My name is Paul, and here is my story. I was staying at the hotel for the weekend to get away from the home. Not to be unkind, but anyone who has given longterm care to their family members know that you need a get away. We had just moved from the Cincinnati area having stabilized my fathers health only to assist by moving to Asheville, NC to assist my father-in-law as he battled skin cancer. Having launched my business and working crazy hours, my wife recognized I needed a break and suggested that I take a weekend away from her family scene and just crash and relax. I first I found the hotel nice & freshly remodeled when I entered and thought it was worth the money to treat myself to a nice place. After putting my stuff away and settling in I heard a knock on my door and went to answer. Upon opening the door I realized the knock was for my neighboring room. However, in stepping away, I felt the most surprising and searing pain shoot through my foot. I flinch and stepped into the nearby bathroom leaving blood stains on the floor. Upon examining my foot, I was surprised to see a small hole, so I cleaned it in the sink and wrapped it so it would not bleed on anything. Upon searching the entryway of the room, I found a nail sticking up through the carpet, with the head stuck under the burlap backing. I pulled up the nail and realized immediately what it was. It was a concrete nail designed to hold down tacking strips for carpeting to stretch across a room into concrete floors. It was 1" long with a rusty thick shank and head. I put on my socks and shoes and walked down to the front desk and showed the clerk the nail and what had happened. He immediately gave me an incident report to fill out and sent maintenance up to make sure no other nails would be sticking through(I thought that was very unlikely, but did not say anything). The older gentleman said he saw the blood on the bath floor and cleaned it up, but found no other nails. He appologized and said the hotel was recently remodeled and someone must have missed the nail sweeping up. The nail must have worked its way up through the carpet and it was missed by the vaccum cleaners and all. ( I know from the building industry that the hotel accepts the risks of a remodel when they sign off on the completed contract, accepting the conditions the rooms when they are turned back over to them.)
The hotel clerk asked if I needed medical assistance for a tetnus shot, but I said I would have to wait and check at home when I got my last one. The clerk then offered me a coupon for a complimentary breakfast in the dining room.(I thought O.K.... a little weak - but he's trying to do what he's allowed). The next morning, I woke up with a sore foot and a bruise on the top of my foot, since the nail went so far in(All of this is noted by the doctor in the medical bills). This was the day I was supposed to walk around the nearby stores and shop and visit the area. That was too uncomfortable to keep up, so I optioned to see a movie, and drove to a theater across the overpass nearby. The longer the weekend went on the more sore my foot got and the more I was bothered by the fact that no one felt the situation was worth mentioning or following up on. I understand that it's not the end of the world, but the whole purpose for my weekend was ruined and not one senior staff member seemed to acknowledge the injury. When I checked out, the original clerk was there and nothing was said about the injury, but they seemed to have no problem running my full bill through and asking me to sign it. I got a few miles down the road and got really burned by the whole incident, so I pulled over and called back to the hotel and told the clerk what I thought of their service and the insulting coupon they offered. I concluded by letting him know I would be contacting the owners and letting them know what I thought. He must have immediately called his superior and reported the incident, because minutes later, the superior manager called off duty and asked what I was upset about. I asked him if he planned and went to a nice dinner and paid for a good dining experience, only to have someone fail as a service provider, would he expect to pay for that experience. He said, "No and that I had a good point and he would speak to the Head manager to see what could be done". I checked and saw that they suspended the charge on my credit card bill, as well, until he reported the incident to the Hotel Manager. The next day, I went to the emergency care and got checked out and a tetnus shot and paid for everything up front and followed up with a second visit to make sure things were healing up. No sooner than I was getting in my car, an insurance adjuster from (Zurich Ins. Co. )called to take a report of the incident. I told her what happened and that I had sought medical attention and offered to fax the copies of the bills from my home office. She rudely said she would do her own investigation and since I gave the address of the Urgent Care place, she would obtain her own copies. I said fine, I look forward to hearing from you. The next time we spoke, I assure you, she was even more rude and said that in her own investigation she found the hotel had not had any recent remodels and was not responsible for the incident, but they offered to pay only the medical bills and that was a courtesy they were extending. (I told her someone is lieing and it is not me, but I do have the ability to trace permits and if I needed to prove it, I could. I was'nt expecting any of this, I thought people in the service industry like myself took pride in keeping people happy and furthing business. I have always worked to right a wrong from one of my employees until the customer was satisfied. Apparently I was wrong about Holiday Inn and their franchises. I also found that the hotel pushed through the entire bill on my charge card, and the manager I called to get the owner's names, would not follow up or acknowledge any part of the incident. He said he would check into it, but he only referred me back to the insurance company after I repeatedly called him. As a business owner I have had plenty of occasions to deal with adjusters, and know that they make their money and bonuses on what they save their company. I asked for a fair settlement, the medical bills and the hotel room bill credited for poor service in handling the situation. They have all treated me like I planted a cockroach in my meal and expected to eat for free. I make very good money and do not need this hassle. I have hesitated to tie up the courts with a situation like this(even running the situation past several of my business associates, but Holiday Inn and it's owners (Whitehall Street Real Estate, Ltd.) just wants to ignore the whole thing. I can't imagine if someone's child got hurt, or an elderly person on fixed income was injured there, would be taken care of. Today, we have still not settled, and now it is a matter of principle, so I will be taking them to small claims court, calling the Better Business Bureau of Charlotte, and looking for ways to warn everyone to cover themselves if they stay at Holiday Inn in Charlotte or anywhere else, because they do not care if you get hurt. It's a bad way to run a business and a sad testimony that this corporation and it's franchises have lost the art of service and caring if the customer comes first. Signed, Paul S. Brady