At the mythical Hotel California you could check in, but you could never leave. That was reality for one woman staying on the third floor of a WoodSpring Suites in Chesapeake, Virginia. The wheelchair-bound woman was trapped in her hotel room for 42 days after the building’s only elevator broke down. No backup plan. No safe alternative. No urgency from management.
Angela Foster, who has Guillain-Barré Syndrome and relies on a motorized wheelchair to get around, had been living at the extended-stay hotel while waiting for an accessible apartment. When the elevator failed on April 17, she was immediately stranded. Management promised to address it, but weeks passed.
Fire officials said it wasn’t safe to carry her down the stairs. The fire marshal reportedly evaluated whether the building should be shut down due to the inaccessibility. It wasn’t until May 29 that the elevator was finally fixed, and she was able to go outside for the first time in six weeks. She’d been unable to attend doctor appointments, buy groceries, or even step out for fresh air.
Staff at the hotel reportedly offered minimal assistance. Since it’s a franchise, Choice Hotels was uninterested in assisting the woman effectively held captive on the third floor in likely violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act.
Joy Patton, a disabled woman in a wheelchair, had been stuck on the fourth floor of the Woodspring Suites Extended Stay hotel, which had not had a working elevator since April 10, which is the last time she had been outside. https://t.co/jurRf0ZlmM
— News 4 Buffalo (@news4buffalo) May 23, 2025
I’m not surprised by the local hotel owner. But it underscores how little hotel chains care about the use of their name, or protecting their brand. Choice Hotels has made the choice to rent out their name and let owners do with it as they wish.
Again, emphasizes that large hotel chains aren’t in the hotel business but are in the franchising business. That being said, there’s lots to question how real this story is.
1. What did the woman do for food? If you she can’t down the stairs she can’t buy food.
2. Did she get housekeeping, including toilet paper?
3. EMS leaving her stranded sounds really strange. Particularly someone with obvious medical issues.
Call the police saying you are being held captive. You ARE!
@George, why wouldn’t she be able to get food, housekeeping and toilet paper? Others could get up the stairs and bring her things. I assume EMS said it wouldn’t be safe to carry her down because of her weight. If there was an actual medical emergency, I’m sure they would have brought in heavy equipment (like a cherry picker or whatever) outside.
@ Gary – “Fire officials said it wasn’t safe to carry her down the stairs”. So, what was she to do in the event of a fire?
Looks like your typical white welfare user. Probably a magat as well.
@Walter Barry,
You made me laugh my a$$ off.
Too funny.
Well, at least I can walk down the stairs now …
What elevator company takes that long for an emergency repair? Doesn’t make sense.
Big lawsuit.
So, this hotel is operated by Sandpiper Hospitality. Here are their other hotels: https://www.sandpiperhospitality.com/hotels
George N Romey on June 3, 2025 at 10:08 am is 100% correct when he emphasized that “large hotel chains aren’t in the hotel business but are in the franchising business.”
Having been in management with a large North American franchise travel services provider, I can
attest that his statement is correct. The situation described in Gary Leff’s article is not unique to the travel/hospitality business — but pretty much across the entire business of franchising. (of any good or service).
I’ve had two situations with two different national franchise chain restaurants from fast casual to fine dining having complained about a problem with no resolve from the franchisee or the master/regional franchisor as they immediately state that “each location is independently owned and operated” and that there is nothing they can do.
Have also seen these situations with a national ice cream shop chain, car/truck painting chain, hardware chain and a dry cleaning chain. Each time, the regional/national franchisor advised the same excuse about “each location being independently owned & operated” — Some sent letters to thank me for reaching out. Some just never responded, etc. Though overall — franchising otherwise 99% of the time does a good job with their customer encounters and problem resolutions. That being said, as with any customer/merchant transactions that the lesson is always — “Buyer Beware”
“Such a lovely place… (such a lovely place)…”
Nice post, Gary! Great references, too. Keep namin’ and shamin’!
“You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave…”
@Walter Barry — Wait, aren’t you usually on that team… (oh, I see, I love self-deprecating humor!)
A story about money and who should be spending it. I’m sure she could have found another place to stay in where she was on the ground floor but her choice of staying on an upper floor when she could not walk up and down stairs was just that: her choice. Probably due to cost. Elevators sometimes fail and sometimes it takes a while to get replacement parts. That part of the story was neglected. I’m not sure she was “trapped” in her hotel room. Weather probably would have made her not want to go outside at least some of those days. She possibly had a hallway to roam in her wheelchair. Her room may have come with a kitchenette per the results of an online search. Family could have dropped off supplies and, if not, there are delivery companies that would come to her door. Firemen could have got her downstairs if necessary but they would be under no obligation to take her back up. The ADA may not apply to a hotel that has an elevator that is temporarily out of service. The hotel is not an assisted living facility. Everything is tied to money and choices. I am sympathetic to her feeling trapped but also recognize that her choices had a part in the situation.
@jns — A more succinct version of what you said is: “Let the free market decide.”
Yet, the issue is that without ‘guardrails’ (some would call them ‘laws,’ or ‘regulations,’ or ‘rules,’ others may call them ‘impediments to maximum profits’) unintended consequences often occur. In some cases, it’s mere inconveniences; in others, real harm.
I’d say, there should be a balance. And, in this case, let the lady sue if she wants; maybe there are damages; maybe not. Actual courts can decide that. Then again, here we are in the ‘court of public opinion’ where rules don’t exist, and we can defame each other with relative impunity. Bah!
@Walter
Here comes Ben Crump and his entourage with a lawsuit. Um wait a minute, she is white.
She might have been able to get a free stay for being stranded.
Someone obviously brought her food.
Being very overweight has hazards. One is not being able to be carried. That is not to make fun of her but to remind others of the problems of being too fat.
@Coffee Please @Walter Barry @Steve M — Calvin Candie said it best: “Now gentlemen, if you care to join me in the parlor, we will be serving white cake…” Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
Firemen can be very helpful in moving overweight people. I have called them myself to help get a friend who had had prior strokes and was no longer mobile. He was a big guy but being a big guy myself and fairly strong, I could lift him in a bear hug. However lifting him out of a wheelchair and putting him into the front seat of a car was not possible as I did not have leverage in the right directions. So I called the fire department. They sent out four young and strong firefighters who were able to accomplish the job because of their strength and coordination. At the VA in West Los Angeles it was another story. No one that worked at the facility would help. Another visitor helped me get him out of the car seat and into his wheelchair but it was a struggle.
The husband was with her. He went up and down the stairs 5 to 6 times a day to use his bicycle to run errands. I am not minimizing the issue, simply giving additional information.
https://www.wavy.com/news/local-news/chesapeake/broken-elevator-prevents-disabled-woman-living-on-top-floor-from-access-to-outside/
EMS has equipment specifically capable of dealing with this without having to bring in “heavy equipment”. No different from the elevator being broken to a fire in the building and her needing to be evacuated by EMS/Fire.
@1990
I hate the poor and member of the untouchable class no matter what their race.
F the poor.
JNS writes, “A story about money and who should be spending it. I’m sure she could have found another place to stay in where she was on the ground floor but her choice of staying on an upper floor when she could not walk up and down stairs was just that: her choice.”
As you correctly point out, this hotel guest had a CHOICE. That is why WoodSpring Suites is powered by CHOICE Hotels. This VFTW article reminds me of the well-known slogan for the Black Flag Roach Motel, “Roaches check in, but they don’t check out!”.
@Walter Barry — “No, no, no.. now you got me talkin’ politics…” (another great film.)
They do make emergency evacuation chairs, but the most typical models are limited to 350 pounds. Even with a person within the weight level of the chair, transferring the person between the chair and a powered wheelchair may need a Hoyer lift, which may not have been relatively easily accessed on the ground level for a non-emergency situation. The person likely has a Hoyer lift in their room on the 4th floor.
I guess another way to look at this is — it was a four way stop sign. Both drivers ignored their stop sign and that’s how the collision happened.
1) She assumed the elevator would work the entire time she was there. (We know what happens when you assume.)
2) The franchisee also ASSUMED the elevator would work. And… they didn’t put her on the first floor. (Possibly because no more rooms available.)
However, I would assign more guilt to the franchisee. (Not only did they ignore their stop sign, they were speeding.)
* The customer does not work in the hotel industry and it probably would not occur to them that the elevator could break down.
* The franchisee works in the hotel industry and should be more proactive about these kind of situations. I ready the article from WAVY and it sounds like the hotel didn’t care about the problem nor about fixing it.
But USA planning to send people to the moon soon, what a shame !!!
“She’d been unable to attend doctor appointments, buy groceries, or even step out for fresh air.”
Step out for fresh air, haha, good one @GARY
But in cases like this is the national brand *legally* responsible? If not, they should be — but I suspect their lobby group is waaaay more influential to politicians than crazy ideas like “do the right thing”
It is the hotel that is responsible to maintain working elevators.
It is the fire dept responsibility to evacuate everyone by NOT using the elevator.
State Occupational Safety should have CLOSED the hotel until the elevators were fixed.
Guillain-Barré Syndrome is a nerve issue .
She should sue the holy fook out of them — the hotel and the chain brand.
I’m reading a lot of snarky, insensitive comments from some real ASSHOLES here. Too bad I can’t give each and every one of you a well-deserved punch in the “kisser” and my hob-nailed, steel-toe, steels-soled jackboot right up your asses! All while not even having to put down my beer.
Kurtwood Smith, thank you!
Another reason not to stay at Choice properties.
It’s amazing the ACLU will litigate all manner of disability rights cases, but couldn’t spare a lawyer to go into court for an order to enforce her ADA rights. I guess they are tapped out defending illegals like the molotov cocktail thrower in Boulder.
I’m sorry. I think everyone involved here is too stupid to live. This woman could have slid on her ass down the stairs slowly, one step every 30 minutes or so. 5 story building so what, there were maybe 100 steps total? I fail to see why she and her husband couldn’t make this work.
If she literally is so big she can’t fit through a doorway, which I don’t believe is indicated here, then she has no business traveling or staying in a hotel.
Something about this story doesn’t add up and I’m wondering if anybody asked the hotel for their side of the story. Disable people – even obese ones – are brought down (and even up) three story walkup buildings without elevators as a matter of routine, and I have to imagine could have been done here . . . if she didn’t prefer to stay.
My friend with the strokes had a Hoyer type of lift (I am not sure if it was of that name.) It worked ok where there was enough room. With the car door and the roof of the car above the door, the lift was not able to be maneuvered into a position to accomplish the transfer to the car seat. The lifts can be good in some situations but not so good in others.