My family and I were due to be in the Kissimmee area, September 3, 2005 thru September 5, 2005 for my parent's 50th wedding anniversary celebration. I made reservations via the internet with your hotel a week ahead of time. Having stayed there before, I knew it was not a 4 star resort, but felt confident that it met our basic needs, being clean, comfortable and safe.

When we arrived, we were checked in, and proceeded to our room, which was on the backside of the hotel where no other guests were, which seemed a little odd. My children, a 14 year old daughter and 13 year old son, changed as they were looking forward to going swimming. At this point my husband and I started to make ourselves comfortable.

I went to the restroom and noticed a hairpin on the floor, and then noticed a dress hanging on the back of the door (not ours). It was evident at this point that the housekeeping staff had rushed through this room, not properly cleaning it. I then noticed that under the door there was a huge gap. It was big enough that a mans thumb could easily slide under it – approximately 1 inch. This was not acceptable to me. My husband and I have lived and Florida (I was born and raised there) and know the creatures and pests that live there, the gap was large enough for rodents and other pests to crawl under and into our room.

I went down to the front desk to inform them of the problems with the room, assuming they would find us a different room. I was met with utter rudeness and in my opinion, very unprofessional behavior. Denise, the girl at the front desk, said it was not her problem and she had no control over what housekeeping does. I told her I realized that she herself probably did not clean the room, however she was the one at the front desk as a representative of Days Inn and it was with her that I was informing of the problems. I tried to impress upon her that if she was not the one to address these problems, perhaps there was someone else with whom I should be speaking, perhaps a manager or owner…. She said they were gone until Monday, and I had no right to come and address my problems with her, but she would send the maintenance man to the room to check the door.

By the time I got back to my room, the maintenance man was there in a confrontation with my husband, saying the gap under the door was not a problem, there was nothing wrong with that door, calling my husband a liar, he also had told my husband that he was the owner, (but Denise at the front desk had said to me that the owner/manager was gone until Monday)..… At this point my husband and I saw that our complaints were not going to be addressed or remedied, and asked the gentleman to leave, (after all we had already given our credit card to the front desk.), he stood there yelling at us, and we asked him 4 more times to leave, at which point he shook his finger at us and said we were the ones that should leave. My husband then told him 3 or 4 more times to get out of the room but the man kept telling him that we had to get out. At that point my husband had to threaten to physically remove him from the room – a room for which we had already paid and assumed possession. When this man didn't leave after several times being asked and then repeatedly being told to leave, he had crossed the line and was trespassing.

FLORIDA STATUTE: 810.08 Trespass in structure or conveyance.--
(1) Whoever, without being authorized, licensed, or invited, willfully enters or remains in any structure or conveyance, or, having been authorized, licensed, or invited, is warned by the owner or lessee of the premises, or by a person authorized by the owner or lessee, to depart and refuses to do so, commits the offense of trespass in a structure or conveyance.
(2)(a) Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, trespass in a structure or conveyance is a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.
(b) If there is a human being in the structure or conveyance at the time the offender trespassed, attempted to trespass, or was in the structure or conveyance, the trespass in a structure or conveyance is a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.
(c) If the offender is armed with a firearm or other dangerous weapon, or arms himself or herself with such while in the structure or conveyance, the trespass in a structure or conveyance is a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084. Any owner or person authorized by the owner may, for prosecution purposes, take into custody and detain, in a reasonable manner, for a reasonable length of time, any person when he or she reasonably believes that a violation of this paragraph has been or is being committed, and he or she reasonably believes that the person to be taken into custody and detained has committed or is committing such violation. In the event a person is taken into custody, a law enforcement officer shall be called as soon as is practicable after the person has been taken into custody. The taking into custody and detention by such person, if done in compliance with the requirements of this paragraph, shall not render such person criminally or civilly liable for false arrest, false imprisonment, or unlawful detention.
(3) As used in this section, the term "person authorized" means any owner or lessee, or his or her agent, or any law enforcement officer whose department has received written authorization from the owner or lessee, or his or her agent, to communicate an order to depart the property in the case of a threat to public safety or welfare.


Never once did they offer to make a repair or to move us to another room. I went to the pool to get my children, and they came back to the room, at which point I noticed the maintenance man in the room beside ours with the door open. While my children changed from their swimsuits, we were gathering our belongings, preparing to leave. While we were doing this, the man appeared outside our room, staring in the window through the gap in the curtains, gawking and yelling at us to get out…Thank goodness my children were taking turns changing in the bathroom behind a closed door. My husband jumped up and yelled at him to get out from there and he quickly disappeared from our window.

I chose this Days Inn, #1 because I had stayed here before and found it to be clean and comfortable and safe, and #2, it was close to where the celebration for my parents was to be. I feel that I had a legitimate complaint, and felt that it should be addressed; never would I have dreamt it would end up like it did. I was appalled, not only because I had been treated so rudely, but because we had recommended this hotel to other guests who were traveling from out of town.

All I wanted was a room that was clean and safe from rodents and other pests, that my family could sleep in; this was never offered to us. We were met with, 2 employees who felt they were put out to have to deal with complaints of unsanitary and unsafe conditions, who made absolutely no effort to correct the situation.

We left this hotel, and found another, one of your competitors, who after informing them of what had occurred, went out of their way to accommodate us.

This was to be an enjoyable, memorable event. It was memorable all right, but not enjoyable.