Brak Moczygemba got the shock of her life after a recent one-night stay in a budget hotel. The manager of that Quality Inn accused her of pillow theft… remarkably pricey pillows for such an establishment. To make matters worse, that same manager then informed a stunned Moczygemba that she was permanently banned from the two-star hotel.
Moczygemba says she’s never been accused of stealing anything in her life, much less pillows from a roadside Quality Inn. But the hotel manager isn’t backing down. Worse, Choice Hotels, the corporate parent of Quality Inn, is condoning the $130 charge the franchise billed Moczygemba for the theft.
With the hotel manager’s accusations putting her personal and professional reputation on the line, Moczygemba needs help. She is hoping our team can rescue her from this awful situation.
Can we do it? Let’s find out.
Choosing a Quality Inn for a short getaway
When Moczygemba and her partner decided on a short getaway to Portland, Oregon, they intended to keep the cost low. Scrolling through the Hotels com website, they weren’t looking for anything fancy, just clean, comfortable accommodations. Eventually, they settled on a budget-friendly Quality Inn located outside the city.
Moczygemba, a busy veterinarian and single mom to a disabled child, was hoping the brief trip would be relaxing and restorative.
“I was so excited to spend a little time away – to have a rare night out in Portland,” Moczygemba told me. “It was just meant to be a mini-vacation and release valve for my high-pressure life.”
Unfortunately, this plan was about to backfire spectacularly. Instead of a release from that high-pressure life, a huge new stressor was about to be added.
An unusual email from the hotel after check-out
The couple took the scenic route as they made their way 100 miles north to the Quality Inn to check in for their stay.
“It was exactly what you would imagine for a $100-a-night hotel,” Moczygemba recalled. “It was clean and quiet and what we expected.”
Surveying the room, Moczygemba thought it a bit strange that there were four pillows on one bed and three on the other. However, the uneven pillow count wasn’t anything she felt compelled to complain about. Her focus was on relaxing and enjoying the short respite.
All too soon it was time to check out, but Moczygemba says the trip was a mission accomplished. She felt refreshed and ready to return to the responsibilities of her busy life. In fact, she had several patients of the pet kind scheduled for surgery in just a few days.
“It was just what I needed,” Moczygemba explained to me. “I felt the stress lift from my shoulders.”
But an email from the assistant manager of the Quality Inn was about to shatter that peace.
Quality Inn: “You took two pillows from your hotel room.”
When Moczygemba arrived back home, she noticed that the Quality Inn had called her phone while she was driving. There was no message, which she thought was odd, and she wondered why the hotel was calling. Checking her emails, she soon found out the reason.
Good Day to you. My name is Danielle. I am the Assistant GM here at the Quality Inn. I am reaching out to you because you recently checked out with us, and the room you were in is now missing two pillows. We wanted to know if maybe you had brought in your own pillows and got them mixed up with our pillows. We try to reach out to the guest and arrange for the return of missing items from their hotel room. However, if we’re not able to obtain a return of the items, we will charge you for them. Each pillow costs $65.
Danielle, Assistant General Manager of the Quality Inn
Moczygemba read the message several times before the implications of it fully set in. The manager was actually accusing her of a crime – pillow theft – and intended to charge her more than the entire cost of the hotel room to buy new ones.
She quickly fired off a message of her own to Danielle.
In no uncertain terms, Moczygemba told the Assistant GM neither she or her partner had brought their own pillows nor had they taken any home with them. She hoped that would be the end of it.
It wasn’t.
The hotel’s manager continues to make false allegations
After multiple email exchanges, the Quality Inn’s general manager abruptly cut off further communication. But not before informing Moczygemba that the hotel had billed her for the missing pillows.
Our director of operations went ahead and charged you for the pillows. She only charged you $80 rather than $130. She has also placed you on the hotel’s Do Not Rent list, so you will no longer be allowed to stay at this Quality Inn.
If you would like the charge reversed, you can return the pillows.
Danielle, Quality Inn’s Assistant General Manager
Moczygemba had never felt more angry at someone before. She sent a message back to Danielle and told her that she would be reporting the hotel for fraud.
But it appeared Danielle was now finished with the discussion and she stopped responding.
That’s when Moczygemba went searching for outside help.
Asking Consumer Rescue for help
Scrolling through the internet Moczygemba was shocked to find an article I had written about another falsely accused pillow thief – coincidentally also a guest at a two-star Quality Inn. That elderly man was on a bucket list road trip on his motorcycle making pillow thievery particularly unlikely.
That case ended in vindication for the hotel guest, and Moczygemba hoped our team could also get justice for her.
…I contacted Choice Hotels’ corporate office, and they said the only way to resolve the issue is to return the pillows. Of course, I can’t return the pillows! I don’t have the pillows! I would never steal from a hotel or anywhere else. I am a doctor and must maintain good standing in my community. This is awful, and I do not appreciate the slander against my name.
The stress of being falsely accused is negatively impacting my sleep and work performance. I trust your expertise and know you have experience with this specific franchise. Can you please help me?
Dr. Brak Moczygemba
I certainly hoped we could. This accusation was causing Mocygemba extreme distress, and she had sick animals depending on her being completely focused on their complicated surgical procedures.
“Please give your full attention to your patients,” I assured her. “I’ll work on this.”
Consumer Rescue investigates: Where is the evidence?
Over the years, I’ve seen a distinct uptick in complaints from hotel guests who discover odd extra charges, post-stay. The vast majority of the cases involve franchised properties which are independently owned. The surprise fees and fines appear to be a way for some of these hotels to pad their bottom line. (See: Help! My hotel charged me $500 for a missing stove from my room)
Typically, when a traveler gets our advocacy team involved, the property will back down. That is, unless, of course, the hotel has proof that supports the fee (See: Here is the most embarrassing hotel charge ever).
I didn’t know for sure what was going on in this case, but I believed Moczygemba was being falsely accused. It was time to ask the management of this Quality Inn to provide the evidence that supported their accusation.
Here’s an excerpt of my correspondence with the hotel’s general manager.
Dr. Moczygemba vehemently denies stealing anything – including two pillows – from your property.
Of course, if you have proof in the form of an incident report signed by the housekeeper who is accusing Dr. Moczygemba of theft, along with a receipt for the purchase of the two new pillows for $80, then a copy of both those items should be provided to justify the charges. I will be publishing an article about this case and I hope to have a positive ending to report OR, minimally, your documentation that justifies the charges that you put through on Dr. Moczygemba’s credit card.
Before I reach out to our executive contact at Choice Hotels, I wanted to give your management a chance to respond.
Thank you!
Michelle Couch-Friedman, Consumer advocate
Surprise! The hotel found the missing pillows
Within 24 hours of that email, Moczygemba noticed a pending reversal of the $80 charge on her credit card. The next day, the hotel sent the apology she was looking for, along with confirmation that the Quality Inn team had made a mistake. In fact, no pillows had gone missing from Moczygemba’s hotel room after all.
This complete vindication came as a great relief to Moczygemba, who told me that she had felt as though a dark cloud was looming over her since this situation began.
Michelle,
Thank you for helping me. I truly appreciate all your hard work. On my surgery day I had a complicated procedure on the schedule that required my full attention. Knowing that you were taking steps to clear my name allowed me to focus completely on my patients.
And thank you for creating such an amazing resource with Consumer Rescue so I can better protect myself in the future. I’ve stayed hundreds of nights in budget motels and had no idea this could happen! It has definitely been a learning experience.
I don’t know what I would have done without you.
Best wishes,
Dr. Brak
You’re very welcome, Brak. As an animal lover, I want to thank you for your dedication to our furry friends. I’m happy to know that you didn’t allow this unpleasant situation to interfere with your life’s mission.🐶🐱
How to fight unexpected hotel charges and false accusations
The good news is that it’s rare for reputable hotels to accuse innocent travelers of stealing. But, unfortunately, being hit with mysterious extra charges (post-checkout) is not unusual.
Here’s what you need to know about avoiding and fighting unexpected post-hotel stay charges.
1. Always check-out in person
It’s always a good idea to appear at the hotel’s front desk and check out in person. Formally checking out closes your reservation and provides a time stamp of when you left the hotel. That detail can be very valuable later if you’re confronted with extra charges for things you shouldn’t be responsible for.
Over at The Points Guy, I recently reported about a hotel that had blindsided a couple with over $1,000 in post-stay charges. In that strange case, after they checked out via the key drop box in the lobby, someone snuck into their unoccupied suite. That scammer called downstairs to reception and extended the reservation. The con artist then ordered room service, and the hotel charged it all to the couple’s credit card.
You can avoid any potential grifter charging you for their hotel stay by always formally checking out in person.
And there is another reason why it’s a good idea to always personally check out of your hotel. Psychologically, interacting with front desk staff can have a humanizing effect — making it less likely that you will be selected for potential bill-padding shenanigans.
2. Do not pay with a debit card
Always pay for your hotel with a credit card. Hotel stays paid for with a debit card, even Visa and Mastercard branded debit cards, do not come with purchase protection. The Fair Credit Billing Act only protects transactions made with credit cards. Many unscrupulous merchants know this and will specifically target travelers who pay with a debit card.
Also keep in mind that when you give any merchant access to your debit card, you’re giving them access to your entire bank account. Should a hotel accuse you of breaking a television or some other high ticket item, you could have your bank account quickly drained. And FYI, I’ve seen surprise smoking charges added to hotel bills recently that have reached the $500 mark.
3. Keep your eye on your credit card bill and email
Often, hotels will not even alert a traveler before billing them for extras. I assume silently slipping in these charges is done deliberately in the hopes the guest won’t notice.
Always keep your eye on your credit card statements after checking out of a hotel. The sooner you can detect a hotel’s “billing error,” the quicker you can get to work correcting it and getting the charge refunded.
4. Ask for the incident report with any evidence
If a hotel is accusing you of smoking, causing damage, or stealing something, the first thing to do is to ask for the incident report. If a property intends to charge you hundreds of dollars for anything, they are required to provide supporting documentation.
That evidence should be in the form of an incident report, signed by the hotel staff member who is making the accusation. The management should also be able to provide you with an invoice for the replacement items or clean up fee.
5. File a credit card dispute
If the hotel is unable to provide you with an incident report or any other supporting documentation and simply hopes you go away, you can now file a credit card dispute. Your bank will then require the property to respond to the investigation. If the hotel also ignores the chargeback, you will win and the temporary credit you were given at the start of the case will become permanent.
6. Ask the Consumer Rescue team for help
Of course, the Consumer Rescue team is always here to defend you if you find yourself in a battle you can’t fight on your own. If a hotel charges you for something you know you didn’t break or steal, send your request for assistance to our team and we’ll be happy to investigate.
Our mediation service is always fast, friendly, and, best of all, free. 😃 (Michelle Couch-Friedman, founder of Consumer Rescue)
Note to self: count pillows the next time I rent a room anywhere. Confirm pillow count with front desk.
BTW, the doctor said ‘slander’ against her, but isn’t slandering if it’s verbal and ‘libel’ if it’s written. She’d have had a good case of libel if they hadn’t found those pillows.
Glad you solved it for her.
Well, in this case, the allegations were both verbal and written, and those messages were sent through the Hotels com messaging system, so it wasn’t private.
I took before and after pictures/video of my rooms on my vacation. I knew about the pillow theft scam.
While there is no excuse for the hotel’s false accusation, I fail to see how she would have a libel or slander claim or how this accusation might affect her personal or professional reputation as the accusation does not appear to have been shared by the hotel with any third party.
Actually, all those messages were being sent through the Hotels com (third-party) messaging system… so this wasn’t a private accusation. And I think being accused of a crime you didn’t commit and getting banned from a hotel forever is quite disturbing, and that isn’t private because there would need to be a written record of it in order for the person to be banned.
Wow… how about another tip: Take photos of your room just before exiting and checking out! Time and date stamps are important.
Great job as always Michelle…. (not all heroes wear a cape!)
The world of travel just gets weirder and weirder! Stealing pillows? Really?? Seems as though these hotels have discovered a great new source of effortless revenue. A hotel chain’s corporate office needs to tighten up their overview of independently-owned/managed hotels bearing their name. CR solved this in 24 hours – well done!