Country Inn & Suites New York

My girlfriend and I stayed at the Queens Country Inn a few weeks ago. We had planned to be there for five nights but

had to cut our trip short when the cleaning staff stole items from my room and the hotel refused to compensate me.

We had been at Central Park for much of the day and when we returned to the hotel, I noticed my toiletry bag (containing an electric shaver worth $200) was no longer in the bathroom. Aware the cleaning staff had been in the room earlier in the day, I immediately went down to the front desk and told them what had happened. I was told the morning cleaners had gone home for the day but the man at the front desk assured me he would check with them the following morning. Content the issue was being adequately dealt with, I went back up to my room for the night.

I returned to the front desk the following morning and was told the cleaning woman had thrown my toiletry bag out, evidently thinking it was garbage (if she hadn't actually pocketed it). The woman at the front desk apologized for the mistake and admitted the hotel was at fault.

But then things quickly took a turn for the worse. I asked the hotel how they planned to compensate me for my loss and was told that even though Queens Country Inn was at fault, I wouldn't be compensated.

In fact, the front desk clerk went so far as to blame me for leaving the bag on the floor where it could be construed as garbage! Never mind the fact that in addition to the electric razor there was shaving gel and my allergy medication
inside the bag. Or the fact that the bag looked like nothing like garbage. I was told I was to blame.

(As this conversation was taking place, a young couple standing behind me was watching the whole scene. We spoke afterwards and they decided to check out of the hotel because of the unprofessional conduct of the front desk.)

During the midst of the conversation, the front desk clerk told me the hotel was prepared to offer 20% off my next stay. When I told them I wouldn't again stay at a hotel where the staff took items from my room and refused to compensate me for them, I was told to take it or leave it.

I then asked to speak with the manager and was told he wasn't in the hotel. At this point, another man who identified himself as a hotel clerk jumped into the conversation. He was incredibly rude and confrontational. I, again, asked to speak to the manager and was told by everyone at the front desk that he wasn't available.

I learned the following day after a call to the head office that the extremely rude man I dealt with at the front desk was actually the manager! As if the entire experience wasn't unprofessional enough, he lied about his title and had me chasing a phantom manager for 24 hours.

At this point, my girlfriend and I decided we had to check out. We had booked our stay through a third-party website and when the third-party tried to switch us to another hotel, they were told by the Queens Country Inn that we wouldn't
be allowed to leave without paying the early checkout fee!

At this point, not knowing what else to do, I called the police and told them what happened. When the third-party website learned what we were going through, they agreed to pay the early checkout fee themselves, coming to our aid
because it was an "extraordinary situation."

I contacted the Country Inn head office a couple more times in the days that followed and while I dealt with sympathetic and professional people there, they wouldn't compensate me either, saying it was the individual hotel's responsibility. The head office employee I spoke to seemed genuinely disappointed in how the hotel had acted. She was actually part of a conference call in which I learned the rude man was actually the manager and she seemed just as
dismayed by how he presented himself as I was.

I am now pursuing the matter through the civil courts. Will I win? I don't know. But the Queens Country Inn simply shouldn't be able to get away with acting in such a manner.

Do yourself a favour. Book another hotel.