Guest User
January 31, 2023
Recently, I wanted to see the Launch of Artemis 1, I didn't have a lot of money to spend, but I wanted to beat the crowds and stay the night on Sunday, August 28, 2022 so that my husband and I could view Artemis 1 Monday Morning. We booked a room through *********** and tried to get the cheapest room just for one night on the beachside to be able to wake up and view the launch. We ended up with "Sea Aire Oceanfront Motel" which with taxes and fees came to $178.00/night. We requested early check in, but they couldn't guarantee it, so as we are also Annual Passholders for Kennedy Space Center, we ventured there first, spent our day there and checked into the motel. When we arrived as common practice, hotels usually get your credit card and place holds for $100 to cover room, etc. The room was nothing to write home about, its a 1950's motel without amenities (no pool/Wall Air Units) it also said Oceanview we paid extra for, and the only thing you could see from our room was the hotel grounds. it is what we needed for the one night. When I realized later in the day that they actually charged my card $100 I called them while out to dinner and they said that I would get it back, then I went to the office and they said again it would go back on my card. When we checked out, I finally realized that I was not getting the $100 back, and that it was an "EVENT FEE" . The check-in paperwork I had signed the previous day (because the disclaimer on the paper didn't say anything about an event fee), it was hidden in the last line of another page so that when you sign in, essentially you are signing off on paying that fee. Then as we checked out, they charged my card again for $12.00, they couldn't tell me why, just that I had a balance (which I didn't) I had prepaid through *********** there should have been no fees when I arrived at all. I wanted to make everyone aware of this, they weren't nice, they basically said that every hotel on the space coast does this from five star to two star and that's the way it is. By the way I checked with the Tourism board for the Space Coast and this EVENT FEE is NOT an accepted practice and they have never heard of an event fee for space launches. The Motel said they would call me, but never did. I have filed complaints with the Space Coast Tourism boards, the BBB and the Department of Business Reg in Florida as to this unethical practice. I have sought my refund and investigation through *********** as they were not aware of this practice and are looking into getting me a refund but were unsuccessful as they said they had my signature on the check in paperwork. I very much feel that everyone should be aware of these practices and how they made us (Floridians) in our home state feel like we just got taken for a ride. I don't want this to happen to anyone else. I'm not trying to not pay my fair share, but this was unethically done and they need to somehow be held accountable in anyway possible, be it a rev