A Response

Dr. AAA says:

The Econo Lodge mentioned by Consumer Advocate Michael W. is not a AAA-recommended facility. Every year, hundreds of AAA employees and inspectors make their way around the country to examine guest rooms in every hotel, particularly major chains like Econo Lodge (Choice Hotels is a preferred AAA partner). Some don't make the cut. This such property is one of them. The only listing in the AAA Connecticut-Massachusetts-Rhode Island Tourbook in the town of Malden is the New Englander Motor Court, a one-diamond rated property (1 out of 5, or a minimal property) with rates ranging from $79-99 per night in season, often with a AAA discount offered. While one-diamond properties have only "modest acoomodations," they do "meet the basic needs of comfort and cleanliness." Apparently, the Econo Lodge did not even meet these minimum standards.

Michael W. should consult such travel professionals as AAA or his local travel agent to be sure that he's getting what he pays for. While some hotels are willing to work out a consumer complaint, when a traveler books a hotel room through AAA at a AAA-approved property, there is appropriate recourse and a system used to file a complaint through AAA that will be addressed by the agency.

- Chris Clarke-O'Leary

Michael W. Responds to "Dr. A-A-A"

Native Rhode Islander and AAA Trip Counselor Mr./Mrs. Chris Clarke-O'Leary makes a valid point here in response to my complaint against Choice Hotels. AAA provides terrific services to travelers and motorists for nominal membership fees, and quite often, even consumer advocates such as myself, forget to take advantage of these many services, one of them being AAA's rating system for lodging facilities across the country.

However, I would point out that my letter does not take issue with AAA in any way, but purely takes issue with Choice Hotels and the unsatisfactory nature of this particular hotel. I have always thought of AAA's rating service being especially useful for those travelers staying in privately-owned and operated lodging facilities, in providing a much-needed benchmark in the widely varying degrees of quality that are out there. However, I don't believe I'm alone in thinking that many travelers, including myself, automatically believe that, because a facility is franchised by a well-known chain such as Choice Hotels' Econo Lodge, it will meet certain levels of comfort and quality indicative of that brand, making a check of the AAA rating superfluous. After all, that's why franchises of all sorts (be they department stores, restaurants, or hotels) are so popular because there is a reliability factor at work. Mr./Mrs. Clarke-O'Leary and my experience with this stay certainly seemed to indicate that may not necessarily be the case, though I don't think it's an unfair expectation for the consumer to have.

Furthermore, it's interesting to note that, although Choice Hotels is a premier partner with AAA, all of their facilities need not meet the minimum quality/comfort standards of AAA, though the lay consumer may still witness the AAA logo displayed at the hotel. This is because, being a premier partner, any Choice Hotels facility can honor room rate discounts for being a AAA member (as I got for this particular stay in fact) and thus display a AAA logo in some form, but NOT the AAA-Approved logo which indicates the facility has met the satisfactory requirements of the Association through their diamond rating system. Choice Hotels states only the following statistic on their web site as it relates to their Econo Lodge brand: 75% of the AAA-approved Econo Lodge hotels are rated two diamonds (on the five diamond system). I would be curious to know, therefore, how many Econo Lodge facilities are out there (or any hotels under the Choice Hotels umbrella) which met only minimum requirements and/or did not meet the requirements at all. The same goes for other AAA premier partners as well.

-- Michael W.
Consumer Advocate