Erica D.
Yelp
As a touring band, we were really excited to be playing in Salem, MA, as none of us had ever been to the city before and we were all really interesting in seeing the sights and history of Salem.
The promoter that we worked with had booked us a room at the Clipper Ship Inn on the night of July 24th. We didn't check into the hotel until quite late that night, so there was little to no interaction with any of the employees of the Clipper Ship Inn. We were all needing a good night's sleep after being on the road for over 2 weeks at this point, far away from our home in Portland, OR, and wanted to wake up early enough to walk around the city for a while before we had to head to Providence for a show the next night.
Checkout was no problem, and once again there was really no interaction with any of the employees.
After Providence, we all agreed that we didn't really get to spend enough time in Salem, so we drove back the night after we played in Providence, and tried to find another hotel closer to the city center.
All the hotels we called were incredibly expensive, and it's not that we're poor, but we wanted to be budget-wise and not spend too much money to get us into financial trouble.
My drummer, C, had called the Clipper Ship Inn earlier that day and asked what the rates were for a hotel room with 2 beds. He was quoted a price of $99 plus tax. This was a totally doable expense and we had no qualms with paying the amount even if it meant a bit of a further walk towards the places we wanted to go.
So, after a long day in the tour van again, we ended up back in Salem, and back at the Clipper Ship Inn.
We were greeted by an older lady at the front desk (NOT THE OWNER), who said that our room would be $135, much higher than the cost we were originally quoted earlier that day. When we explained this to her, she said that she could get us another room for $125.
We then asked what was the least expensive room that was available. She then said that there was a room that was $85.
WHAT?! Okay. A bit confusing. I wonder if she was just making up prices.
To get this out of the way quickly; we are a touring band of 4 people. We have tattoos, we have piercings, we have funny haircuts, but we're the nicest bunch you'll meet, and understand that our image may not bring us the best first-hand judgement that so many people like to pass upon us. We go out of our way to be polite and respectful, with hopes it will bring us the same.
That being said, I was with my drummer in the lobby booking the hotel room, while my other 2 bands members were outside waiting in the van.
We agreed on getting the $85 hotel room. Ran the card through, got our hotel key.
I went to the hotel room to check it out, while C parked the Ford E150 Van + trailer in tow. A few minutes after I got into the hotel room, my other band mate, S, came in and said that "the owner is really pissed off and wants you to go talk to her right now".
Confused, and totally exhausted and not wanting to deal with any more stress that day, I waited in the hotel room that we had just paid for, waiting for my driver and 4th band member to return to the room.
Meanwhile, while S and I were standing in the hotel room trying to figure out what was going on, the OWNER stormed into our room, and said "Come on, let's go, you're not staying here. Give me your key NOW".
I'm 28 years old. I just paid a good chunk of change for a place to rest my head, and I haven't been spoken to this way since I was a child. I simply looked at her and then walked past her and went to go find C.
He was in the lobby at that point, because he had also just had an interaction with this nasty lady as well, and trying to explain to the older lady that had given us our hotel room key what was going on.
The owner (SUZANNE SULLIVAN) *stormed* in, and started yelling at us to get out of her hotel and that she was going to call the police on us if we didn't. She then started saying that we couldn't have 4 people in a room, when we were never asked in the first place how many people we had. We had simply asked for a room with 2 beds, which is what we have been doing since the beginning of the tour - WITH NO PROBLEMS.
She then started saying some really strange things and going back and forth, saying that she remembered us from the prior stay, and that we had parked our vehicle in front of the "fire gate". We parked where we could and there were no signs anywhere stating that there was a "fire gate". We had asked where to park, and we were told to park where we could find room.
The real kicker is when, amongst her yelling and profanity (calling us "assholes", "jackasses"), said to us "I've never had to deal with people *like you* before".
We of course knew that "people like you" most likely meant "people with tattoos, and people who won't tolerate bullshit", and so when I questioned her on what she meant by that, she changed the subject and just simply kept saying that she