May 28, 2004
The following is a letter sent to Ramada Inns:
My Mother and I have experienced the worst experience with a motel/hotel in our lives. We made reservations for a Ramada in downtown Vancouver, B.C.. After leaving the Trailways Bus we took from Seattle we got a taxi to the Ramada in downtown Vancouver. The cost of the taxi fare was $7.00 US.
When we went in the Ramada lobby we weren't given any help whatsoever with our baggage. The person behind the counter said we didn't have reservations at his Ramada. When my Mom asked him if there was a place to sit down he ignored my Mom. So she was forced to stand up through this entire ordeal. The Ramada night manager made my Mother cry by not helping her. She was exhausted from the long trip and not knowing where we would have to go to get a room, even though we already had a reservation at the Ramada we were in.
We made the reservations with Hotel.Com, a partner of Amtrak and Ramada. We read your slogan "Ramada, A Very Good Place to Be." It appears by what my Mother and I witnessed at the Vancouver Ramada Inns that Ramada is definitely "not a place to be" unless you are a hooker, drug addict, or rude to others.
The night manager at Ramada called another Ramada and said we were supposed to be at the other one on Kingsway in Vancouver. I said that we were told that we were supposed to be at his Ramada. I then got on the phone with a 'national' switchboard for Ramada and a woman who answered was extremely rude and flatly told us that if we don't go to the other Ramada that we would still have to pay for the room, even if we paid to have a room in the Ramada where we were.
When I told her you have a 'gun to our heads' she became irrational and said she wouldn't talk to us any longer. She finally said that if you don't show up on time at the other Ramada we would have to pay for two rooms at two different Ramadas. What she did was not only bad business, it was anti-human. She didn't care that my Mom was on oxygen and having an anxiety attack. Neither did the night manager of the Ramada where we were. The entire operation was a shake down operation with the night manager, the woman on the phone, and even the taxi driver in on the deal. I felt as if we were the object of an extortion racket.
The night manager signaled to a cab driver and he came in. I followed him out and put my head in his cab and it smelled like marijuana. The smoke was so thick that I could barely see across the cab. I went in and told the night manager I needed a different cab and told him the reasons. His assistant went out and got a different cab driver and we ended up taking his taxi to the other Ramada. On the way, the cab driver was babbling incoherently because he was on some kind of dope.
Our fare came to $24.00. When we arrived at the other Ramada we went into the lobby and waited at the front desk. There were two hookers on the couch a few feet away. They got up and left with a guy, probably one of their 'Johns' or their 'pimp'. We waited and waited at the front desk. Eventually, the night manager, Mr. Claude Lawrence, showed up. He took our information and then he attempted to get our electronic key ready. He made about ten attempts to make one. All this time we were standing there waiting and waiting. We were both exhausted. My Mother didn't want to sit on the couch where the two hookers were sitting.
The manager finally gave us an electronic key. When we took the key to the elevator it failed to open the door. We had to go back to the front desk several times before we got a key to work. When we went to our room, number 318, we also had a hard time opening the door. We had to swipe the card through the reader about twenty times before it opened.
We were afraid to go back downstairs to report problems with the key because we didn't want to be stuck in the elevator with a door card that didn't work. And I didn't want to leave my Mom in a room all by herself. After all, this Ramada was in a very seedy area of town to have hookers, transients, and drugged taxi drivers lingering in and outside the motel. I was afraid to leave my Mom alone anywhere where I couldn't watch her and protect her against the shadowy figures lurking everywhere.
After getting into our room we were again very disappointed. The air conditioner didn't work, the bath did not drain, the room was hot, it smelled musty and stale (among other smells), the television remote didn't work, and door lock didn't work. My Mother and I have been to many Ramadas over the past forty years and have never experienced such inconsiderate people, extremely poor accommodations, and to be exposed to so many shadowy underworld-looking characters and dope addicts.
This letter is a request to remove all charges for the atrocious and rude treatment we received from Ramada employees, the extremely poor condition of the room, and for the $24.00 taxi fare we were forced to pay because Ramada didn't honor our reservation at the location we were told to go to by the person who took our reservation.
We would appreciate your cooperation and understanding in returning all of the money we spent for an extremely poor room, for the extremely rude treatment we received, and for the taxi fares that we had to pay because of Ramada's mistakes.
Stephen
PASADENA, Texas
U.S.A.
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