FIRST PERSON/OPINION:

By David Swarts

At 10:58 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) Monday I got an email from the Quality Inn & Suites in Buda, Texas, just south of Austin, informing me that my four-night reservation from April 19-23 had been canceled.

I made the reservation in September 2016, the day the 2017 MotoGP schedule was released, in hopes of securing a good rate, which I did. My average nightly rate was for about $102 plus taxes, and I knew what I was getting because I and people I knew from various race teams had stayed at the Quality Inn & Suites in Buda during previous races and tests.

During a recent check for better hotel room rates in Austin during the MotoGP/MotoAmerica race weekend, I noted that planning ahead paid off because rates were steadily climbing.

Apparently, the management of the Quality Inn & Suites saw this as well because I did not cancel my reservation. Why would I? I have non-refundable airline and rental car arrangements.

I suspect that someone at the Quality Inn & Suites, a privately owned franchise of Choice Hotels International, decided to cancel my reservation so they could rebook my room at a higher rate to someone else booking at the last minute.

When I called the Quality Inn & Suites at 11:00 a.m. PDT Monday, “Mike” answered. When I inquired about how the cancellation happened, Mike told me, “I had a phone call and David Swarts canceled that.”

That couldn’t have been me because with 75-110 hotel nights per year to keep track of, I do everything only through Choice Hotels’ website and mobile apps and I print out hard copy backups in case my electronics fail.

I asked, “Who canceled it?”

Mike said, “David.”

I said, “David who?”

Mike said, “They just said David, you know. That’s what we have put in the computer. So that’s why it was canceled, you know.”

I said, “Mike, who took the call?”

Mike said, “I have several desk clerks. I have no idea, you know.”

I said, “Do you know what time the phone call was received?”

Mike said, “Like I said, I have no idea, sir. But if you want to talk to the manager you can gladly talk to him at 3:00.”

I tried to explain to Mike that I was a Diamond Elite-level member of the Choice Privileges customer loyalty program, the highest-level there is and I usually stay twice as many nights than required to reach Diamond status (40 nights). I asked Mike if he would try to get in touch with the manager right away, and he refused. Instead of offering to reinstate the reservation, or to offer me a different room, or to mediate the situation in any way, Mike said, “I’m not going to do nothing, sir. You can call at 3:00.”

At no time did Mike say they were full during my dates, and at no time did he offer me another room at any rate.

I reminded Mike that I was a Diamond Elite customer, and he raised his voice and said, “That doesn’t matter, sir. You talk about Diamond, what does that mean? You going to pay my electric bill? Or my salary? You are dictating like a Hitler. I’m going to put the phone down now and you call back at 3:00 if you wish to, OK?”

When I called back at 4:50 p.m. and asked to speak to “Robbie,” the General Manager, I was asked to give my name. Upon giving my name the person who answered the call stammered a bit and asked if I could call back in 15-20 minutes. I called back 24 minutes later, and the person who answered the call was “Mike” — the same “Mike.”

As soon as I asked to speak to “Robbie,” Mike, without asking who I was, told me that the General Manager did not want to speak to me, to have a nice night and he hung up.

I called Choice Hotel’s Choice Privileges Customer Service and Customer Relations departments, who then called the hotel trying to investigate and mediate the situation. “Josh” with Choice Hotels’ Customer Relations department said the hotel claimed I had called and spoke to Mike and asked him to cancel my reservation. “Josh” also said that the hotel’s management did not care to offer any alternate room because they were fully booked, they would not offer any compensation and that they did not wish to participate in any further mediation of the situation.

The General Manager never spoke to me. The General Manager of the hotel refused to speak to a customer at their highest level of customer loyalty let alone make any attempt to make the situation right.

“Josh” said that because a confirmation number was given during the call to cancel the reservation they had to stand by their hotel operator. When I asked “Josh” what would stop a hotel operator from cancelling a lower priced reservation so he could then rebook that room at the last minute for a higher price, “Josh” admitted that there was nothing in place to stop a hotel operator from doing that.

I then pointed out to “Josh” that this was against the law in most places. How do I know? Because I’ve been in this situation before.

In 2005, shortly after MotoGP returned to having events at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, the Embassy Suites in Monterey Bay was found to have overbooked rooms for that race weekend and canceled confirmed reservations.

The story was broken by Roadracingworld.com and later picked up by the local newspaper, the Monterey County Herald, and then investigated by the Monterey County District Attorney’s office. The District Attorney’s office filed a consumer protection case against the Hyatt Corporation, the parent company of Embassy Suites at the time, and the Hyatt Corporation settled the case in 2006 by paying $200,000 in fines and costs for the investigation and retraining of its staff.

Choice Hotels told me they would launch an investigation into my situation and that the Quality Inn & Suites would have 72 hours to respond.

Of course that means that I was forced to rebook new hotel accommodations at a higher, last-minute price and at a hotel further away from the track, also increasing my costs to attend the event.

Stay tuned.