A woman and her sister claimed that a La Quinta hotel they were staying at in Anaheim, California canceled their reservation without notice while they were vacationing at Disneyland. The TikToker, who goes by Raychol (@mamaraychol) on the social media platform, said in a viral clip that although they were able to get a room, La Quinta charged them $100 more than they had originally booked it for, and that the first room they were given had guests who were already sleeping in it.
Raychol’s video has garnered over 284,000 views as of Tuesday morning.
She documented her experience in the TikTok, airing her grievances with the hotel chain, stating that as a result of their inability to find their reservation, they ultimately weren’t able to get into bed until 1am, while they had kids in tow the whole time.
@mamaraychol @La Quinta #hotelproblems #disneyland ♬ original sound – MamaRaychol
Raychol records her video from the inside of an elevator.
“Days ago my sister and I booked a hotel room at a La Quinta Anaheim. We get here tonight after spending an entire day at Disney being up since 4:30 with the baby, our reservation’s canceled,” she says. “Nobody told us. Apparently, the card was declined even though the card was charged but we can’t prove that because her phone’s dead.”
Raychol then explains that La Quinta gave them a new room—but they were charged $100 more. They were also given a room that was already full of sleeping people.
“They checked us into a room, I go to open the room. I’m paying over a hundred dollars more than what we originally paid for. We open the door to the room and somebody’s in there,” she reveals. “There’s people in there sleeping.”
The TikToker holds up a room key to the camera, indicating that she and her sister we given another room to use, but that they had to move their kids and luggage to another floor as a result of the hotel’s mix-up.
“She just gave us a new room, I have to go back up to the fourth floor to pick up my sister and the kids with their luggage to take them back down to the second floor,” she explains. “I’m honestly so disappointed. It is past midnight.”
The clip then transitions to the TikToker laying in bed with a baby sucking on a pacifier, who stares directly into the camera. She shares the less than satisfactory customer service she received after explaining their issues.
“I went down to the lobby and I told the lady that somebody was sleeping in the room that she just tried to check us into and she was like, ‘Oh well it’s clean on the system,’” Raychol says. “And when we originally were trying to check in she was giving us attitude. ‘There’s nobody here under the name Howard. Well, your card declined. You’re on the declined list.’ Which was just strange in itself because we talked to somebody this morning to confirm our check-in to get an early check-in.”
After explaining that another La Quinta employee had kindly given them their parking pass that morning, Raychol says the woman switched up her attitude.
“She just quietly gets me a new room key and goes, ‘I’ve moved you to this room. I apologize for the inconvenience,’” Raychol says. “We get up to the room, she did give us a room that has an extra room in it. That’s cool but that does not make up for the insane inconvenience. It is almost 1 in the morning, and we’re just barely laying down.”
The TikToker says her sister had also just gone back to the lobby to show the employees that she never received notification that the reservation was canceled.
“There should be no reason we had to pay over a hundred dollars more to stay at a hotel we had already planned to stay at,” Raychol says. “And the extra room in the hotel does make up for the fact that we are getting in bed way later than we should have.”
There were a number of TikTokers who believed that Raychol and her sister were entitled to a refund solely due to the fact that they walked in a person sleeping in the room that hotel staff originally gave them.
“You can 100% get a full refund for walking in on an occupied room,” one person wrote.
Another said, “Talk to management in the morning. They may refund the extra 100 you had to pay, especially since you walked in on people sleeping.”
One TikToker thought that they could even take legal action against the hotel chain for the mix-up. “Walking in on someone sleeping is definitely a full refund, could turn into a lawsuit,” they said.
“I wouldn’t be able sleep knowing they could let strangers in my room,” a further user wrote.
Another commenter who said that they work for a hotel remarked that guests booking rooms are notified rather quickly if their card declines, suggesting that it’s highly unlikely Raychol and her sister were put on a “decline list” without being called shortly after. “I work in a hotel, not La Quinta, we authorize the credit card prior to check in. If it declines, we call the guest and let them know,” they said.
According to Avvo, folks’ claims that Raychol could sue the hotel don’t seem like a winnable case, as the basis for any lawsuit would see her having to prove damages from the experience. As there doesn’t seem to be any direct damages associated with the wrongfully assigned room key experience, Raychol may not have a strong basis for a lawsuit, according to the outlet.
However, by this same token, if they can prove that they were charged for that first room and the hotel just failed to honor their reservation, they could get that extra $100 refunded, especially as they said that there wasn’t any confirmation or notice that their card was declined.
Other folks have complained about this same phenomenon occurring during their own hotel stays, like this Redditor who complained about strange guests, on several occasions during various hotel stays, accidentally being granted access to their rooms. They asked what they should do or request on behalf of the hotel, as a guest who was being walked in on.
One commenter who said that they were a hotel employee suggested that they demand their room be “re-keyed” at the very least, and that any type of compensation would be at the discretion of the hotel for the inconvenience while acquiescing that these kinds of situations were a “massive f*ck up” on the establishment’s part.
The Daily Dot has reached out to La Quinta and Raychol via email for further comment.
