Holiday Inn Express & Suites Oakhurst-Yosemite Park Area by IHG — Hotel in Oakhurst

[Horrible Experience of Racial Discrimination!!!] ||||This incident occurred around a year ago. As I was so traumatized by the horrible treatment of the staff of this IHG hotel, I have only gained the courage to deal with it now. || ||I have booked two rooms at the hotel for two nights—Aug. 6 to Aug.7 and Aug. 7 to Aug. 8, 2024. We are a group of four, consisting of my parents-in-law, my wife, and I. We are all from China.|| ||The facts|| ||My wife first went to the front desk to check in at around 10 pm on Aug. 6. A male hotel employee told her that we were the last group of guests to check that night and thus there were only two rooms left. He said the air conditioners in the two rooms were not working. My wife asked him if there were rooms of any other type with functional air conditioners. The hotel employee said no—there were only two rooms left in the entire hotel. This was the first time the hotel staff made such statements, which later proved to be false. So, this is the first time the hotel staff had lied to us. The hotel employee was a white male. We later knew his name was Ben.|| ||After entering the rooms, we felt the room was so hot and stuffy and we could not even breathe (the hotel gave us two “fans”, but the so-called “fans” were not for domestic use. The hotel staff later told us the “fans” were used in the hotel laundry room. They were extremely dirty and noisy and thus could not be used in bedrooms at all). So, I went to the front desk to make a complaint and asked again if there were rooms of any other type with functional air conditioners. The white male hotel employee Ben told me that there was no room left. This was the second time the hotel staff had lied to us. I requested to see the manager to escalate the complaint and demand a refund. He said the manager was not in the hotel. He then said with a rude attitude: “I told you the air conditioners were not working when you checked in; you could choose to not to check in, but once you checked in, there could be no refund.” I felt very angry, because after one day driving in the Yosemite National Park, we were so exhausted; and it was peak season of the Yosemite National Park, there was no available hotel in town. We had no choice but to check in the two rooms without air conditioning. It was only after we checked in, we found that we could not bear the hot and stuffy rooms. It was around 11 pm.|| ||I went back to the room. Then, my wife went downstairs to the front desk. This time, it was a while female hotel employee there. We later found out her name was Michelle. My wife made the same complaint and asked the same question again (i.e., whether there were rooms of any other type with functional air conditioners). Michelle checked (or pretended to check) the computer for a while and said no. This was the third time the hotel staff had lied to us. My wife asked why the rooms with broken-down air conditioners were assigned to us. It could not be random. It could not be a coincidence. We made the book through a Chinese platform, and our names looked like Chinese. So, my wife accused the hotel of racial discrimination as they deliberately assigned the two defected rooms to us. The staff denied the accusation and explained the rooms were assigned on a first-come-first-serve basis (as we were the last group of guests to check in that night, the two defected rooms were assigned to us). This explanation was later proved to be false. So, this was the second big lie told by the hotel staff. It was around 12 am.|| ||As the staff refused to do anything to help us, my wife had no choice but to go back to the room. I called the IHG customer service hotline but was denied any assistance because the room was booked through a third-party platform. I contacted the third-party platform, which then contacted the hotel staff. The hotel staff told the third-party platform the same lie--there were only two rooms with broken-down air conditioners, and they could not do anything about it as the manager would not come to the hotel until next morning.|| ||Then, my father-in-law went downstairs and happened to see other guests (who were white) checking in. So, there must be rooms with functional air-condictiones left! Every word the hotel staff Ben and Michelle told us turned out to be a lie! My wife and I went to the front desk again. This time, Michelle knew she could not lie to us anymore. She checked her computer again and reluctantly offered us two rooms with functional air conditioners. But she still refused to admit her fault. She told us more lies: they could not offer the rooms to us two hours ago because of this, because of that, and other nonsense (for example, he said other guests’ rooms were pre-booked; but our rooms were also pre-booked; we booked the rooms over a month ago). || ||We finally settled in the new rooms with functional air conditioners. It was around 1 am.|| ||The next morning, we went to the manager’s office at around 9 am. The manager’s name was Wendy Shogren. She did not dispute the basic facts, but she said she did not have time to investigate the details. The only thing she could do at that time was to offer a full refund of the room fee. She said she would need some time to find out what actually happened. But over one and a half months have passed, neither she nor anyone from the IHG Group has contacted us (she had my email address). At that time, we had no choice but to accept the refund and left the horrible hotel. But we made ourselves very clear: accepting the refund does not mean the end of this case; we reserved our rights to, including but not limited to, make further complaints and bring a lawsuit against the IHG Group. She said it was all our rights, and we could do anything we wanted. We recorded the meeting with Wendy Shogren with her consent.|| ||Conclusion|| ||We find three aspects particularly unacceptable:|| ||1. The hotel staff Ben & Michelle lied to us over and over again and probably also lied to the third-party platform which contacted them at that night. There were at least two lies: (1) there were only two rooms with broken-down air conditioners left when we checked in (we specifically asked if there were rooms of any other type available); (2) the rooms were assigned on a first-come-first-serve basis, and as we were the last group of guests to check in at that night, we were assigned the two rooms with broken air conditioners. || ||2. The IHG customer service hotline refused to help us because our rooms were not booked directly with IHG. This is ridiculous! No matter how we booked the hotel, we were staying at an IHG hotel, and we were the guests of IHG. And it was late at night, we desperately needed IHG’s help urgently.|| ||3. Racial discrimination:|| ||The hotel had many rooms and many guests on that day. We were not the last group of guests to check in. The hotel rooms were not assigned on a first-come-first-serve basis. So, why were the two rooms with broken-down air conditioners assigned to us? That could not be a coincidence. The only explanation was that we were Chinese.|| ||Moreover, the two rooms with functional air conditioners offered to us later were actually bigger and better than the previous two rooms. So, why did the hotel staff not want to offer those rooms to us earlier? The only explanation was that we were Chinese. They either thought Chinee people did not deserve rooms with air conditioners or Chinese people were easy to bully (we would not dare to fight for our rights). To clarify, we were not asking for better and bigger rooms; we simply asked for habitable rooms with functional air conditioners. Rooms without air conditioning were unhabitable. Providing habitable rooms was the most fundamental obligation of a hotel.|| ||We reserve all our rights, including but not limited to sharing our horrible experience with the press and on other social media platforms, reporting the incident to relevant government authorities, and suing the IHG Group on grounds such as racial...

Horrible Experience of Racial Discrimination!!!

(See the other comment of mine for Part I)

Then, my father-in-law went downstairs and happened to see other guests (who were white) checking in. So, there must be rooms with functional air-condictiones left! Every word the hotel staff Ben and Michelle told us turned out to be a lie! My wife and I went to the front desk again. This time, Michelle knew she could not lie to us anymore. She checked her computer again and reluctantly offered us two rooms with functional air conditioners. But she still refused to admit her fault. She told us more lies: they could not offer the rooms to us two hours ago because of this, because of that, and other nonsense (for example, he said other guests’ rooms were pre-booked; but our rooms were also pre-booked; we booked the rooms over a month ago).

We finally settled in the new rooms with functional air conditioners. It was around 1 am.

The next morning, we went to the manager’s office at around 9 am. The manager’s name was Wendy Shogren. She did not dispute the basic facts, but she said she did not have time to investigate the details. The only thing she could do at that time was to offer a full refund of the room fee. She said she would need some time to find out what actually happened. But over one and a half months have passed, neither she nor anyone from the IHG Group has contacted us (she had my email address). At that time, we had no choice but to accept the refund and left the horrible hotel. But we made ourselves very clear: accepting the refund does not mean the end of this case; we reserved our rights to, including but not limited to, make further complaints and bring a lawsuit against the IHG Group. She said it was all our rights, and we could do anything we wanted. We recorded the meeting with Wendy Shogren with her consent.

Conclusion

We find three aspects particularly unacceptable:

The hotel staff Ben & Michelle lied to us over and over again and probably also lied to the third-party platform which contacted them at that night. There were at least two lies: (1) there were only two rooms with broken-down air conditioners left when we checked in (we specifically asked if there were rooms of any other type available); (2) the rooms were assigned on a first-come-first-serve basis, and as we were the last group of guests to check in at that night, we were assigned the two rooms with broken air conditioners.

The IHG customer service hotline refused to help us because our rooms were not booked directly with IHG. This is ridiculous! No matter how we booked the hotel, we were staying at an IHG hotel, and we were the guests of IHG. And it was late at night, we desperately needed IHG’s help urgently.

Racial discrimination:

The hotel had many rooms and many guests on that day. We were not the last group of guests to check in. The hotel rooms were not assigned on a first-come-first-serve basis. So, why were the two rooms with broken-down air conditioners assigned to us? That could not be a coincidence. The only explanation was that we were Chinese.

Moreover, the two rooms with functional air conditioners offered to us later were actually bigger and better than the previous two rooms. So, why did the hotel staff not want to offer those rooms to us earlier? The only explanation was that we were Chinese. They either thought Chinee people did not deserve rooms with air conditioners or Chinese people were easy to bully (we would not dare to fight for our rights). To clarify, we were not asking for better and bigger rooms; we simply asked for habitable rooms with functional air conditioners. Rooms without air conditioning were unhabitable. Providing habitable rooms was the most fundamental obligation of a hotel.

We reserve all our rights, including but not limited to sharing our horrible experience with the press and on other social media platforms, reporting the incident to relevant government authorities, and suing the IHG Group on grounds such as racial...

I’ve stayed at many hotels and this is one of the better ones. Given the location, convenience and price, you have all you need! Check-in was a little slow, but I could tell the worker was really trying. He asked his coworker for help and his coworker seemed bothered by all of the questions lol. But he probably just woke up on the wrong side of the bed or maybe this person asks him questions all the time and he’s just annoyed… idk. The guy checking me in took my credit card info (more on this later) and gave me my room number and key. Overall the stay was great. I was happy to find a microwave in the room (i didn’t see this mentioned online), I could have brought microwave lunches and ate at the hotel instead of going out! The breakfast buffet they provide every morning looked good. I personally couldn’t have most of it because I’m allergic to dairy and eggs lol. The toast and jelly we’re good. I wish there was fruit options. I don’t know what vegan people would eat if they came to the buffet line. Probably toast and jelly like me, but that’s it. There was also oatmeal, which I was excited to see, because I can cook that with water (since I’m allergic to milk)… but they only had hot milk available. I wanted to take a boat of oats and water back to my room to pop in the micro… but the bowls were styrofoam. Which we all know not to put styrofoam in the microwave. So I was sad about that but just got my toast and jelly and went to Taco Bell for a potato sausage and tomato burrito. Everything else looked absolutely delicious though. I would have torn up those eggs and biscuits and gravy!! My stay was quiet and comfortable. My king room was very spacious! I slept peacefully with no disturbances. It was great. When I got home from my trip I did notice charges on my credit card from the hotel. They charged me for my stay again (even though I had already paid and booked through my travel company). It was stressful at first, because I had to make time out of my busy schedule to call and get this taken care of. But luckily I talked with a lady at the desk who looked into it and let her manager know. I didn’t receive an update or call back but when I called again a few days later to check on it… they informed me it was returned and I’ll see it back in my account. I did in fact get the money back so I am very happy they were so speedy in getting that taken care of!! :) I don’t know why it happened or how I can prevent it from happening in the future, hopefully it was just a glitch on their end? Anyway, I will definitely stay at this location again!!! I visit Yosemite frequently and this location is so convenient. It is 1hour from the ranger station, and 1 hour 30mins from the valley /...