It started when I checked out of Hyatt’s Pell Hotel near Newport, Rhode Island, after the July 4 weekend. I was in town with my wife, my 8-month-old daughter and a few friends for a wedding. (2/13)
During checkout, I reviewed the hotel folio (which I always recommend doing!) and noticed a $500 smoking charge on the bill. The thing is, I’ve never smoked, and certainly wasn’t planning to start during the holiday weekend with my daughter in tow! (3/13)
So we politely told the front desk agent that we didn’t smoke. (We did use the hair dryer, though, and we told them that.) That’s when he became accusatory and confrontational, saying things like, 'our smoke detectors don’t lie.' (4/13)
He promised the hotel would investigate. Three days went by, and despite reaching out to the hotel for updates, I hadn’t heard a peep. That’s when I decided to start doing some digging. I searched for reviews of this hotel online and… (5/13)
I uncovered multiple recent reviews of guests who had experienced the EXACT SAME ISSUE. They were charged $500 smoking fees in rooms they denied smoking in. Even worse, hotel management also took a confrontational response when those guests complained. (6/13)
At that point, I decided to record a video and post it to my Instagram and TikTok accounts (be sure to follow along there, IG/TT: zachgriff, for the full recap!). And my video went viral. (7/13)
Within 2 hours, the hotel GM, Erik Berlied, called to say that the hotel owner saw my video and wondered why I had posted it (because no one originally replied, lol). I asked Erik for an email follow-up (for the paper trail), and his note reiterated that he was shocked. (8/13)
But wait, there’s more. The hotel said it'd refund me, but in the meantime, I simultaneously started receiving messages from followers who told me they were also scammed with a $500 smoking fee at the exact same hotel. (9/13)
The difference? They were still fighting for their refunds. Erik even offered to negotiate some of those smoking fees down to $250, but stopped short of offering refunds! Hyatt corporate then told me the hotel was "reviewing" what happened. (10/13)
All the while, I started to dig into the smoke detectors that the hotel uses. Turns out, the Pell uses Rest Sensors. Guess what? This company markets itself as a way to “unlock a new revenue stream” with the help of a “robust algorithm” for detecting smoking. (11/13)
I then searched for reviews at other hotels that use Rest Sensors. And... More reviews — at totally different hotels — reporting smoking charges despite reportedly not smoking. Even the Rest Sensor testimonials highlight how the company unlocks “ancillary revenue.” (12/13)