Dear editor:

I am the general manager at the Niles Inn and Conference Center and, while I do not personally read your newspaper, a recent “letter to the editor” was brought to my attention that I feel needs to be addressed.
The title of the letter was “Visitor found motel disgusting.”
1) This guest complained of a urine smell when she walked in the hotels back doors. There is no such smell. There may be chemical smells or laundry smells but this would be because the entrance she used is next to our housekeeping department.
2) She also stated that in the room in which she stayed, the sliding glass door was bolted shut. Every room in this hotel has a lock on the sliding glass door and none are bolted shut.
3) We have daily maid service that cleans the entire room including the sheets unless you have a do-not-disturb sign on the door. In that case, we respect your privacy and wishes.
4) There are no leaks coming from upstairs.
5) Our housekeeping department has nothing to do with guest concerns. The department’s purpose is to clean sheets and other linen, in which it does, not to look pretty and appealing to guests.
6) Our restaurant and bar is currently closed and we do not advertise otherwise. Nor do we guarantee anywhere that we will have food or drinks of any kind in our establishment.
7) We do have payphones that are in the lobby that are out-of-order. These phones are kept up as antiques and pieces of the hotel’s past. They were never intended for guest use and that is due to the fact that every guestroom has a phone with free local and long distance calling. Therefore, I don’t see where the payphones were any concern to her.
This guest was offered a refund provided that she vacates the room. She declined that offer, so honestly, how bad was the room? Was there anything wrong at all or was she just trying to get the room for free? We have a courtesy call policy which is where the front desk staff on duty calls the guest about 10 minutes after check-in, at which time she did not request a different room or her money back. It wasn’t until after her first night that she had any complaints and after the complaints, she declined her refund, and she still stayed a second night.
The only thing disgusting in this situation is this guest trying to get the room for free and when she couldn’t, she got mad and decided at that point that there were things wrong with her stay. It is shameful that this person is shining negative light on a business with false accusations just because she couldn’t get something for nothing. We may be an old building, but we do our best to keep it in excellent shape. This includes yearly remodeling such as new carpets, paint and other miscellaneous necessities.
I also found it shameful that you would publish a story that could potentially damage a company’s reputation without doing any form of investigating on your own part. We would like to have a representative from your newspaper come to our establishment and have a look around to see that this quest’s reports bared no truth.
Thank you for your time.

Jamal Alnakshabandi
Niles Inn and Conference Center

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