Complaint Review: Holiday Inn - Bozeman Montana

Let me guess: Joe, you are a salesman. Probably one without a lot of return business. I think I understand where you are coming from. It doesn't really matter if customers are misled or are unhappy, does it? The only important thing is that money changed hands. Now, if I would only go away and shut up, right?

Why would you expect sympathy? It was you that misunderstood...not them. Now put your tail back between your legs and let this be the end of it. Your only argument could be if the rate were somehow different that what you were promissed DOLLARWISE...and only if you made a confirmed resrevation. Otherwise you can gripe if the rate exceeds the rates posted on the back of the door as required of all hotels. That's to prevent gouging like what would happen if you tried to get a room as a refugee in the southern states trying to flee the hurricanes. If they stuck you for more than that card said...then you'd have a legal gripe.

Hi Trent. At this point, I can see how it looks like a tantrum. Really, I am quite calm about this whole thing, although irritated by the experience. I have learned something new about hotel rates and government per diems. This will not happen to me again. My major goal here is to inform others so that they too can learn without having to unexpectedly shell out money. My experience at Holiday Inn in Bozeman was unremarkable otherwise. They were no better and no worse than any average hotel I have stayed in. It is too bad that they are unsympathetic to customer concerns such as these. I encourage others to stay at hotels with a genuine interest in fairness and customer satisfaction.

In the course of human nature it is unfortunate there are a few bad apples. In the case of the Bozeman Holiday Inn discrepancy I only see one rotten. Now not to get down on you David, but what more can we explain to you for you to understand? Was it the bad customer experience you had received? Or the dirty sheets you slept in? There must have been something else that made you feel such a level of buyer's remorse. Rip-off report.com was created so that customers could notify the public of their bad experience, but keep in mind complaints come through stronger with justification. What else is behind your buyer's remorse other then your per diem you had a per tantrum about? Let's get down to the bottom of it and be done with it.

Ok guys...knock off the complex talk...here it is plain and simple. Hotels set their own rates, period. Unless they have a specified contract for a specified number of rooms for a specified time period, then there is no special rate that will match up with a per-diem of any given person. Plain and simple, if you were a senior and were quoted a "senior rate"....then that is the rate that the hotel set...not the friggin' seniors. Same with "government" rates. They can set those at whatever the hell they feel like setting them at. They are just trying to capture some business from the person travelling around that happens to want a slight discount for being a government employee. That's it..plain as can be. I've worked in many hotels and for good and bad ones..but one thing for sure, it's not the government that sets the rates or we'd be living in a communist country. Cripes...it sounds like you didn't even graduate high school with your attitude and understanding of things. So...if you want a rate that matches your per-diem...then you had better get a negotiated contract in your hands that says that. Otherwise, you aren't even necessarily entitled to the government rate even if you show your ID badge at the front desk. All hotels limit the percentage of discount rates available. If they're full except for one room, don't expect them to offer you the government discount, whatever that may be for them. Many hotels have general policies that once over a certain occupancy percentage, all discount rates are off the table. Some allow only a certain number of discounted rooms per discount type, or don't allow them for anything other than the standard room. If I were working the front desk and you came in expecting a government rate, I'd ask you for your ID...and if it were available, I'd give it to you...it may be a 10% discount..or 20%...but I am not going to figure out what you're per-diem allowance is and try to match up with that. What if I'm the Hyatt and you're budgeted for Motel 6? You weren't ripped off, period.

'What I don't seem to get across is that I did not question the rate because I thought it was an official government rate.'--as opposed to the government per diem allowance. In this case, it was the employee's money spent, thus the complaint. Wonder why there is no such outcry when OUR (taxpayers') money is wasted because these employees usually just look to see that the proper boxes are checked, rather than look at our bottom line. I work with all of them--local, state, and federal--and find if I don't catch the overcharge, it just sails through.

I have heard several times now from Holiday Inn employees that that I had numerous opportunities to question the rate and that I agreed to the rate more than once. This must be the official Holiday Day Inn mantra for any complaint containing the keyword "rate." It seems to come verbatim from some employee handbook or something similar. Apparently, Holiday Inn gets complaints about rates frequently enough to warrant a canned response. I am trying to be understanding, but I don't think the key issue is getting through to Holiday Inn employees. What I don't seem to get across is that I did not question the rate because I thought it was an official government rate. It is the same reason I didn't call MasterCard and ask if the card I was using, with the MasterCard logo on it, was actually a MasterCard, and not a Diner's Club in disguise. If I had any inkling of an idea that this rate was above and beyond the government's rate for Bozeman, I would have questioned. What I had was an arbitrary Holiday Inn rate disguised as the government's rate. I mentioned earlier that I stayed at over 20 hotels across the country in the last year (at various times including peak seasons) and I have never, ever had this "government rate" problem before staying at the Holiday Inn in Bozeman. If this is, as you say, an international Holiday Inn policy, perhaps I (and others) should avoid all Holiday Inns. This is exactly why I have asked Holiday Inn numerous times to give people some kind of idea that their rate is not the government's rate. To be fair, they ought to be clear enough so that people will not have to question the rate. However, Holiday Inn in Bozeman--and now you tell me this goes beyond Bozeman--refuses to stop disguising their rate and has no interest in being clear. I am convinced that Holiday Inn does not want anyone to question the rates, and yet they are eager to remind dissatisfied customers, after they have already deposited the money, that they could have questioned. To be clear, my issue is with Holiday Inn's refusal to be clear regarding their rates. Of course, I should have checked if I had doubts. However, their ads were clear enough for me to not have doubts. Consequently, I was deceived. I told them so, and they were unsympathetic. Now I am telling others. You must understand that I prefer to deal with companies who are fair and straightforward with their customers and who are sympathetic to their concerns. Holiday Inn in Bozeman has demonstrated a complete disregard for both of these.

As a former employee of the Holiday Inn /Intercontinental Hotels Group I wish to inform you of the hotel processes, as well as what information is the responsibility of the consumer. The information about the "Government Rate" is general to all Intercontinental properties, and is not specific to any particular hotel, as well as you assumed that it was a per diem rate, although it is never quoted as a per diem rate. Questions regarding the verbiage can be directed toward Interacontinental Hotels Group (www.ichotelsgroup.com). Additionally, when booking a room online you are prompted to click a box accepting the terms and conditions of the reservation. Also, as another individual pointed out you have the opportunity to question the rate at check in, which is correct, as well as you have the opportunity throughout your stay to also address this issue. I doubt that if you had stayed in a non-peak season and had received the $60+tax rate that the Holiday Inn Bozeman is offering currently you would have had a problem, as it is below the federal reimbursement rate, and it seems that you would not have found this deceptive. Lastly, if you had any questions of if this was a per diem rate, did you ask? You could have asked at check-in, or you could have called the hotel directly prior to your arrival, where they have the opportunity to tell you the rate is a discount, not a per diem rate.

As a former employee of the Holiday Inn /Intercontinental Hotels Group I wish to inform you of the hotel processes, as well as what information is the responsibility of the consumer. The information about the "Government Rate" is general to all Intercontinental properties, and is not specific to any particular hotel, as well as you assumed that it was a per diem rate, although it is never quoted as a per diem rate. Questions regarding the verbiage can be directed toward Interacontinental Hotels Group (www.ichotelsgroup.com). Additionally, when booking a room online you are prompted to click a box accepting the terms and conditions of the reservation. Also, as another individual pointed out you have the opportunity to question the rate at check in, which is correct, as well as you have the opportunity throughout your stay to also address this issue. I doubt that if you had stayed in a non-peak season and had received the $60+tax rate that the Holiday Inn Bozeman is offering currently you would have had a problem, as it is below the federal reimbursement rate, and it seems that you would not have found this deceptive. Lastly, if you had any questions of if this was a per diem rate, did you ask? You could have asked at check-in, or you could have called the hotel directly prior to your arrival, where they have the opportunity to tell you the rate is a discount, not a per diem rate.

As a former employee of the Holiday Inn /Intercontinental Hotels Group I wish to inform you of the hotel processes, as well as what information is the responsibility of the consumer. The information about the "Government Rate" is general to all Intercontinental properties, and is not specific to any particular hotel, as well as you assumed that it was a per diem rate, although it is never quoted as a per diem rate. Questions regarding the verbiage can be directed toward Interacontinental Hotels Group (www.ichotelsgroup.com). Additionally, when booking a room online you are prompted to click a box accepting the terms and conditions of the reservation. Also, as another individual pointed out you have the opportunity to question the rate at check in, which is correct, as well as you have the opportunity throughout your stay to also address this issue. I doubt that if you had stayed in a non-peak season and had received the $60+tax rate that the Holiday Inn Bozeman is offering currently you would have had a problem, as it is below the federal reimbursement rate, and it seems that you would not have found this deceptive. Lastly, if you had any questions of if this was a per diem rate, did you ask? You could have asked at check-in, or you could have called the hotel directly prior to your arrival, where they have the opportunity to tell you the rate is a discount, not a per diem rate.

Yes, Timothy, in my experience for the past year, all cases except for the instance in Bozeman, hotels advertising a "government rate" actually gave me a rate that corresponded to the federal government per diem for that area. You are right, too, in that I should have done my homework. If I continue to assume that everyone plays fair, I'll probably get taken in again. It is safer to assume everyone cheats. I guess that is why Wal-Mart checks my receipt at the door. They too assume everyone is trying to rip them off -- and look how well they are doing! In any case, I agree that Holiday Inn in Bozeman probably hasn't done anything technically illegal. But they have expressed a complete lack of concern for preventing others like me from experiencing the same problem, even though they could easily rectify the cause of the problem. It is obvious to me that Holiday Inn - Bozeman feels that this ambiguous advertising is more beneficial to them than being clear and fair, and more important than having satisfied customers. Thus, I feel obligated to warn others. I have learned from this experience. I will check all advertised rates with the GSA to make sure that they are within the limits. I will also, refrain from ever staying at the Holiday Inn in Bozeman as long as they continue to ignore customer concerns and satisfaction.

David, Has it actually been your experience that a hotel's advertised "government rate" usually matches up with the per diem? If so, then your report certainly has some more teeth to it. And I see what you mean in addressing my concern as to you having seen the rate before taking the room. That was probably the most confusing sentence ever, but I couldn't think of an easier way to say it. I guess what you're saying is that yes, you saw the rate, but you assumed that it was the per diem. I guess I could fault you for not doing your homework, but if you came to expect that "government rate" meant per diem, then I suppose your assumption was reasonable. I still don't know if I would assign any culpability to Holiday Inn, however, absent any evidence that they were actually trying to deceive people, which I don't see.

There is no need to be rude. I have stayed at many hotels (over twenty) in the past year who offered "government rates" and yet this is the first time a "government rate" has exceeded the federal per diem. I did not know that the two were different. This experience has opened my eyes and my intention is that it will open other's eyes as well. I don't understand why you feel personally assaulted by this? Perhaps you are the manager of the hotel in question. If so, I hope others read this and see how you feel about your customers. Nevertheless, the fact remains that Holiday Inn in Bozeman, Montana advertises a rate that is deceptive to some people. Even though I advised them that they may be misleading people, they don't seem to find this important enough to take action. A simple clarification in their advertising is all that is necessary to rectify this situation. However, Holiday Inn in Bozeman, Montana would rather not make the effort to prevent future misunderstandings that may negatively impact government and military customers. Thus, I find it important that I tell others about this experience in case they want to avoid dealing with such a business that knowingly refuses to change misleading advertising and has demonstrated a disregard for customer satisfaction. And yes, there are several other Hotels in Bozeman that often offer lower rates than the Holiday Inn, and I'm guessing, much better customer service. The Winngate Inn is a nice place. So is the Bozeman Days Inn and Suites. There is also a Fairfield Inn and a Hampton Inn that look nice. I checked and none of these hotels have a federally contracted rate, but, depending on when you go, many offer rates less than the federal per diem. And, no, I do not work for FEMA, but a lot of honest, hard working people do. Let's hope you never need their assistance.

There is no need to be rude. I have stayed at many hotels (over twenty) in the past year who offered "government rates" and yet this is the first time a "government rate" has exceeded the federal per diem. I did not know that the two were different. This experience has opened my eyes and my intention is that it will open other's eyes as well. I don't understand why you feel personally assaulted by this? Perhaps you are the manager of the hotel in question. If so, I hope others read this and see how you feel about your customers. Nevertheless, the fact remains that Holiday Inn in Bozeman, Montana advertises a rate that is deceptive to some people. Even though I advised them that they may be misleading people, they don't seem to find this important enough to take action. A simple clarification in their advertising is all that is necessary to rectify this situation. However, Holiday Inn in Bozeman, Montana would rather not make the effort to prevent future misunderstandings that may negatively impact government and military customers. Thus, I find it important that I tell others about this experience in case they want to avoid dealing with such a business that knowingly refuses to change misleading advertising and has demonstrated a disregard for customer satisfaction. And yes, there are several other Hotels in Bozeman that often offer lower rates than the Holiday Inn, and I'm guessing, much better customer service. The Winngate Inn is a nice place. So is the Bozeman Days Inn and Suites. There is also a Fairfield Inn and a Hampton Inn that look nice. I checked and none of these hotels have a federally contracted rate, but, depending on when you go, many offer rates less than the federal per diem. And, no, I do not work for FEMA, but a lot of honest, hard working people do. Let's hope you never need their assistance.

There is no need to be rude. I have stayed at many hotels (over twenty) in the past year who offered "government rates" and yet this is the first time a "government rate" has exceeded the federal per diem. I did not know that the two were different. This experience has opened my eyes and my intention is that it will open other's eyes as well. I don't understand why you feel personally assaulted by this? Perhaps you are the manager of the hotel in question. If so, I hope others read this and see how you feel about your customers. Nevertheless, the fact remains that Holiday Inn in Bozeman, Montana advertises a rate that is deceptive to some people. Even though I advised them that they may be misleading people, they don't seem to find this important enough to take action. A simple clarification in their advertising is all that is necessary to rectify this situation. However, Holiday Inn in Bozeman, Montana would rather not make the effort to prevent future misunderstandings that may negatively impact government and military customers. Thus, I find it important that I tell others about this experience in case they want to avoid dealing with such a business that knowingly refuses to change misleading advertising and has demonstrated a disregard for customer satisfaction. And yes, there are several other Hotels in Bozeman that often offer lower rates than the Holiday Inn, and I'm guessing, much better customer service. The Winngate Inn is a nice place. So is the Bozeman Days Inn and Suites. There is also a Fairfield Inn and a Hampton Inn that look nice. I checked and none of these hotels have a federally contracted rate, but, depending on when you go, many offer rates less than the federal per diem. And, no, I do not work for FEMA, but a lot of honest, hard working people do. Let's hope you never need their assistance.

Back off Corey of San Antonio, things have changed since your day. I am a Government employee and it can be confusing, until you really know what you are talking about, back off. You are giving your age away, times have changed.

Ok, we tried to be nice. We tried to explain it to you in civil terms the difference between "gov. rates" and your per diem and yet you still filed an update crying about how you were ripped off. How you are a new employee and you weren't told and you weren't trained as well as others. How you are out $100 of you own money. This is the just the kind of crap we expect out of government employees. Let me ask you this. Are there ANY other hotel/motels besides Holiday Inns, that charge less money? Typical government employee, doesn't know his a**hole from a hole in the ground. Lord help us.

The official U.S. Government per diem rates are set by the United States General services Administration (www.gsa.gov) and vary from location to location. At the time of the incident, an as a new governmet employee, I did not know I had to check the rate with the GSA table of per diem rates. Although other govenrment employyees may have had better training, some of us were never told that business are allowed to advertise rates and call them "governement" rates when, in fact, they are not rates set by the govenrment. I disagree with the rubttals that this is not misleading. Business should not be allowed to call their rates "government rates" if they are really just arbitary rates offered to govenrment employees. Yes, the differences is subtle, but it cost me $100 of my own money and I feel ripped off. I contacted the mangement at Holiday Inn and told them that I was confused and misled by their ad and others may be too in the future. I asked them to clarify their advertisement so that it explicitly said that their rate is not set by the government. They refused. Hence this report.

David, I understand how you were confused, but this isn't really a rip-off. Your problem seems to stem from the fact that, for some reason, you assumed that the Holiday Inn "government rate" would be the equivalent of what the government will reimburse for a hotel stay. I can't say that this is completely unreasonable, at least at first blush, but it is a little naive. If AAA says that the avergage hotel room costs $59/night, is a hotel required to charge only $59 for their "AAA rate"? No. The rate class signifies a discount, not a yardstick. Likewise if the AARP publishes an average hotel room rate in one of its magazines, and a hotel offers a "senior discount." Furthermore, if you ever saw the term "government rate" in a room quote, it would have had an actual rate next to it. In other words, you saw the term "government rate" printed next to an actual room price. You should have noticed right there that the price didn't match up with the per diem rate. Also, whenever you register for a hotel room, you sign a "rate card" that spells out the cost of the total cost of the room. Unless you were paying absolutely no attention, you would have seen the room rate twice before you ever obligated yourself to pay for the room. If the hotel wishes to charge a special rate for government employees, what do you suggest they call such a discount?

In my many years of service, I never knew of or heard of the "government rate" being the same as the per diem paid by the government. The "government rate" was a discount off of the regular rate, sometimes 10 or 20% but never the per diem paid. Same as the; salesmen's rate or trucker's rate. The military used to issue meal vouchers, which someplaces might honor for a cheap meal but that was about as close as you'd come to your per diem for meals. Car rentals were a different story. With those gov. issued credit cards costing the taxpayers billons over the authorized amounts something has to be done. I commend you for trying to hold down our costs.