I am half dressed for this conference and THAT’s ALL you have to say to me??” Because, not at any point had anyone showed me anything but a mean, stern looking face and at no point did anybody apologize to me for putting me through this. This was by far THE craziest customer service incident that I had ever in my life experienced. I was fuming mad. I made up my mind that I was going to go online and tell the whole world my story by way of an online review, and I certainly would never stay at this hotel again. The rest of the stay was OK, the pillows were soft, the beds were soft, the location was great….. but I will never risk subjecting myself to such treatment again.
Thank you,
Judi W., MD, JD
Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine
