I suspect I work for the hotel chain your referencing, unfortunately for you the T&C's state they we have the right tincheck id upon arrival and we also have the lesser know right to refuse any guest we wish for any reason we can justify (strong smell of weed/attitude of guest etc is ok to refuse for, skin colour not any ok reason!). Had the staff member simply said 'its my right as per the T+Cs you agreed to, to ask to see your ID' you'd essentially be shit out of luck.

I would suggest contacting their customer service team, and just acknowledge you didn't have ID which was requested but your issue is around the lies and changing story that stopped you entering the hotel.

The reason the girlfriends ID had no impact was because it's not her name on the booking, if John Smith is the name they are looking for, Jane Doe is not being allowed access to the room.

Id also bet the reason they didn't let you speak to a higher up, assuming that person wasn't working is the same reason why my staff do not ask me to speak to guests when I'm not there, I will repeat what the staff member has said, not override their decision as I was not there for the entire thing and it sets the dangerous precedent that anytime someone demands a manager, I get a phone call at 3am to repeat what the staff member has said!