Grandmother kicked out of hotel for giving it three-star review: ‘The man is screaming at me’

A grandmother says she and her six-year-old granddaughter were kicked out of a hotel after giving it a three out of five star online review.

Susan Leger, 63, says she was getting ready for bed on the first of a three-night stay at the Baymont Inn & Suites in Helen, Georgia.

She says that at 8.40pm her phone rang and the hotel manager, Danny Vyas, told her that he had called the police and she needed to leave.

“The man is screaming at me. He was saying, ‘You get out now. I call the police,’” Ms Leger told WXIA.

“My granddaughter’s like clinging to my leg and crying so hard. This was scary. This was just horrifying.”

Ms Leger says that the hotel took action after she reviewed it on Hotels.com, and added a list of complaints including, “Rundown. Pool’s not open. Toilet doesn’t flush well.”

In a 911 call, Mr Vyas can be heard telling a dispatcher, “We are getting ready to refund because they have reviewed that the room is dirty and the place is rundown.”

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Ms Leger admits she thought it was prank call, but an officer from the Helen Police Department arrived and insisted she leave the hotel.

“‘They can truly kick me out for giving a review of three out of five?’ And he says, ‘Yes, ma’am. It’s within the law,’” explained Ms Leger.

She says that the officer then helped her find another hotel room and they walked to it in their pyjamas.

A police report for the September incident listed the reason the management wanted them removed was, “Leger had given the motel a bad review.”

Mr Vyas defended his actions to WXIA.

“At the end of the 911 call, I said she’s not happy with the room. That’s why we had to let her go. She can find a better place,” he said.

And he claims that Ms Leger had called multiple times with her complaints.

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“We let her know lots of times to stop calling us. If you’re not happy, change the room or leave the place,” he said.

“They called me at least 10, 11 times in maybe one hour… Everything is not right.”

Ms Leger says that the booking site is ultimately responsible, and blames the site for sending her review to management while she was still a guest.

“So, the only way to keep the room in my mind is not to have answered Hotels.com’s request,” she added.

“If you don’t want to be walking in your pyjamas with your six-year-old granddaughter, don’t leave a review if you’re currently still at the place.”

Mr Vyas told the news channel that Ms Leger had refused to leave the property after being asked, which she denies.

Georgia law requires hotels to give guests “sufficient notice” before kicking them out, but there is an exception for “cause, such as failure to pay sums due, failure to abide by rules of occupancy, failure to have or maintain reservations, or other action by a guest.”

In a statement, Hotels.com told The Independent that the property in question had been temporarily suspended from their platform as they investigate.

“Hotels.com has a zero-tolerance policy regarding retaliation and we will remove any guests, hosts and/or properties from our website who exhibit or promote such behavior in-stay or offline,” the company said.

“We have temporarily removed this property from our sites while we conduct an investigation to determine the appropriate next steps.”