On a recent business trip to St. Mary's County, Maryland, (Nov. 2011) I had reserved three rooms for myself and my staff for four nights. One night, one of my employees returned to his room around 11 pm only to find that his door key would not get him into his room. He went downstairs to the office which was now locked. There was a desk clerk who would not let him in. He was told through the locked door that he could not get into his room that night, no one was available to come and work on the door problem until tomorrow morning. This was unacceptable, his clothes, medication, contacts, along with computer and other equipment needed for our job was in that locked room. After waking me up to let me know that he was not able to get any satisfaction from the clerk, I also went downstairs. By this time, it was 1-1/2 hrs into this situation. The poor desk clerk had been left to handle situations that arise without the proper tools or backup from the hotel management. I had to get on the phone with the off-site manager. Finally, a terrific maintenance man arrived who was able to get my staff member into his room.
To have this kind of experience anytime is unfortunate, but during a business trip, where we had to be up very early to head out to our job, this was just totally stressful. At the end of our stay, I had requested that one night be credited back for the inconvenience. I was given a partial credit. Many e-mails later and even contacting Days Inn Corporate did not get me any additional credit. While the location was very convenient for me to do work in this area, I will not return. If a company doesn't feel like giving a $50 credit is the responsible thing to do, then they obviously do not value their customers.