Can I sue a hotel for horrible customer service?

[myrdale]

Let me get this straight:

1) You get off an exhausting 12 hour flight (Who cares? You sat on an air plane for 12 hours, what does this have to do with anything?).

2) You had a reservation? I fail to see how they double booked a room if you had a reservation?

3) You "demanded" to speak with a manager. You know, you could have just asked.

4) They determine they do have a room available.

5) Upon entering the room, you find it needs to be cleaned.

6) You had to "go all the way down to voice out your complaints". You know most rooms have phones. And really all you had to do was request it be cleaned. 15 minutes and it would have been done.

7) The receptionist finished her shift and went home for the day. How dare she!

Did they screw up by double booking the room? Sure, but they got you a room. Did the room need to be clean? Sure, but that is just a thing. What damage was done to you? I mean really? Best case scenario is you file a complaint and they give you a free night at a hotel of your choice. Honestly thought if I worked customer service and received the complaint as you wrote here, I'd ignore your complaint and move on. I'd cut out all of your belly aching that doesn't manner and get to the point.

"On such and such day I arrived at your hotel located at such and such drive. Despite having obtained a reservation in advance, the receptionist indicated I had been bumped from my room. They were able to accommodate me with another room, however it was much smaller, and had not been cleaned since the previous occupants. I found the overall customer service and conditions to be far below the standards set forth by your establishment. I would like to discuss a partial refund or a discount for a future visit to your chain if you wish to maintain my future business."

[disneysteve]

2) You had a reservation? I fail to see how they double booked a room if you had a reservation?

Happens all the time, just like with airlines selling more tickets than there are seats on the plane. They count on a certain percentage of people not showing up.

4) They determine they do have a room available.

Apparently only after OP asked for the manager which shouldn't have been necessary.

6) You had to "go all the way down to voice out your complaints". You know most rooms have phones.

OP stated that the room phone didn't work. It clearly sounds like this room wasn't intended for guest use.

As I said already, this isn't lawsuit material. It is definitely complaint-worthy though and likely worthy of at least a partial refund. Been there, done that many times.

[Drake3287]

I would at least give a 1 Star negative review (with pictures) on Trip Advisor. Every hotel owner/manager in the world routinely checks their Trip Advisor reviews. I'd love to see the past reviews for this hotel.

[Nutria]

Why would suing even be in your thought process?

Because it's America, and lawyers have been pounding "sue them!!!" into our skulls for 40+ years. (After all, the 40,000 new "counselors" that pour out of law school every year need to pay off their SLs, plus buy the BMWs/Mercedes/Lexuses and $1M houses they so rightly deserve!)

[rennigade]

Isnt it possible to sue anyone for anything? Im pretty sure you can sue whenever you want. So...if you want to sue the hotel...go for it. No ones stopping you.

[~bs]

exactly.

It aint the smartest for that to be your first choice, as the risk/reward is not skewed in your favor, and will likely end up being lose-lose. But hey, we're all adults here, and it's your life and choice. haha

[msomnipotent]

I would at least give a 1 Star negative review (with pictures) on Trip Advisor. Every hotel owner/manager in the world routinely checks their Trip Advisor reviews. I'd love to see the past reviews for this hotel.

I just put a 3 star review of our last hotel on tripadvisor two days ago and management posted back in less than 24 hrs. They say to call them, but what would they even do? I don't need an insincere apology or a coupon for a free drink. Our group had a lot more problems than a small, dirty room and suing them didn't even cross our minds, although some of us were tempted to start throwing punches.

If I was in your shoes, tell management that you want a refund and not a credit for a future stay because you don't want to stay there again. Posting pics and your complaint on Facebook seems to have a lot more sway than tripadvisor these days. My sister and her friend are FB ninjas now because they hardly have to wait for a decent result.