Q: Last summer, I took my daughter and 4-year-old granddaughter to San Antonio to visit SeaWorld. We stayed at the Motel 6 on Market Square, where I had been a guest more than a dozen times in the past.
Unfortunately, my granddaughter found a makeshift crack pipe that a previous guest had fashioned by breaking the energy-efficient CFR light bulb provided in the room. It was hidden in the light fixture, so the housekeeping staff understandably had overlooked it.
The office staff and the national customer service people were extremely conciliatory about the incident. The Motel 6 in San Antonio mailed a free room certificate as compensation for our distress.
A few months later, we tried to use the voucher at a Motel 6 in Tyler, Texas. The staff refused to honor it because the San Antonio hotel did not correctly fill it out. I had no choice but to pay for the room.
After contacting Motel 6 corporate, we were sent a letter from a supervisor that basically told us to get lost. I am stunned that a company as big as Motel 6 with its "we'll-leave-the-light-on" philosophy would treat customers like this. Can you help?
A: If Motel 6 wanted to compensate you with a free room night, it should have sent vouchers you could use. It appears the ones you received were not valid, and the property in Tyler was well within its rights to refuse them.
But I'm not sure a hotel should be giving you a free night because of something a previous guest left in the room. Should the cleaning staff have found the crack pipe? Absolutely. But they didn't put it there. An apology and an offer to move you to another room probably would have been sufficient compensation.
Based on your previous experience at that property, I take it this wasn't the kind of hotel where drug paraphernalia regularly is found, which accounts for your shock and management's reaction.
That said, it's always a good idea to examine vouchers before accepting them and to ask about where it can be used, when it expires, etc. Your certificate was missing key information, including an expiration date.
I contacted Motel 6 on your behalf. It apologized for the experience in San Antonio and the difficulties with redeeming the voucher. It sent you five validated vouchers, each good for a room night at any Motel 6.
Christopher Elliott is the ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler magazine. You can read more travel tips on his blog, elliott.org or e-mail him at celliott@ngs.org.
