Sleep Inn Allentown-Fogelsville — Hotel in Upper Macungie Township

Horrible manager. Scammed us out of money. Beware! My friend and I are cat show people. We stay in hotel 10-20 weekends a year and have been doing this for decades. Our cat association has a hotel policy to make sure rooms are left nice, so that hotels and their employees are treated well and keep allowing cats. It's just common courtesy. In all of the years I have been showing I have never had a complaint. We stayed in 2 separate rooms on Friday and Saturday. I confined my two cats to the bathroom, my friend crated her kittens in her room. My cats were never loose in the room. They were good in the bathroom and used the litter pan I brought for them. At the end of the stay, on Sunday morning, I packed up, put the used litter in plastic bags, hand swept the bathroom floor of any crumbs that might be there. Did a last "idiot" check and left.

On Monday both my friend and I were surprised to find $250 holds on our credit cards from the hotel, over and above the hotel room + $50 pet fee that we had paid. We thought it might go away. It did not. So I called Wednesday and was told that I needed to speak to Stephanie who wasn't coming in until 3:00. I was told that the $250 was from leaving our rooms (both of them) filthy and damaged. So I called after 3:00 only to be told that Stephanie only works until 3:00 then she leaves. I asked the desk clerk (who was the same nice person who checked us in Friday) to please check the rooms. She said that my room was still stripped and had not been rented out since, and that my friends room, well, she might have smelled something. So I called again on Thursday morning and was told that Stephanie does come in until 3:00. I said that it was the run-around that I had gotten the day before. So I was assured that she would come in at 3:00 and call me. She did not. So I called after 4:00 and was finally allowed to speak to her. She claimed that my room had had litter strewn all over the floor cat poop on a chair and it horrible. When I asked her why I was being lied to she started yelling. I wish I had taken pictures of my room when I left. Maybe I was supposed leave a big tip? She did finally back down to say that she's wave my $250, but not my friend's. Why would she wave it if what she said was true. Of course it wasn't. She put us on a "never rent to" list, which is fine by me. Who would want to stay at a place where they charge you for non-existent damages. We'll see if she actually reverses any charges. I will split any remaining charges with my friend, who I travel with more often than not.

Edit Feb 9: I talked to corporate, I have been a Choice Hotels member for 15 years and have stayed at 9 of their properties, typically for 2 nights each stay, just in the last 12 months. This is typical. No complaints. That does not matter apparently. No evidence needs to be given by management, and the customer is guilty unless proven innocent. Once again I warn you all to take before and after pictures! Apparently this tactic is not all that uncommon. I posted this event on social media. In my large number of contacts, quite a number reported this happening to them at various hotels. In one case it was an officiating judge for the cat show, who did not travel with a cat, there was never a cat in her room, got hit with this 'animal damage" fee, whole same story, animal waste everywhere, room could not be rented out, etc. The judge's room was part of the cat show block, but never had a cat in it.

Take pictures. Beware of...

Horrible manager. Scammed us out of money. Beware! My friend and I are cat show people. We stay in hotel 10-20 weekends a year and have been doing this for decades. Our cat association has a hotel policy to make sure rooms are left nice, so that hotels and their employees are treated well and keep allowing cats. It's just common courtesy. In all of the years I have been showing I have never had a complaint. We stayed in 2 separate rooms on Friday and Saturday. I confined my two cats to the bathroom, my friend crated her kittens in her room. My cats were never loose in the room. They were good in the bathroom and used the litter pan I brought for them. At the end of the stay, on Sunday morning, I packed up, put the used litter in plastic bags, hand swept the bathroom floor of any crumbs that might be there. Did a last "idiot" check and left. ||||On Monday both my friend and I were surprised to find $250 holds on our credit cards from the hotel, over and above the hotel room + $50 pet fee that we had paid. We thought it might go away. It did not. So I called Wednesday and was told that I needed to speak to Stephanie who wasn't coming in until 3:00. I was told that the $250 was from leaving our rooms (both of them) filthy and damaged. So I called after 3:00 only to be told that Stephanie only works until 3:00 then she leaves. I asked the desk clerk (who was the same nice person who checked us in Friday) to please check the rooms. She said that my room was still stripped and had not been rented out since, and that my friends room, well, she might have smelled something. So I called again on Thursday morning and was told that Stephanie does come in until 3:00. I said that it was the run-around that I had gotten the day before. So I was assured that she would come in at 3:00 and call me. She did not. So I called after 4:00 and was finally allowed to speak to her. She claimed that my room had had litter strewn all over the floor cat poop on a chair and it horrible. When I asked her why I was being lied to she started yelling. I wish I had taken pictures of my room when I left. Maybe I was supposed leave a big tip? She did finally back down to say that she's wave my $250, but not my friend's. Why would she wave it if what she said was true. Of course it wasn't. She put us on a "never rent to" list, which is fine by me. Who would want to stay at a place where they charge you for...

I was very skeptical booking this hotel due to location and being a 2-star hotel. Due to local events in the area for the week, most of the other hotels I would stay at were fully sold out. Because of this, based on reviews solely, I took a risk and booked at this hotel. We weren’t expecting much from the hotel as it was further out from the area we are used to staying in but this worked out in our favor because this is now a hotel I will consider staying at again next time I’m in the area. We were also very cautious with the area and I was scared about who else would be staying at the hotel and if I would feel safe being there but after the first night, I never felt uncomfortable or like I wasn’t safe on the grounds.

Lori was by far the highlight of our stay. She was so friendly and kind during check in and we had a great conversation with her. She was super helpful and funny throughout our entire stay and made sure we knew all hotel info and had the help we needed. She was such a breath of fresh air compared to other hotel desk attendants we have dealt with in the past at other local hotels, including one we stayed at earlier in the week at a competitor chain.

We were blown away with the quality and overall appearance of the hotel and rooms. The bathroom in general and the shower was actually one of the nicest I’ve ever used at a hotel with great pressure, shower head, and complimentary soap. While the king sized bed in our room could use replacing, the pillows were very comfortable. Also nice features like streaming capabilities on the tv which other 3 and 4 star hotels don’t even offer.

Only downside of this hotel was that the breakfast was not good at all. The woman setting it up was super friendly and nice but overall it was lacking.

I want to highlight how above and beyond the staff went and how big of an impression they made with us. Everyone we crossed paths with was super friendly and helpful, even if it was just a quick interaction to say hello or greet us. You don’t see that much anymore in the service industry where people are willing to help each other with tasks outside of their roles or even trying to show good customer service skills.

This hotel exceeded all of our expectations and I’m happy we randomly picked this...