This must be the worst hotel experience we’ve ever had. This is my wife’s fifth year as the manager of an AA travel hockey team, and we have never been treated so poorly. The short version is that the general manager, AJ, threw us out at approximately 11:30 p.m. on Friday night when a parent on our team yelled at the maintenance manager, Josh Overholser, for inappropriately touching a child. Unsurprisingly, the child was not a member of our crew. Josh phoned my wife and they met at the front desk to discuss the situation. Josh began yelling at my wife and threatened to remove the entire team from the hotel for the “behavior” of the parents. I then requested the General Manager’s business card so I could contact him in the morning. Obviously, the older gentleman behind the counter did not appreciate my disposition, as I was unhappy.
They then threatened to call the police and declared they could not provide a business card or contact information for the management. Then, AJ called my wife’s cellphone (from a private number) and began assaulting her regarding said parents’ “behavior” and not having “her team” under control, despite her repeated assurances that she would discuss conduct with the mother and the team the following day. He stated that as the team manager (a volunteer job on a young hockey team), we are responsible for the activities of the team’s parents and that his staff will contact the police. Again, I attempted to interfere and stated that we would discuss the matter tomorrow during the day. “You have 1 hour to leave!” he cried. We went to bed, after which the cops arrived.
Please do not come to this hotel and choose a different option for your stay here.
The general manager of The Aloft, AJ, accepted three different travel hockey teams into the hotel for the weekend. The hotels were all booked by the hockey competition, therefore we did not choose this one. Then, he forbade the gamers from entering the lobby and restricted them to a back room that was under construction. Insulation was dropping from the ceiling, there were gaps in the walls, and the heat ducks were not attached (which also meant the room was cold). One of our players was injured when he fell into a few holes in the floor that were covered by carpet remnants. This room was not even close to being “code compliant,” let alone child-safe.
Children were not permitted to walk around without an adult, the hotel claimed. Therefore, AJ (the general manager) directed Josh Overholser, his maintenance manager, to follow the children throughout the hotel. He would ride the elevator with children, peer around corners to spy on them, and was, to be frank, really disturbing. When Josh was ranting at my wife, he stated that the crew could not disturb the other guests because there was a comedy show in the lobby and a DJ in the basement. We inquired as to his presence and informed the parents of the children that they were unable to move about the hotel without them. The response was, of course, no.
My wife and I also inquired as to why he had not identified himself as a hotel employee to the children or parents, given that he was following people into the elevator and through halls while wearing nothing identifying him as “security” or any form of employee. When the incident with “said Parent” occurred, my wife was with our daughter, guiding her to our room where our son was playing Xbox. Neither of us were aware of the incident or its circumstances. Some of our team members (ages 12 to 16) were and had been moving around the hotel by themselves, but we have no evidence that they were acting inappropriately or disrupting anyone.
It is sad enough that this hotel and its general manager, AJ, voluntarily hosted three hockey teams for the weekend and then treated them as unwelcome guests. The treatment of my wife, myself, and our two children was abhorrent because she is the team manager for one of the teams.