I made a reservation to stay at this Motel a month before arriving. I had very specific needs (I have 3 small children). We really needed a room that has 2 sleeping areas seperated by at least 1 door.
I contacted the Owner/Manager directly by phone and was told he had a "Suite" and that it had 2 seperate bedrooms with doors on either side of a living room area.
I made the reservation i early April 2008 for May 7, 2008. I gave the Owner my Debit card number to reserve the room.
We arrived at 4 pm on May 7th and were quite suprised at the location and condition of the property. It looked very run down and nothing like the pictures I had seen on the internet. It was also quite close to a noisy street.
Suspicious I asked to see the room before paying or filling out any registration paper work or giving any payment. The Owner gave me a key and we went to the room to see it before paying.
It was a single room with 2 queen sized beds. The only door in the room was to the bathroom. Not even a couch. We are a family of 5 and to stay in this room would require 3 kids (2 teens and a elementary age child) to sleep in 1 bed ....or someone on the floor.
The room smelled of smoke. The carpet was filthy and it generally looked like the last renovation was in the early 70's.
I then returned to the desk and advised the Owner that the room was not the room we had been promised and was also very dirty and unacceptable.
The owner stated he would not change us to another room. Period. I told him we would have to leave then and just search the area for another hotel.
Here is the part you really need to know. The owner then told me that he would charge me 280.00 (two hundred and eighty US dollars) if we stayed OR if we left. Keep in mind we had not even checked in........but he had my debit card number from the phone reservation.
I would like to stress that I was in no way nasty or rude to the gentleman....even after he told me he would be charging me. I felt confident my bank would remove the fraudulent charge and was not worried. We left after being there for less than 15 min and quickly found a close big name hotel chain.
True to his word the manager/owner charged my card the full amount plus tax that very evening. True to my word I called my bank and the fraud department removed and refunded my money.
One month later I saw a suspicious 300.00 charge on my account. It was the Royal Palms Motel again attempting to make me pay for the night I never stayed there.
Unfortunately for me this time my banks fraud department said the owner had "challenged" my dispute of the charge. Chase bank further told me that in such a situation the buisness wins and the charge would be final. I had no further recourse with my bank.
I have to date made complaints with the following:
-Local Chamber of Commerse
-Better Business Bureau
-Florida Attorney Dept of Consumer Affairs
-Stuart Police Department (with a report written)
All complaints are open and active at this time. The Better Business Bureau advised me very directly that the owner was "very difficult....and would not be cooperating"
Regardless I am still out the 300.00. I have stayed in Hotels and Motels all over the world and have never had this happen. Even the worst Motel I ever stayed in happily refunded my money (and that after actually sleeping there.
I live in the area now. Please feel free to contact me for pictures of the Motel or copies of the above complaints/reports (with my personal info redacted of course)
Happy Travels
Benjamin Bender
