The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs is an expansive luxury resort known as a top conference destination. One man stayed there on his own, for ten months, and the hotel has filed suit because they say he never paid for a single night. They’re trying to collect on a $185,000 bill. That’s over $600 per night, inclusive of tax.
- Either he booked himself into a premium room,
- or ordered a lot of room service and took advantage of plenty of spa treatments
- or really should have gotten himself a better rate?
Then again perhaps he didn’t care. He wasn’t paying anyway!
The stay took place between May 2021 and March 2022. Apparently they tried to collect for over a year before suing. They say they haven’t been able to reach him. But I have questions.
- The hotel let him run up a $185,000 bill without obtaining partial payments along the way?
- Local news managed to reach the guest (who said it was a misunderstanding) so maybe The Broadmoor wasn’t trying very hard?
Matthews…claims this is one big misunderstanding. He told KRDO that he’s, “working it out” with the Broadmoor. Friday morning, he said he tried settling this with the hotel and told us to talk to the Broadmoor about how it went.
- He left 16 months ago – far more than two years after check-in – and they’re only now taking steps to collect?
It sounds like the guest has offered a settlement, so now he’s looking for a discount? But will they be able to collect on any agreed-upon settlement?
The man says he’s “a great guest.” Sounds like it. My guess is that he didn’t manage to stay at the hotel for 10 months without paying all on his own, without the help and involvement from one or more managers there.
Sometimes the karma bus goes slow, sometimes the karma bus goes fast.
As we read in this blog how so many properties try to shtup their customers it is somewhat satisfying to see the boot on the other foot.
Which does not excuse criminal conduct, BTW, were it to turn out that there was a deliberate attempt to defraud the hotel in this case — which seemingly is unclear.
This guy could make a fortune with public speaking engagements. So many people these days have no ethics or values, so they’d flock to see such a great example of theft.
He got charged 18,800 in parking and 22,500 in resort fees
How does this happen? I don’t believe the property has any case here? The gross negligence on the part of the property here is staggering
This guy is a deadbeat but how in the world does someone check in for 10 months and never pay incrementally along the way
Maybe his last name is trump
there is clearly MUCH more to this story – as you mentioned, how did this place not try to collect anything along the way. I have stayed at places the freak out if the bill goes above $1,000 or put a hold on your credit in advance, regardless of how many days…….
anon: Arent the democrats the party of the thief and shoplifter? Almost every liberal city has just about decriminalized it and considers the shoplifter and thieves to be victims of the system.
If you google Broadmoor and lawsuit you get a surprisingly high number of results. Including this one for the hotel keeping service charges that should have gone to employees:
https://www.koaa.com/news/covering-colorado/employees-claim-broadmoor-keeps-part-of-their-tips
Does Colorado make it difficult to evict hotel guests upon hitting some kind of longer run tenancy period? If so, and if the de facto squatter was often away and unable to be served eviction papers, what would the hotels option be?
Remember fondly the Broadmoor event Randy Petersen had years ago, as previously I was unfamiliar with the property.
Some crazy big hotel bills have accumulated and gone unpaid at times, and only very rarely does it become public news. Happens with some very high-end luxury hotels/resorts where due to incompetence or presumption by hotel and/or guests, sometimes the wealthy guests have left the hotel without the hotel being paid and then the hotel has to go into collection mode thereafter.
@GUWonder
Colorado allows service of eviction papers by posting on the door, so you can’t dodge service for an eviction
Good to know, thanks.
Makes me wonder if one or more hotel employees kept the person on premises by having them change rooms ever so often and pulling it out of inventory for repair purposes or something.
@ Wesley — The Democrats decriminalize shoplifting and smoking weed, while the Republicans decriminalize perjury, selling nuclear secrets, document fraud, tax fraud and treason. Sounds even to me.
“Republicans decriminalize perjury, selling nuclear secrets, document fraud, tax fraud and treason”
Head-in-the-sand Gene just described the Biden administration, Hillary, and Hunter. Talk about drinking the kool aid
@Gene — I wish I could do shady business deals with China and Ukraine. I could retire early.
(They’re all criminals)
LEAVE ROYAL TENNENBAUM ALONE
Maybe he left but was never checked out properly?
One time at Hotel Monaco (in Denver CO no less) I left the DND hanger on my door by accident the day I left. I took my luggage, dropped the keys in lobby without waiting in line to speak to someone at the desk, grabbed a cab, and flew out of DEN. A month later I got a emailed bill for $14k and change.
Hotel said I had extended my stay and after a month they thought they should check on my welfare due to DND hanger. I said I had checked out as scheduled on my orig reservation. We argued a bit and they rolled over.
@ John L — Surprise. There are TV channels not called FoxNews.
Once on a long business trip to India I stayed at the Oberoi in Mumbai for a very long six weeks. Management insisted I settle the outstanding bills every week though which makes sense
Letting guest invoices pile up for more than a week without a good reason to let them do so? That’s simply not smart business. The longer a business waits to collect payment for services performed and/or the bigger the gap between billable event and invoice delivery and/or payment; the more risk of problems collecting the full amount due and of having capital more or less tied up when it could be utilized by tightening the payment cycle. Maybe more hotels will want to collect at least the room rate payment at check-in like they still sometimes do for those trying to pay in cash and check in without a bank card.
Most definitely not the entire story, perhaps some sort of fraud / collusion with an employee that went astray.
I was once on a business trip, staying at a $125 / night Midwestern Marriott I’m well known at, staying 20+ times a year for 10+ years. In the middle of my trip, I noticed some tiny questionable fraud on my Marriott card and (stupidly) called Chase to discuss. They insisted on shutting down the card and issuing a new one – but promised not to do so until I got home – but did cut it off immediately anyway. I only knew because the next morning a manager was accosting me for another card immediately and would not wait for my return the following week with the new one…
Once again @Gene chimes in with his leftist rubbish. Where do you come up with this stuff Gene and what does it have to do with this post?
CMorgan,
It was Wesley who rode in to introduce the political “rubbish” when this hotel situation really seems to have nothing to do with ideological differences on the political spectrum.
What’s the saying, garbage in, garbage out.
“Clean up in Aisle 9.”
Nope. Some Anon started the political crap. Way to hide behind your bs