Why the Wyndham Hotel is a Lousy Place to Stay

One of my favorite things about blogging is that it gives the average person an ability to rant and rave over injustices, and potentially have the world take notice. I'm not so egotistical to think that the whole world will be riveted to their seat over this next blog post, but I will be satisfied if I think I can keep a few of you out there from ever stepping foot in a Wyndham Hotel. Here is a picture of the entrance to the hotel I will be writing about, just in case you ever happen to walk by and feel like spitting in it's general direction.

I reserved a suite at the Wyndham (633 N. St. Clair St, Chicago IL) for some friends and I for New Years Eve. I had stayed at a Wyndham Hotel once before and had a pleasurable experience, so I was excited to go back. We arrived Wednesday evening and proceeded to have an a very festive and entertaining night, in part due to the party that some wealthy kid our age rented out the hotel ballroom to have. This resulted in lots of skankily dressed women being chased around by extremely intoxicated men (and vice versa). This entire group of 100+ party goers swarmed over every floor and raised the noise level by about 75%. Entertaining to say the least, and not something we minded, as the beer bottle brawls and randomly passed out people livened things up a bit.

Before check out the next morning, I was concerned to see that my bank account had much less in it than it should have; it was missing roughly the amount of the hotel room, which had been paid for at the beginning of December. As I discussed this with the guy at the front desk, he assured me that the funds were on hold on my card until I checked out and they would be back the next day. This policy didn't and still doesn't make much sense to me, as my room was already paid for, but whatever. Bureaucracy at work. The man at the front desk also mentioned how the party from the ballroom resulted in one woman walking down the halls completely naked and winding up in bed in some random couples room, as well as two people found doing the dirty in the ballroom that very morning. Obviously, a much wilder party than we had had in our room. Anyway, after being assured the money was on it's way back to my account, we left.

Flash Forward to yesterday, January 2nd. My bank account not only still had a hold on it for the amount of the hotel room, but it had an additional $300 hold from the hotel. This basically took everything in my checking account and rendered it empty. I had at least one check bounce, and I was left with nothing. I called the hotel and they said that the money in the amount of the hotel room would be back on my account by the next day (and it was, although I'm still hazy as to why they had to hold that to begin with. If someone out there can give me a coherent answer, it would be appreciated). However, they said that the additional $300 is because they found a large mirror broken when the cleaning people entered our room to clean it. Now. I am an honest person, and had I or one of my guests broken ANYTHING, I would have been fully prepared to pay for it. Hell, we took everything out of our mini fridge and hid it so we wouldn't be tempted to binge and accrue any additional charges - obviously the room was a bit of a splurge for us. Anyway, the point is, no one broke a mirror. Of this I am 100% certain. When I spoke with the hotel manager they said that they have no record of any damages before we checked in, and record of damages at check out. This is what I find absurd. It's basically my word against theirs, and as any Midwestern working class girl knows, the Man almost always wins.



I have spoken with the hotel manager, who transferred me to the security team, who gave me the name and number of someone in charge of their "Risk Management" department, who apparently does not exist in the real world. When I tried the number it led me to the voicemail of a woman other than the woman I was trying to reach, and when I called the hotel to speak directly with her, I was told no one by that name worked there. It gets better and better, doesn't it? As I type, I am waiting for someone to get back to me about this issue. In the very least, I want picture and documentation that my room was the room with the broken mirror. My checking account has already been charged the $300, and I'm not holding my breath about ever getting it back. THIS is why NO ONE should EVER go to the WYNDHAM HOTEL, EVER. You could get stuck paying outrageous fees for a crime you did not commit. The only other possibility I have for this situation is that there is an evil, mean little ghost that roams the halls of the Wyndham and breaks things after guests have checked out. And who wants to stay at a hotel with mean ghosts?

I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and have now taken to my blog - I also fully intend to tell as many travelers and potential hotel guests about my ordeal as humanly possible, in the hopes of deterring at least one of them from ever using their hard earned money at the Wyndham. If anyone else out there has any sort of story similar to mine, I would love to hear it, if for any other reason than to know that I'm not alone in the crazy, foul world of hotel injustice.