We recently booked a two-day stay at the SkyLight Inn (in Willoughby Ohio – Cleveland suburb) via Expedia based on the site pictures and representations. When we arrived to check-in, a customer in front of us complained of red & brown stains on the bed linen. When we went up to our room we experienced the exact same thing! We requested another room and it was actually WORSE. Both rooms smelled awful and were NOTHING like displayed in the Expedia collateral. In the 20-30 minutes I waited (my son made the reservation and initially went to check-in) I saw two hookers and one obvious drug deal in the parking lot.
The clerk was behind bullet-proof glass and refused to help us (despite “calling” his manager – quotes cause we couldn’t hear the other end of the dialogue). We then contacted Expedia only to be first spammed (NO KIDDING) then told the wait was “4 hours” so we left our callback number. The never called-back, and now I’m genuinely concerned that they’ll sell my cell phone number… or spam it themselves!
It took both Expedia and the flea-bag motel to pull this off… a conspiracy if you will… since each blamed the other for not being able to refund our money. I always thought “non-refundable” meant prepaid (i.e., you lose the money if you don’t show), or maybe even if the room wasn’t quite as expected… but this was an entirely different deal: The room was disgusting and the site was dangerous (and I grew up in Cleveland back in the days of rampant crime).