Best Western, Holiday Inn, Comfort Inn Near Eastern Management of Hotels & Motels - A Filthy Rip-off Scam... sheets and towels not always changed. Nationwide

I have been to many hotels owned by indians, it isn't true that all of them are bad. Every coin has two sides. So I do know that some hotels owned by Indians are nasty. But come on now people, curry?? It doesn't hurt you does it?? Maybe they smell our food too. Why all this racism?? If Indians didn't own hotels there would be no hotels. I don't know how someone could stereotype all Indians and say they smell like curry and all that. Not just one person but everyone. All I have to say is don't generalize.

indian own hotels are crappy at best! I have worked for choice hotels an I will never never work for an indian (dot not feather) again in my life! My old boss treated me and the other american lady that worked with me like crap. The only time we recived any respect from him is when we turned his sorry ass in to the EEOC for calling us stupid americans. Then he though a 50 cent raise was going to make us drop our case. We stuck to our guns and were fired for filing a case against them our lawsuit setteled out of court because his partners did not want a public trial. Now I can go to college without having to put up with anyone's crap.
moral of story : DON'T stay at a hotel unless it is natural american owned. JUST DON'T DO IT. It is not worth you time or money.

On a side note with all the immigration stuff going on, i'd rather have a bunch of illegal mexicans hanging around the two faced, smelly, uppity middle easterens living here.

Wow. There seems to be a lot of dissatisfaction toward Indian operated hotels. I hear it all the time. People come into the Comfort Inn where I am a desk clerk and say "This is such a nice hotel it can't be owned by Indians!" They seem astonished when I tell them that it is. Maybe I work at one of the rare ones!

The Comfort Inn I work in is very clean and updated, all because of management. The owner/operators are an India couple who are very strict about our housekeeping policies.
The sheets, blankets, pillowcases, towels, etc. are washed each day whether it is a checkout or stayover. Everything is dusted and polished daily. Every inch of carpet must be vacuumed daily. The maids have to scrub the bathroom floors by hand with a new rag or sponge each day because the owners think mops have too many germs. All glass and mirrors have to be washed daily. The list goes on and on...

There was also a time when they saw two ants in the back stairwell, so they called the exterminator in the middle of the night to come spray the whole hotel. Most people aren't this clean at their own homes!

As for customer service, our pay is docked if we treat a guest rudely. We are coached on ettiquette and professionalism, and most of all SMILING! Most of our staff would go out of their way to guarantee a pleasurable experience in our hotel for the guests. I guess we are this way because we have a pleasant work environment.
I guess I just tell you this to let you know that there are some Indian operated hotels that do offer good service and clean rooms.

I hope we can all agree that racism is as stupid as it is wrong. On the otherhand, there are many strong proponents of internal diversity training within organizations where employees from diferent ethnic, racial, and religous backgrounds are given insight into the cultural differences which can seperate them. I would argue that for those of us within the field, some of the basic tenants of DT need to be applied to the very real problem that has emergered approps the experiences some travelers have encountered with near eastern owned and/or managed motels.

The reality is that near-easterners are disproportionantly represented w/i this field. I don't know what that is, but the near eastern motel owner is taking on some of the trappings of the French Chef or the German Engineer, products of cultures which have unique nexuses with the business. The HUGE difference is that the latter two groups are universally sought after, while many motels make a point of pride of advertising that they are NOT near eastern owned.

It is not that near easterner can't operate a motel, or that they are trying to run bad ones. It does however seem that in many cases they carry with them cultural imperitives that lead them to favor certain business models, some aggressively cut what they consider non essential costs (a crediable business practice of and by itself) but among non essential costs they include changing sheets between rentals. Many others appear resistant to reinvestment in their properties . . . again, owners/mgrs deal every day with questions along the lines of "Do we benefit by replacing/enhancing a, b & C in our rooms and then upping rates 15% or do we stand pat on product and price? Which will better position us in our target market?" Oft times near eastern operators opt to be a low cost provider, believing that the travelers they target value a low rate more than they do new carpet, larger TV, and cleaner rooms. The problem that can follows isn't one of near easterners trying to run a rip off joint as it is a miscommunication between them and their market.

Part of why Wal Mart is so hugely sucessful is that they operate on slim margins, sell at low prices AND manage to do so w/o compromizing in areas important to consumers (their parking lots are well lit, the POS systems don't rampantly malfunction and over charge, etc etc) it is the last area where SOME near eastern owners continue to struggle with cultural and diversity divides.

Same thing with refunds and adjustments. American business practice have bought into a lot of generalized trusims, examples include the 80/20 rule and the 10/1 rule. (The later argues that it costs 10 times as much to capture a customer as it does to retain one.) Problem is that not all businesses generate new customers in the same way, have the same ratios, and even position to rely on repeat customers. Where an American GM might buy into the rule even when the bulk of his traffic is first time transient and thus try very hard, even when it makes no business sense, to placate a customer, a GM from another customer might simply say 'yes, I hear you saying you'll never stay here again, but guess what, right next door another SOB is telling the GM that he'll never stay there again . . .so you avoid my prop and go next door, he'll avoid next door and come here, and I'll be quite happy. So no refund for you!" b/c his myths and cultural imperatives don't lead him to 'the customer is always right' but instead 'new customer is always right around the corner.'

That said, I have seen some very open minded, growth oriented near eastern owners and GM's who have taken 'when in rome do as the romans do' to heart and are delivering well recieved product to American travelers. Diversity training in action.

Couple other points. . . I concur with the gentleman from Texas about keeping your door dbl bolted at all times when in a motel room. Many key making systems do not have dup protection that will alert a desk person to an error, and some of the ones which do achieve it via interface with the front desk computer system . . .but that only means it alerts the clerk if he makes a key in error, if you are in room 110 but 3 hrs earlier had been entered in the computer system as rm 108, than 110 is shown by the Prop Mgmt Syst as vacant and the key coding interface wont save you from an error perpetuating. So take proactive steps for your safety rather than placing blind trust in the motels systems and people.

On that note, don't fall for the load of BS about adjustments on bills being hard to do . . .easiest thing in the world (not to mention that if the computers are glitching up the clerk can give you a signed letter on company letter head confirming that an adjustment is being extended once the computers are back on line. I have no reason to doubt the intentions of the person who posted that it was hard, but believe it was only hard b/c mgmt has made it so at his properties or has drilled it into the heads of many workers. What sometimes happens is a well meaning clerk tries to protect his/her job by saying "I'd like to help you but the computer wont let me" when the truth is "I'd like to help you but the bum I work for fired a girl last month for giving to many adjustments to guests who were dissatisfied with this dump."

I also take issue with 11-7 folks who say they can't assist a gst with a prob b/c they can't leave the desk. In my experiece, edicts such as that from mgt demonstrate a horrid guest service philosophy. Look for motels who operate on a "Guest in the house is worth two in the bush" mindset such that they take on a responsibilty to you as their guest . . .if you have a problem at 12am the auditor will assist you . . .if another potential gst arrives, finds the lobby locked, and moves on, than that is my loss for not having your room ready and right when you checked in.

The idea of an employee telling a gst "I can't help you b/c your problem isn't worth the risk that we might lose business while I'm at your room doing so . .. " It happens, (irrespective of the nationality of the owner/mgr) but IMO it is inexcusable. Also why good motels stress to our housekeeping and engineering people to have the rooms right, and that they are the 'last line of defense' b/c while the auditor - at 2am - is doing what should have been their job at 3pm we're risking losing business . . . but we bare that risk, it isn't the gsts fault

As for energy surcharges and the like. . . they are not always a scam aimed at guests. They are a problem if the facility quotes a room rate, and then at checkout does an 'oh by the way' there was also a $3 surchrage for each of the 4 nts you wre here . . .but many motels quote the surcharge with the rate . . .$70 rm plus $3 per nt surcharge . . .in these instances the seperation between rm and surcharge is so that the ENTIRE surcharge goes toward energy costs . . .simply upping the rm charge from $70 to $73 exposses a portion of that $3 add on to fees from the franchise parent which are tied to 'rm revenue' but exclude set apart charges. BUT while the motel will guote rm rate AND surcharge when a direct inquiry is made, third party resv systems aren't set up to handle such things and thus the gst arrives at the motel uninformed, via shortcomings in the information chain, that the motel will try to collect more than the room rate. There are ways to address this fairly, but they aren't pursued as often as they should be.

I work for "near eastern" owners of a hotel. I have worked for some that fit the descriptions listed on some of these comments. Years ago I would go to check in a hotel and would see near easterners in the lobby and I would turn around and just walk right out because I knew what was in store for my stay. I never thought I would EVER work for any. My owner wants the rooms very clean and the guests to be happy-but he is Very cheap! If franchisors were consistant through their brands I think hotels regardless of race-gender etc wouldn't be stereotyped as a certain hotel-they either take care of the place to standards or pull the flag. Guests would never know who owned or managed the hotel. My hotel is Indian owned and I am an American woman as a general manager. Some hotels will never change. But I am starting to notice alot of owners are trying very hard and spending alot of money to make their hotels the best they can be and trying to get rid of the old reputation.

While it's true folks overseas have different standards of cleanliness, not all of them run places the same way.

I'd like to recommend Choice Inns, near Chattanooga Tennessee... they were run by Indians, and the place was as clean as could be.

I agree with the previous poster who suggested checking out your room before unloading the car....

It also helps, if you have a cell phone, to have the numbers of several other hotels handy, so you aren't "stuck with this hotel". Some places DO have last minute cancellations and may be able to help you over the phone.

Hope that helps.

While it's true folks overseas have different standards of cleanliness, not all of them run places the same way.

I'd like to recommend Choice Inns, near Chattanooga Tennessee... they were run by Indians, and the place was as clean as could be.

I agree with the previous poster who suggested checking out your room before unloading the car....

It also helps, if you have a cell phone, to have the numbers of several other hotels handy, so you aren't "stuck with this hotel". Some places DO have last minute cancellations and may be able to help you over the phone.

Hope that helps.

While it's true folks overseas have different standards of cleanliness, not all of them run places the same way.

I'd like to recommend Choice Inns, near Chattanooga Tennessee... they were run by Indians, and the place was as clean as could be.

I agree with the previous poster who suggested checking out your room before unloading the car....

It also helps, if you have a cell phone, to have the numbers of several other hotels handy, so you aren't "stuck with this hotel". Some places DO have last minute cancellations and may be able to help you over the phone.

Hope that helps.

While it's true folks overseas have different standards of cleanliness, not all of them run places the same way.

I'd like to recommend Choice Inns, near Chattanooga Tennessee... they were run by Indians, and the place was as clean as could be.

I agree with the previous poster who suggested checking out your room before unloading the car....

It also helps, if you have a cell phone, to have the numbers of several other hotels handy, so you aren't "stuck with this hotel". Some places DO have last minute cancellations and may be able to help you over the phone.

Hope that helps.

As some one who travels a lot during the year and stays at a lot of different hotels I have encountered everything from flop houses to nice hotels.

I have not noticed a preponderence of problems with hotels ran by middle easterners vs those ran by canadians or those ran by americans (white or black)

The auditors suggestions are right on the money and common sense.

Always pay by credit card, remember if there is a dispute and it is unable to b e resolved while you are at the hotel you can always file a complaint with your credit card company. MC and Visa normally tend to side with the consumer, and to many charge backs will result in them pulling that companies ability to use accept that credit card.

Also remmeber the squeaky wheel gets the grease. If not happy complain, complain in writing. Complain to the CEO of the company. Complain to local news investigative reporters.

I am sick and tired of going to these dirty indian hotels and getting sick from the nausiating smells and staying tired because I can't sleep.

I am not a rich man and am forced to stay at cheap places. Thanks to the lousy economy, I have had no steady paying job for almost 4 years and have to travel to find work. I'm tired of getting ripped off.

Why can't the government protect us from crap like this. We need a European system of hostels. Even the Indian-run hostels meet the government standard or they get closed down. The FDA protects us from bad food. Why can't there be a federal CPA (Consumer Protection Agency) that establishes all kinds of standards for businesses, and if they don't meet them, they get shut down?

Then maybe my bathroom would stop smelling like curry!

the Econo lodge on Dunn road. is owned by indians and its very dirty. and large cockroachs all over and drugs are being sold, as i was offered some when i worked there. i was there 3 months and was embaressed to have people stay there. dirty sheets. used condoms under bed.blood on the walls, and dog crap on side of the bed. when i would ask why the place wasnt fixed up. they said they would just ruin it again anyway. it was an unsafe place to work. it smelled of hot curry all the time. i quit moved to j.c. ks. and went to work for best western. new hotel. owned by indians again. i worked 3 weeks on 24/7 only a 1/2 day off. i was told by another owner of holiday inn express (another indian) that front desk people were needed there and he has closed circuit t.v. in his home so he can watch everyone. the owners of the ramada limited also owned by indians and stunk. i resent the fact that these forgieners can buy up hotels. and my son and others like him are fighting in Iraq.and these people dont contribute except to tell me that why is it such a big deal about the military!!! I want to know how I find out how many middle easterners own hotels and motels in the U.S. and why isnt something being done about the service and poor treatment of employees.

What a crock. The Choice Hotels are quite commonly owned by Near Easterners and I rarely have had a good experience because of it. First, I stayed at an econo lodge near O'Hare Airport, run by a near easterner, and had a horrible stay several years ago.

I had been stranded for weather, while travelling by air, so I just got a place that was available. I should have known that in that situation, if it were available, it was not that desirable.

I complained and they blew me off. They had a million excuses, but the bottom line was they got my money and made no effort to provide satisfaction. I even asked for my money back and they said that I could select another room. When I asked to see another room... and then another, each worse than the next. However, they refused to return my money.

My sheets were dirty, the showers were not cleaned, the carpets were wet and smelly. I had the creeps the whole night and slept (so to speak) in my clothes, as did my wife an newborn baby.

Then I stayed at a comfort inn near Virginia Beach, which was set up by my agent, although I had to pay for it. I didn't even know the name of the hotel until I showed up. I worked all day and showed up tired after getting something to eat. All I wanted to do is relax and get to sleep. The room was completely unsatisfactory. The towels were dirty, the bathtub had hair in it, the satellite was out and there was no television reception.

I called to the front desk and they said there was no one on duty to handle any of the problems. I would have to handle it in the morning. I demanded my money back the next day and the Indian manager again had a million excuses, and finally said that I should call him and he would "take care of me." He was very apologetic about the satellite and the new staff, since he had just taken over.

When I called him, he ducked my calls and after two months told me that he never made any such promise. I filed a detailed complaint with Choice Hotels and they said that they had nothing to do with the individual franchises. I have never stayed in a Choice Hotel since.

So, Bob's claim about failure in an inspection jeopardizing their business is horse shit.

I encourage everyone to boycott Choice Hotels and Near Eastern-run establishments.

My Comments are directed to "Bob" the indian:

You raise an interesting argument to some of the comments above, but I am not sure which individual comment set it was to which you were responding. You might wish to be considerably more directed in your comments so that those of us who wish to participate in the debate will not get sidetracked.

One of the interesting things you point out is the argument of the taxes the Indians, inn particular (pun intended), pay in this country. The government of India and many of its people have been guilty of a similar type of rascism, in your country of origin. So, it is hypocritical of you to use that argument.

It was the Indian government and the Brahmans who were more concerned about its own reputation than the betterment of its people, when they affixed a policy of isolation and objected specifically to the efforts of Mother Teresa to help the Indian poor, just because she was not only non-Indian, but also because she was White.

Ironically she was able to stay because she was doing work they didn't want to do.

I don't blame you for being sensitive about the matter, but you have fallen prey to the falicy of an ad hominem attack by calling a person a "nazi" because they took a position which was offensive to you. I have plenty of ammunition which would more than amply justify similar attitudes about Indians and Pakistani, who incidentally are not the best of friends either. (Need I remind you of the Siachen Glacier over which these countries fight?)

Be careful! India was a close ally of the Soviet Union during the Cold War and often allowed themselves to be used as Soviet surrogates. Pakistan has also traditionally been closely allied with Iran. Do you want to receive the reciprocal backlash of the similar associations. Imagine angry rednecks shouting invectives like, "Indian Communists" or "Pakistani terrorists."

Let's deal with the facts. Indian and Pakistani-run hotels and motels are GENERALLY substandard. I will provide statistics to anyone who wishes to receive them, after RoR checks you out.

One final thought, Bharatiya Janata Party's mentor, Rashriya Swayamsewak Sangh is an unabashed admirer of Adolph Hitler. So, I ask you, "Who is the Nazi?"