A motel clerk tried to scare a MotoGP enthusiast into abandoning his low-cost Salinas room reservation for the U.S. GP race weekend by claiming the motel may be quarantined at that time because of “swine virus,” authorities said. The clerk at the Good Nite Inn responsible for the stunt resigned from the motel, management says, and county officials say they have not issued any warnings about an outbreak of the virus. In the past, Monterey-area motels have been accused of price-gouging and other inappropriate behavior during the Grand Prix weekend. When MotoGP returned to the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, attracting to the area thousands more fans than World Superbike races the track had hosted in previous years, the Visitors and Convention Bureau and the Peninsula Chamber of Commerce formed a task force to watch for this type of behavior. On Monday, May 11, a race enthusiast who held a reservation for July 3-5 at the Good Nite Inn in Salinas received an e-mail from the motel. The message, which appeared over the signature of motel General Manager Francisco Alejo, stated (grammar and punctuation uncorrected): “We found it extremely necessary to email you after getting a notice from the Department of Health that There may be a scheduled quarantine for the hotel on the 3rd and the 4th of July 2009, due to the spread of The Swine Virus in the City of Salinas. It is for this reason that we have been instructed to call all our guests (way ahead of time) who will be Scheduled to check in on the said dates to make an alternative reservation somewhere else.” A follow-up e-mail from the motel the next day stated: “We did find an alternative plan which we hope would be acceptable to you. We could check you into one of our hotels in Fremont, which is approximately an hour and a half away from Salinas.” Health department officials in Salinas said there was, of course, no such notice. Roadracingworld.com contacted motel management and asked if this was an attempt to cancel long-standing, low-cost reservations for MotoGP weekend, so the rooms could be rented at higher rates to those making last-minute plans. In response, Alejo, the general manager, wrote (again, punctuation and grammar left untouched): “Thank you for this email, cause we have been trying to track down and do damage control for the guests that was affected by the action of One of our Desk clerks who was assigned as front desk supervisor during my vacation.” Alejo attached a letter of resignation from a clerk, identified by Alejo as Mark Soots, who admitted that because the motel was overbooked, he used the manager’s e-mail account to send the “swine virus” e-mail to three motel guests with reservations for race weekend. Instead of rolling over in fear, however, the guests demanded to see the non-existent notice from the Health Department and called county officials to find out about the “quarantine.” Health department officials called the clerk and told him to “take care of this immediately since there was no notice,” the resignation letter states and county officials told Roadracing World they had indeed contacted the motel and told them to “cut it out.” The guests called the clerk and objected. And the clerk broke down, admitted he’d screwed up, and resigned, according to the resignation letter forwarded to Roadracing World by Alejo. “No reservations have been cancelled,” Alejo says. “Good Nite Inn does not tolerate this kind of treatment to any of our guest.” Contacts for Monterey County include: District Attorney: (831) 755-5070. Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce: (831) 648-5360 Monterey County Visitors And Convention Bureau: (877)-MONTEREY Below is the full text of the resignation letter from desk clerk Mark Soots. It was provided by Good Nite Inn General Manager Francisco Alejo: From: Mark Soots Sent: Sunday, May 17, 2009 12:42 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE : Bad Judgement made during your absence 17 May 2009 Dear Mr. Francisco Alejo, I know that by the time you get back from your vacation you would shorty find out about a bad judgement call that I made due to a letter that I sent to three of our hotel guests using your office email address, which I know now I should never have done. When Augustin informed us that we may be overbook for the 3rd and 4th of July due to rooms ( approximately 8 rooms ) that were damaged recently which he feels may not be ready during that time, I took it upon myself to check on guests who had email addresses in their reservations and sent them a letter on your computer, but instead of telling them the real reason, I made up a reason which I involved the Health Department and the existence of the Swine Virus, thinking that this would be a better excuse which will not make our guests as upset, as if I had just told them about what really happened. Two of those guests actually forwarded the letter to the Health Department, and they in turn called, as a matter I was able to talk to them, and also explained the real reason for the letter which they told me to take care of this immediately since they never gave us a notice about such problems. I also tried to explain this to both guests, but they both insisted on getting the name of the person who sent the notice from the Health Department, and it is for this reason that I have no other choice but to let you know since I have done everything humanly possible to fix the problem so as not to let you know about it, but now I am at a loss for any more options, and I honestly do not know how I could fix this. I know that this is something that you and the company will not tolerate since it was not only a very bad judgement call, but I also misrepresented myself by using your identity and lying about the problem, instead of just maybe calling you and letting you know the problem that happened. I was really hoping that by trying to mend the problem myself, I would be able to prove to you and the company that I am qualified to be a Supervisor for the Front Desk, which I know now will never happen primarily because of the trust factor. It is for this reason that I tender my irrevocable retroactive resignation. I am very sorry for the mess that I have created. I know now that it was a very bad move which should not have been started in the first place, but I want to assure you that the reservations of the people that I sent the email to has not been cancelled and is still in the system. I am very grateful for the opportunity of working with you and this company, cause I have learned a lot. I am just sorry to have to leave this way, but I hope that in time, you and the company can find it in your heart to forgive me cause I am very sorry for everything. Gratefully, MARK SOOTS