It goes beyond the Chamber. KPD was too busy with traffic control to be bothered. There was even a police officer a block away on foot.

Doug McCaughan
(link...)

This is outrageous. I hope the police actually try to do something.

I also hope that Rodeway Inn corporate is being contacted.

I would complain, complain, complain--to the hotel, to the corporation headquarters, to the police, the Mayor, the Tourist Bureau and anyone else who might be in a position to right this wrong big time!

This certainly isn't indicative of the way most Knoxville hotels treat their guests. It sounds like criminals are employed at the Rodeway Inn. They really should be tracked down, investigated, and if guilty of stealing arrested.

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around this. My vistors and friends ahve always expressed how nice people are here. This is a real blot on our town. I hope some sort of restitution is made. Someone from the city itself should apologize, fly them back here for a couple of days, and treat them the way they deserve to be treated.

Knoxville should have ZERO tolerance about things like this.

Unless I received everything back and an apology, I'd sue 'em (the franchisor, that is). These motel clerks are agents of the motel owner. This is outrageous.

CBT

Send an e-mail to Rodeway Inn's parent company, Choice Hotels at ihelp@choicehotels.com, to let them know what you think - here's my email FYI.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~``

My friends were ripped off by this hotel and it has created an uproar in Knoxville and a black eye for our city. This was on the front page of the Sunday edition of the Knoxville News-Sentinel and the details of the problem are also found in the widely-read blog at Domestic Psychology and at knoxviews.com. Visit the newspaper's web site at:

(link...)
and
(link...)
and
(link...)

for more details. People in Knoxville are upset about this. What are you going to do to ensure this will not happen to anyone else who stays at the Rodeway Inn on Ailor Avenue in Knoxville in the future?

Sincerely,

Lisa Starbuck
Knoxville, TN

This was on the front page of the Sunday edition of the Knoxville News-Sentinel

Was this in a print edition? It wasn't in our print edition. The KNS did have a note about technical difficulties. Maybe it didn't make our print edition.

These would be good hotels to avoid:

Choice Hotels® today is the worldwide franchisor of Cambria SuitesTM, Comfort Inn®, Comfort Suites®, Quality®, Sleep Inn®, Clarion®, MainStay Suites®, Suburban Extended Stay Hotel®, Econo Lodge®, and Rodeway Inn® brand hotels.

Doug McCaughan
(link...)

You might want to note the 'traveler reviews' for this 'motel' at Tripadvisor. Also, these folks might want to do a little 'net surfing. Many travel sites like TripAdvisor welcome comments and reviews. I would appreciate a warning.

This seems to be much like the motel near Titans Stadium in Nashville, a Days Inn I think. The motel site tells you how great it is and it's an easy walk to the games. What they don't tell you is there's a huge truckstop between you and the stadium, there's a good bit of, uh, 'commercial' traffic done on nearby streets. There's a CB term for this, but I'll decline to use it.

The area around Titans stadium is great on game days, but I wouldn't be taking an evening constitutional around there any other time. Be wise in choosing accomodations.

This gives Knoxville and UT Football a black eye. The area around campus and downtown is very nice and there are many great, clean, nice hotels. You can stay a number of places, get out and see the sights, find shops and restaurants, walk around at night, in parks, etc. I hope folks realize this is specifically related to this motel and nothing more.

So why isn't this incident simply a Law enforcement matter? it seems very straight forward to me...Easily investigated and prosecuted.

I just received a very polite letter from the city stating that KPD is investigating and KTSC has been informed of the incident. I hope that everyone's efforts will help keep this from happening again.

The last time I saw these cousins, my children exposed them to the chicken pox. This time, they got robbed. I am more than a little embarrassed.

I did read about this here on Sunday and contacted KTSC and KPD. I did email Cathy last night and appreciate her noting that here. Both KTSC and KPD are following up on this. KPD officers have interviewed the victim and has a good description of the items reported stolen.

I do want to clarify one thing. KPD responded to this as soon as they were contacted Saturday evening. According to the victim and e-911 nobody called KPD to come to the motel and thus there was no "hours long wait" for a police response.

No, they did not call 911 for a non-emergency. They called the non-emergency number that my father has in his cell phone from his "citizen police" classes and volunteer work. They eventually walked to a police officer directing traffic for advice and were told to just go to the police station. They did. Besides, the police are not the problem here. The problem is the con game this hotel plays on people who clearly do not have travel experience.

My mom, her husband, my sister, her husband, her two sons and myself were the ones affected by this fiasco. The electronics missing belonged to my sister's boys (ages 9 and 12). The electronics were two brand new portable DVD players and 7 newly released DVD movies.

We live in Memphis. I believe the original poster (our cousin) still thinks Mom lives in Martin. We are BIG Vols fans. My stepfather is the lone Arkansas fan among us. The trip was kept a secret (for months) from my sister's husband and her 2 boys. The trip was and a complete surprise to them.

We all drove to Knoxville as soon as we got off work Friday afternoon. We had previously received confirmation, for two rooms, for two nights, at the Rodeway Inn on Ailor Ave. We stayed at the Rodeway Inn on Friday night as planned. Then we headed out early in the morning for our first TENNESSEE VOLS football game at Neyland Stadium.

We all had a great time before the game taking in all the activities. Neyland Stadium did not disappoint us. It is a first class facility. The folks were all gracious, courteous and friendly.

After the game, when we returned to the hotel, our keys would not unlock our door and my sister’s door was left ajar. The manager in the lobby told us he did not have reservations for Saturday night and therefore had taken all of our belongings (from both rooms) and placed them into a storage room (in garbage bags).

When we asked for our belongings the manager wanted to see conformation for that night (Saturday). Even after conformation was proven, management still refused to give us our belongings. Not until management learned that the police were being contacted did they send someone to retrieve our property.

All of the items were later retrieved, with the exception of the electronic items described above. Again the items belonged to the two small boys of our group (ages 9 and 12).

The management, of this Rodeway Inn, is solely to blame in this matter and NO ONE else. The management was disrespectful, argumentative, uncooperative and unprofessional.

This was an unpleasant experience indeed. However, this will not diminish our view of the City of Knoxville, the University of Tennessee or the good people who work hard to put on a show for us fans.

We have contacted the corporate offices of Rodeway (Choice Hotels) to express our displeasure with our treatment. However, Rodeway is an independently owned franchise and the corporate office referred us back to the Rodeway Inn in Knoxville. We already know that this will lead nowhere and we will not get the property back.

A police report was filed, for theft over $500, with the Knoxville Police Department. The police were busy with after game activities. We do not (nor should anyone else) feel that the KPD was derelict in their duties.

My family appreciates all the responses and the concerns that everyone has shown. We are amazed at the attention this has received.

Thank You
David Long
Memphis, TN