This is hosted on behalf of of https://beige.party/@LibertyForward1/115094039887051286, see also Hotel Complaint
Adventures In Extended-Stay Hotel Life:
I sent the following email to Choice Hotels corporate, and their lackluster response indicated that they essentially abdicated all responsibility for the situation to the franchise, which is Gulf Coast Hotel Management. It has been edited slightly for clarity and to include the timeline of events after Sunday afternoon (time of original writing) and revelations that their general manager was violating company policy in order to take advantage of a vulnerable tenant who didn't have the means to suddenly move out of her residence of two years with a "generous" 48-hour warning.
Gulf Coast Hotel Management has failed to provide a response as of this writing. We checked out of MainStays a bit before noon today (Tuesday). After no hot water for at least 37 hours, I doubt we're alone.
All I can do is hope and pray that Mr. Newell bankrupts the living hell out of Gulf Coast Hotel Management after everything the residents of MainStay Suites of Cottonwood Heights, UT have endured in just eight weeks.
As I should have expected, I had to truncate significant portions of the review I prepared below in order to actually publish the review.
If you're looking for the unabridged account of one man turning a place of tranquility and refuge into a literal disaster cleanup site before choosing whether to make a reservation at MainStay suites, then please kindly continue reading below. I am happy to provide MainStay with all the publicity they want with this.
If you wish to express your thoughts and concerns about Mr. Newell, and his treatment of vulnerable guests, please feel free to reach him below, generally between 8am-5pm mountain time.
Mr. Chris Newell
MainStay Suites, Cottonwood Heights UT
801-567-0111
gm.msslc@gulfcoasthm.com
Want to express your views to Mr. Newell's boss?
Mr. Tom Scott
Gulf Coast Hotel Management, Topeka KS
281-712-4210
(no email available)
Want to share with Choice Hotels whether you support or are against them price-gouging marginalized people, most of whom are on the brink of homelessness, just because he can?
Choice Hotels
Executive Support Team
crexecutive@choicehotels.com
800-300-8800?
To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing to you about your Mainstay Suites property in Cottonwood Heights, Utah. I have some information that may be of interest to you.
Your new general manager here, Mr. Chris Newell, is doing some serious damage to your brand and causing serious life impacts to vulnerable, long-term residents here. I write this to you with tears of rage in my eyes because I am so upset about the circumstances. It has majorly affected the mental health and well-being of my little family and of many others staying here.
It is my understanding that at least one other tenant is seeking legal representation with regards to some of these matters. If Mr. Newell attempts to retaliate against us such as harassing or threatening to evict us because of this or any other trumped-up reasons he may conjure before we're able to secure permanent housing on our own terms, we will do the same.
We have absolutely nothing to discuss with Mr. Newell except for him to credit our account for the additional $11.46 per day we've been paying since he began his reign here, since according to his clumsily-edited response to me on your establishment's Google Maps listing, the policy has not changed and therefore your establishment has been overcharging all long-term tenants with pets $343.80 per month in error for the past two months.
Or, he lied to me and he did change the policy, which means he gaslit me as an official representative of your company on a public forum for all the world to see.
I do not appreciate such unscrupulous behavior from someone who holds the power to throw my family on the street on a whim and has already demonstrated that he quite relishes wielding such power.
Below, you will find my updated review for your facility I will be sharing on Google Maps. I will also be sharing it with mine and my partner's combined 6,200 social media followers.
I realize a statement like the one above is basically meaningless in today's tech-obsessed, constantly-connected world.
But in our case, we've been staying at Mainstays for nine months. The only way we've been able to do this is from online fundraising and donations.
Which means many of those 6,200 followers have collectively spent thousands of dollars keeping us from being homeless, and thanks to Mr. Newell, they're now spending hundreds more.
As you might imagine, people who are willing to help save complete strangers they've never met from living on the street probably aren't going to be thrilled that their money is going towards the greed of a nasty, frumpy little man devoid of empathy or scruples.
Before I name and shame your company (as well as post video of water pouring onto the floor of the lobby at 2am) to our donors and social media so that they may share their views with you and help spread the word about your company on their own accounts and blogs, I wanted to give you an opportunity to respond regarding one of your salaried managers being one of the most destructive people with whom I've ever come into contact.
The following is my soon-to-be-released update to my Google Maps review. Below that is my original review. I suggest you read both carefully and consider the ramifications to your branding and goodwill that Mr. Newell is rapidly accomplishing on your behalf.
In keeping with the spirit of Mr. Newell's approach to things, you have 24 hours to provide a response before we go live and publish.
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.
Updated Review:
Wow.
My god. What a difference two months make.
This motel manager, Chris Newell, is a real piece of work.
Saturday night I went downstairs to do our laundry. When I went to move the clothes to the dryer, I had to let someone know that the washers were once again dumping water in a pool five feet long and two feet wide from underneath them.
When I sought an employee to tell them about the issue, I found them frantically trying to mop up water that was pouring through the ceiling drywall and light fixtures. This may or may not be related to the washers. The motel manager had apparently scolded and verbally abused her for bothering him so late when they called him about the emergency and then stopped responding altogether.
Sunday night, I went down to the lobby and water was simply pouring down like a faucet through the smoke detector and into a large custodial garbage bin. Bags were over the electronics and drywall was falling through.
We lost running water around 10:30pm Sunday night, and it wasn't restored until fourteen hours later. As of noon today when we checked out, there was still no *hot* water since Sunday night.
Mr. Newell waited until Monday morning to begin inquiring about plumbers because he needed to have the maintenance man pressure wash the asphalt outside the lobby since corporate executives were visiting today (Tuesday).
He knew about the plumbing problem on Saturday night and failed to address it, a tremendous dereliction of duty.
Mr. Newell's list of accomplishments thus far:
- Jacked up the room rates without warning by $350 per month for anyone with a pet,
- Told me in a public response to my google maps review that the pet policy had not changed, despite us paying $11 more *per day*,
- Triggered my partner's CPTSD by ordering us out because our dog had dropped a pebble-sized poop in the lobby on his way out to have bloody diarrhea and my partner didn't notice; [I guarantee it was inconspicious; my partner has severe PTSD. I assure you, he notices EVERYTHING and would have cleaned it up immediately.] He told my partner "It's not that you didn't clean it up, it's that it happened at all" and recorded an incident in our "record" and implied our dog wasn't house trained despite this happening exactly (1) time in (9) months,
- Has undone months of therapy work with my partner because every little thing now makes him terrified we'll be ordered out in 24 hours -- what if the dog barks too much, or he has an upset stomach again, what if something gets broken, etc.
- Allowed a 90-unit extended-stay facility to go three weeks without functioning laundry facilities
- Allegedly considered PERMANENTLY shutting down laundry facilities because poor people already paying $70-$100 per night should just go to a laundromat,
- Allowed one building entrance to no longer even latch and it has continued that way for weeks,
- Allowed another building entrance to no longer latch unless one pulls it closed very firmly behind them, and it has continued that way for weeks,
- Replaced vending machines in laundry room and doubled the prices — go to the grocery store across the street, a 2-liter of soda is cheaper than a single bottle of soda here in the motel
- Basically entrapped a single-mother and her teenage daughter in servitude by suddenly implementing the same pet fee that we were stuck with, but hired her (against company policy) to cover graveyard front desk shifts; essentially now owing half a month's rent and counting.
His current priority besides harassing and robbing vulnerable tenants: Filling the hula-hoop-sized potholes in the parking lot with the thousands of dollars they're now raking in every month from upwards of two dozen residents with pets? Adding trees to replace ones that, for any number of reasons, had to be removed over the years of the motel's existence? Fixing broken doors and antiquated card readers that frequently lock people out (thereby causing guests to prop or damage doors to enter)? Literally any single thing that actually improves the property and the guest's experience?
Nope. His priority is replacing vending machines to price-gouge and repainting a gazebo so it can be a designated smoking area (It's *always* been the designated smoking area.) And literally ripping hand sanitizer dispensers off the wall. And cutting off sprinklers to half the property, turning what was once a beautiful lawn into kindling and affecting at least a dozen of the beautiful and mature trees that still remain, that are likely non-native, because that's how you make potentially non-native trees stay healthy in the desert, right?
In two months, we've gone from this being a place I've raved about to friends and family, planning to stay indefinitely, absolutely a customer for life, to never, ever wanting to do business with this company ever again.
I just feel bad for everyone else who's left to suffer here, both tenants and employees alike. It has caused tremendous hardship. In nine months, we never had a single noteworthy negative interaction with the staff (with the exception of Mr. Newell) -- they've treated us like gold.
Apparently they've now been instructed to keep things strictly business or suffer disciplinary consequences.
The honeymoon is over. Choice Hotels has made their choice and what was literally a place of peace and refuge for my partner and our border collie, has become hell on earth for us and everyone else involved.
If you ever doubt that a single person can truly make a difference, I suggest you look at Mr. Newell's track record. I've never seen such a heartless slumlord move so fast to destroy an establishment's reputation. Mr. Newell is not in the hospitality business - he's in the cruelty business.
Unless you're only in town for a day or two, STAY AWAY. If you have a pet, STAY AWAY. If you like staying in a secure building, STAY AWAY. If you are in any sort of precarious financial situation, I IMPLORE you to STAY AWAY.
Original Review:
We've been here since November of 2024, after being forced out of a very toxic living situation. We both have "thin skins" and are extremely sensitive to negativity. Despite this, we've spent more than seven months here without a single noteworthy problem. Every single encounter we've had with staff has ranged from pleasantly positive to downright adorable. They've treated our little family like absolute gold.
Newly installed management has completely evaporated that goodwill in a matter of moments.
When we first arrived, the pet policy was such that the pet fee was waived after being here for more than 30 days.
We've been given 48 hours notice that our rent is skyrocketing by $300 per month because they are suddenly rescinding this policy. We don't have the time nor the funds to try and obtain legitimate service animal designation for our shelter-dog-quality mutt.
Despite the expense being modestly higher than a long-term lease, I would've stayed here indefinitely because of the flexibility and five-star treatment.
We're now blindsided with the reminder of why people with the means to do so, do not choose short-term rental arrangements for long-term living.
We have adored living here, we've loved dealing with every member of employee crew here and we're heartbroken that we may soon need to leave under duress.
Rooms: 5
Service: 5
Location: 5
Rooms
Tidy and modern, with surprisingly clever layouts. Two-burner ranges and microwaves.
Nearby activities
Super Target directly across the street. Parks and trails nearby. All manner of restaurants within easy walking or driving distance.
Safety
It's an extended-stay style property, and many long-term residents are (like us) experiencing or recovering from difficult life challenges, however we haven't personally had any problems beyond a former tenant here late last year who was dangerously unable to control an aggressive German Shepard. There have been a few "weird" experiences through no fault of the motel, just simply the quirkiness of our fellow clientele.
Noteworthy details
Beautiful, mature trees. The east end of the property feels like a peaceful forest campground. Everyone, aside from new management (apparently), has been phenomenal with our Border Collie. He's probably eaten his weight in treats during our stay here. Hotel highlights Quiet
Mr. Newell's response to my original review:
Thank you for taking the time to let us know about your experience and we a pleased to know that you have enjoyed staying with us. Sorry for any confusion concerning the pet policy, the policy has not changed. Feel free to contact myself Chris Newell, General manager for any clarification.
Thank you,
Chris Newell