Econo Lodge Lake of the Ozarks Osage Beach - Reviews - Osage Beach

On 09/09/07, I made a reservation at this hotel for the night of 09/29/07. I was told at that time that the room reservation was non-cancellable, a fact that I understood to mean that I would be charged for the room if I canceled the reservation between that time and the actual date of arrival. This is something I do NOT have a problem with. In review of that checking account statement the morning of the 14th, I discovered that the hotel personnel took it upon themselves to post the charge on the day the reservation was made and that it was withdrawn from my account effective 09/10/07. NO ONE told me that my account would be charged prior to my arrival on the 29th, therefore I had no idea that these funds had been removed from that account. As a direct result of this, I had no idea of the actual balance in that account and with several other charges arriving shortly thereafter, the account was overdrawn and the bank charged me $70.00 for two overdraft fees. I FINALLY was able to speak with the hotel manager, Don Newhart, this afternoon and he was EXTREMELY unhelpful and unapologetic. I have reserved many many hotel rooms at locations throughout the country and I have NEVER been charged prior to my arrival date. While I understand that the hotel wants to make sure that they make the money for the room, I do think that the employee who took my reservation should have informed me on the 9th that they were going to charge my account immediately. I could have then made the decision to go forward or decline based on this information. Mr. Newhart seems to believe that I was to infer from the statement that the reservation was non-cancellable, that they would be immediately charging my account. I am not and never have been in the hospitality industry and have no idea how I was supposed to make that assumption. Mr. Newhart actually implied that the overdraft charges were my own fault for not keeping sufficient funds in my account. I keep sufficient funds in that account to cover expenses I am anticipating. Anything else is no one's business but my own.

I stay at Choice Hotels with some regularity and have in the past written complimentary letters and emails when I felt that service I received warranted it.