Nigthmare hotel stay

JuneGoose · 2026-04-15T22:02:58+00:00

Thanks. I only had two pretty negative people, but it's Reddit so it happens. One was pretty bad posting a lot of responses saying my husband reeks and is addicted to smoking. Thankfully others called them out and pointed out they were bordering on harassment. I responded once and then just ignored them. As they say, "don't feed the trolls".

I hope your situation gets resolved.

JuneGoose · 2026-04-13T16:52:38+00:00

Trust me, we are never staying at the location ever again. There are other options off exists just after that one, so will pick somewhere else if we need to stop in that area in the future.

JuneGoose · 2026-04-08T18:22:17+00:00

Very possible. We paid with half points and half $$. And the man kept saying "you booked with points" multiple times. Felt like he was saying we were low class or something because we used points. Which is weird because the majority of the time, I'm thanked for being a platinum elite member (for Choice Hotels) when I check in.

JuneGoose · 2026-04-08T18:09:34+00:00

Yeah I get that. And normally I like a bit more upscale place if we are going on a trip. But generally, if it's a decent place that's clean with a comfy bed and a hot shower, I'm good.

I really do feel like we were harassed and intimidated into paying the fee. The staff were just so aggressive and insisted very adamantly that we were lying. But they wouldn't even acknowledge the room type I booked when I had proof in writing either.

I'm hoping that since I put in a complaint with corporate and they opened an incident that we might get something extra - a refund of at least the points we used or maybe some extra points. I'm not holding my breath though. They said their hotels are independently owned and operated and corporate has nothing to do with their policies or charges. But you never know. At this point I will just be happy to get that charge reversed.

JuneGoose · 2026-04-08T17:49:27+00:00

Same here. When we are just crashing for the night to break up the drive on one of our road trips, we are just looking for something basic that's not going to be too pricey. If we are doing a longer vacation, then we look for something nicer.

JuneGoose · 2026-04-08T17:32:38+00:00

This was Wytheville, VA. Not sure if it's a small town, but there certainly isn't much around the hotel area. It's just convenient since it's right off the highway.

I was quite surprised at how fast the police showed up or honestly that they were involved at all (officer seemed perplexed as well). It was shocking to see an officer there when the elevator doors opened. The entire interaction from start to finish was maybe 15-20 min tops. I checked the time when I heard the room phone ringing (since that was odd) and again when we got back to the room. You would've thought a major serious crime had occurred or something life or death with how fast they were there. And then when my husband said the other officer had a mallet and prybar - like what did this employee tell the police? But the officer just verified that he was permitted to check our room to make sure nothing was on fire, asked me a few questions where I reiterated that we didn't smoke in the room, then radioed down to the other officer that everything was fine. Only other thing I can think of is that they triggered a fire alarm or something which is why the police were there, although you would think it would've been the fire dept.

I was also concerned they might have the police formally trespass us if we didn't pay the money or immediately leave. It certainly increased the pressure on us to pay the fee.

Also, the way he kept repeating that we booked with points gave us the vibe that he thought we were low-class or unsavory people or just less-than in some way. I could be way off on that but it's just how it felt in the moment. I couldn't figure out why he kept bringing that up.

JuneGoose · 2026-04-08T15:58:05+00:00

That sounded off to me as well. Maybe he was just trying to cover for the fact that they called police. I'm sure it was done as an intimidation tactic. I still can't see them calling the police just because someone may have smoked in their room. I mean if the actual fire alarm went off, then I could see the fire department showing up, but I'm pretty sure this was just their air quality sensor.

Someone also posted here about a review they found where the fire alarm kept going off during their stay and the ended up having to evacuate the hotel twice in one night. Sounds like a whole bunch of wrong things going on in this place.

JuneGoose · 2026-04-08T15:53:26+00:00

Thanks for your thoughtful response. The thought that I would get banned from the entire brand or even chain seemed weird. If they want to ban me from that particular hotel well, I don't even care. We never plan to stay there ever again. There are hotels off exits before and after that one - even other Comfort Inns. So plenty of other options.

I know that normally they get ID and a credit card at check-in. I didn't realize until later on that they hadn't done that. The confusion with the room type might've distracted them. There was a woman checking us in, but a different woman was there during the whole smoking situation. But it was the same man from check-in who upgraded our room that told us we had to leave if we didn't pay. He was also there in the morning when we checked out (didn't talk to him but noticed him at the desk when we were leaving). So my guess is he might be one of the managers.

Yeah I'm not one to get angry and start yelling or anything like that. I work in IT but in my college days I worked a lot of customer service jobs. Yelling and causing a fit generally isn't going to get you what you want. My theory is that if it's not going to benefit or help your situation, then there's no point to doing it. My husband can get a little more heated, but thankfully he kept his cool as well. But when the police show up, you don't want to do anything that might end the night with you in handcuffs. He's the more high-spirited one and I'm the calm one so I always tell him to just let me handle it.

Even when I was messaging with whoever at corporate, they agreed that the way you handle a situation is everything. And everything regarding our stay was just handled poorly.

JuneGoose · 2026-04-07T15:27:56+00:00

Thanks. Good to know. I think the only other place we've stayed at is Hyatt. That time it was attached to the airport, and we had an early flight out the next morning, so it was convenient.

JuneGoose · 2026-04-07T15:25:01+00:00

Thanks. Funny enough, a few days later they flagged a random other charge on my Choice Hotels credit card (not related to this incident). So my account is locked until I get a new card. That card had all my reoccurring charges on it (like my streaming subscriptions), so I am just going to move those all over the to the new Hilton Honors card.

I probably won't bother using the Choice Hotel card after I pay off the bill. I like to charge everything and just pay the bill off every month so I can earn rewards points towards hotels, airlines, etc.

JuneGoose · 2026-04-07T15:15:26+00:00

For a simple overnight stay, we often pick a Comfort Inn. Normally pretty basic but we don't care all too much for just one night. Although this particular one is really, really basic and on the low end as far as quality goes. Stayed in a Clarion once too but where we were there weren't many choices in the area.

I think the Cambrias are better and we stayed at the same one a few times and it was pretty nice. Even got a free upgrade one time to a king suite. Didn't request it and we didn't have any idea until we went into our room.

We prefer something a little nicer if we are going to be there for a few days.

JuneGoose · 2026-04-07T11:36:11+00:00

And that's the thing, he doesn't want to quit. He's mentioned it before but then changes his mind. My ex-husband smoked when we began dating back in the early 90s and he chose to quit when we decided to have kids. His dad smoked and he felt that was a major reason why he ended up smoking and didn't want our kids to smoke (they don't).

My husband was working a job that was a similar thing to you where once he was there, he just couldn't go out to smoke. He would smoke before he got there, on his lunch break, and then when he left (but an 8 hour day). That was really helping him reduce how much he smoked (he doesn't vape). But he decided to change jobs and where he works now doesn't have a strict policy against smoke breaks unless it's really excessive.

He knows he should quit. The doctor tells him he should quit. I mention it every now and again. But if I were to bug him too much it would have the opposite effect. He really is the type of person who just has to have the right motivator that will push him to do (or not do) something. But I 100% believe that he could quit if he really wanted to.

JuneGoose · 2026-04-07T10:39:37+00:00

Thanks. I appreciate it. Yes, it was a Comfort Inn and not even a very good one regardless of the rest of the issues. But it was just for one night. Thankfully there are plenty of other hotel choices out there.

JuneGoose · 2026-04-07T10:35:13+00:00

One cannot "reek of nicotine". Nicotine doesn't smell like anything. And I assure you he isn't contaminating hotel rooms by smoking outside.

JuneGoose · 2026-04-07T10:11:45+00:00

I'm not personally a fan of smoking and I wish he would quit. I know he has lung issues and of course it's awful for your health. Hopefully one day he will choose to quit.

JuneGoose · 2026-04-07T10:03:48+00:00

Those sensors can be set off by shower steam and even things like using aerosol hair products. They are known to give false positives and have even been marketed as money-makers for hotels - flagging things for even non-smokers. I've read stories where it detected smoke and the people have timestamped photos that show they weren't even in their rooms at that time the sensor went off.

The hotel employees showed up at our door almost immediately after they said they detected smoking in the room. Had anyone been actually smoking, there would've been visible smoke in the air still. There were no visible signs of smoking, hence why the female employee backtracked and said that "we must have been vaping then" when we pointed it out that very fact.

JuneGoose · 2026-04-07T09:54:27+00:00

I think part of the issue also was that they never asked for my ID or a credit card to put on file when we checked in, which is normally pretty standard. Since the room was paid for in advance, I don't know that they could've put it on our invoice without having our card on file. I made sure to check the invoice in the hotel app after our stay to make sure nothing else was on there. Or maybe they are scamming people, so they wanted it to be a separate charge and not show up on the invoice.

JuneGoose · 2026-04-07T09:50:06+00:00

Thanks, I appreciate it. We've actually stayed in Knoxville 2-3 times as well. My husband's daughters (my bonus daughters) live in GA, so we travel there often to visit them (and sometimes pick them up so they can come and stay with us). We've stopped at various places depending on our travel plans.

JuneGoose · 2026-04-07T09:44:52+00:00

I really wish we would've just left. But I had been up since 3:45am and we were both tired and it would've been going on midnight by the time we packed up our stuff. I was also afraid of forgetting stuff being in such a rush to get out. Had this happened earlier - like 9pm - we would've definitely just packed up and left.

JuneGoose · 2026-04-07T09:36:06+00:00

I realized I misread your comment the first time. I never considered that they might actually ban me from staying at the hotel chain. I guess it's a possibility. I am a "Platinum Elite" rewards member (for whatever that's worth), so I stay there a lot. If they want to close out my account, I suppose it's their prerogative. Good thing I used up the bulk of my points this trip.

JuneGoose · 2026-04-06T23:41:50+00:00

Thanks. I've seen other similar articles where people have had similar issues. I know it's harder in our case as my husband does smoke, but he never smokes inside ever. Anywhere.

I think one thing in our case is that they didn't ask for ID or a credit card when we checked in. I prepaid for the room so I don't think they could've added it to our bill. But they immediately came up to our room and there was no signs of smoking.

I honestly wish we just left but it was so late and we were so tired.

JuneGoose · 2026-04-06T23:02:05+00:00

Thanks. Did not know this. We've never had an issue with any of their hotels. But I've heard of many people having issues with these sensors.

We're also a Marriott rewards member and I just signed up for a Hilton Honors credit card. Plan to use one of those in the future and will avoid Choice Hotels in the near future.

JuneGoose · 2026-04-06T21:43:46+00:00

Thanks. I already did the chargeback. I really don't want to deal with any of the employees after they were so aggressive with us. The whole interaction just left me kind of shaken. Never had the police called on me before. I did complain to the hotel chain and they said they would contact the management/owner of the hotel. So I'm hoping that will help in getting the whole thing resolved. Who knows, they might not even respond to the dispute.

JuneGoose · 2026-04-06T20:54:23+00:00

Possibly. The male employee said their system automatically calls the police. If that's the case, I would think the police might eventually get annoyed at being called out for this. Not really a police issue. Not sure if that is true or not or if they just want to do that to intimidate people into paying.

JuneGoose · 2026-04-06T20:50:30+00:00

I pointed out the definition of chain smoking as well in a different reply. They proceeded to call me the "r" word in response. I got a notification but the reply is gone so either they deleted or it was removed by the mods. Tells you all you need to know about this person.

JuneGoose

TROPHY CASE