Stupid Excuses
August 24, 2008
At a so-called pet-friendly motel, Quality Inn, recently I was told my dog wasn’t allowed in the lobby area “because someone might be allergic.” Ironically, I’m severely allergic to dust, yet this motel didn’t see fit to remove the dust collected on the fake plants and window sills. Moreover, my dog is a poodle, a breed known for NOT producing allergic reactions in people who are allergic to dogs.
The “someone might be allergic” excuse is one of the most common excuses given for why dogs aren’t allowed in certain areas, but it makes little sense. For starters, anyone concerned about eliminating potential allergens from common areas, should start with the allergies that are most common or most severe. That is, if someone is worried about protecting people from allergic reactions, I’d expect to see HEPA filters and extremely clean premises with strict rules about perfumes and cleaning agents. But that’s rarely the case. Generally, the “someone might be allergic” excuse is only used when it’s a convenient way to remove a dog from the premises.
If someone came into the lobby with baby who had been doused in a perfumed oil or powder and I was allergic to that scent, no one would tell the guardian to remove the baby. Instead, they’d separate us as much as possible and try to cater to both of our needs. But when I came into the lobby with my dog (because I wouldn’t leave him alone in the car or the room) it’s a completely different situation. Suddenly, me and my dog are relegated to second-class while the imaginary person with a dog-allergy receives first-class treatment.
No one kicks out hikers or people with dirty shoes because “someone might be allergic” to pollen on their boots. There isn’t a corporate-wide policy to exclude people who wear perfume from the lobby area because “someone might be allergic.” In the continental breakfast area there weren’t any signs or verbal warnings for anyone allergic to the food they served, such as nuts, dairy, strawberries, eggs, wheat, and honey. When I checked in, no one asked if I was sensitive to certain cleaners or fabric detergents that were used in my room.
Believe me, as someone with allergies, I notice when someone’s looking out for me. This motel certainly was NOT concerned with my medical needs at all. (Thus I was glad I remembered to pack my allergy and asthma medications.)
And of course, if the dog is an assistance dog, he or she would be allowed in the lobby. So for assistance dogs, the allergy excuse goes right out the window. Clearly, they aren’t really interested in protecting people with allergies. They just used that excuse to ban dogs from the lobby. And this, in a self-proclaimed “pet-friendly” motel.
More stupid excuses:
- BikeForums member ReachHigher stripped down to her sports bra and spandex after Walmart refused to let her enter the store with her $600 bike. A manager explained that since Walmart sold bikes, bringing in an outside bike would obviously be too confusing to handle. ReachHigher asked if they also sold shirts. “She said yes so I took off my jersey and said well then I’d better not bring this in either…” (source)
- Ed and I went to CarMax and looked at a used car. When we questioned them about the price and about the fact that we could purchase a new car for a lower price and a lower loan interest rate they responded by citing “new car depreciation.” While that might be accurate on average for many new cars, for this kind of car in this kind of market it was quite obviously completely inaccurate. Clearly, we could buy that car brand new and turn around and sell it for the same price or more.
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I think the doggie discrimination really comes from customers “who might be afraid” or “who might think doggies carry diseases”. Most hotel people will know that these are truly weak reasons so they go with what they think will sell.
Nevertheless, it calls to question the whole process at that hotel. They offer pet rooms (although their website does not specifically say you have to stay only in one of those rooms) but if you come in to register with your dog they won’t let the dog in? Makes no sense to me. Nobody wants to leave doggie in the car, especially in high heat.
Makes me wonder, too, why some hotels are just fine with animals in any room (Motel 6, f’rinstance) and others are freaky about it. I think it deserves some sort of explanation so I am actually going to write to Quality Inn about it, find out what the official position is.
Good idea. I will write to them, too, though in my experience whoever is in charge of receiving customer complaints for most large companies is someone who doesn’t care about the company. They just get defensive or apathetic and nothing changes. The most common response is a freebie. It’s incredibly frustrating that so many companies ignore their customers and simply try to pacify them or win loyalty with free crap. They do, however, take notice when something becomes “public.” Strangely, blogging often seems to be more effective than letter-writing. Anyway, I’ll write to them too. Who knows? Perhaps our joint effort will do something.
FYI, their email: ihelp@choicehotels.com
The manager at Motel 6 told me that when a pet-occupied room is vacated, the room is put through a specialized cleaning process paid for by the extra “pet rent” charged. I assume those places that set aside special “pet rooms” don’t want to go through that extra cleaning process and so keep the pets restricted to only a few designated pet rooms. I would not be surprised to learn that they still charge pet rent.
The “pet” rooms would be analogous to the “smoking” rooms. By designating a few rooms for smokers, the management does not have to bother trying to clean out the smoke odors for the next occupant. Having had to occupy a smoking room when nothing else was available, I can testify that it reeked. I would not be surprised to find that the designated “pet rooms” reeked as well.
“I would not be surprised to learn that they still charge pet rent. ”
Yes, they do still charge a pet fee. Furthermore, the designated pet rooms just happen to be more expensive than many other rooms.
And yes, there is an odor associated with some pet rooms. These rooms didn’t have that odor. The odor I noticed was more from dust than anything else.
Having worked as a motel maid in my youth, I know the “specialized cleaning process” isn’t anything more than sitting a HEPA filter in a room for an hour and spraying a Frebreeze type of agent around the room. It’s not an intense, deep cleaning. And when it comes to some odors, like smoke, the process isn’t enough to truly remove the scent. Personally, I think there shouldn’t be any smoking rooms anymore. Smokers can go outside to smoke.
The Motel 6 lady told me that they do a professional-level carpet cleaning after each pet stay. She may have lied…. In the Baton Rouge Motel 6 where I stayed when I evacuated from Katrina, just about every room had pets, ranging from little frou-frou dogs to near wolves, cats to ferrets. I would imagine that by the time everyone disbursed, the place needed a complete refurbishment. Let us just say that not every guest was an entirely responsible pet person.
In all of the motel 6s I have stayed with pets, there has been no additional charge. Their website does not indicate any additional charge either. I suspect that they balance it all out.
Elaine and Mary have both cleaned motel rooms and I suspect they both can testify that careless people tend to cause more damage than dogs or cats. Vomit, alcohol stains, weird body leavings (fingernail clippings, skin rubbed off), stains on sheets, and on and on.
By which I mean that the individual is what matters and you can’t control that.
Hmmmm The Motel 6 in Alexandria LA charged me a pet fee when I evacuated for Hurricane Ivan and I didn’t even have a pet. I evacuated with Edward’s father and his current wife and Maggie and Marmalade (dog and cat). We booked two rooms, one for me and one for Raymond and Sandie and the animals. Both rooms were charged pet rent, because the desk clerk said that since we had arrived together, she couldn’t be sure that the pets wouldn’t spend some time in my room. Which they didn’t. GRRRRR
I have no doubt that human beings can make more disgusting messes than animals do any day. I have seen what some “ladies” can do to public restrooms, much worse than the occasional pet “accident.”
Little Old Lady - having said that, it’s good to hear that some people didn’t abandon their pets when evacuating, since there have been so many stories about that happening!
Nella–
By and large people did not abandon their pets. People died because they refused to abandon their pets and did not have a safe place to take them. Those who stayed and had to be rescued were forbidden to take their pets–that policy has now been changed I understand. Very few motels/hotels and no shelters accepted pets. Many people were forced to choose between their own lives and those of their pets. After the fact a pet shelter was set up between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, but that was not in place before the storm. Many of the animals who were “abandoned” were in fact feral to begin with.
You are right: there have been so many “stories” about what happened before, during, and after Katrina, and very few of them have been accurate.
To follow up on hurricanes and pets–
New Orleanians are being told to prepare for possible evacuation for Gustav. On the website for the New Orleans newspaper (www.nola.com), there is a prominent article on animal safety and evacuation and the implication is that shelters will now take animals, since people are advised to bring clean-up materials which won’t be provided by shelters. As far as my memory goes, this is a new emphasis on things to remember when evacuating with animals. I think that Katrina showed that to insure the safety of people, the safety of their animal companions must also be considered and secured. Lesson learned….