Updated by user Jul 29, 2015
Make sure you check out this article about Value Place Inn as a company which definitely helped open my eyes to the fact I was in danger of suffering FAR WORSE than the abuse that I was subjected to. This company needs to be completely put out of business, this is truly horrifying.
http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2011/4/1/131749/0850/hotels/Ok,_This_Might_Really_Be_the_Worst_Hotel_in_the_World
Updated by user Jul 29, 2015
Have since found multiple victims of this hotel and the dangerous staff. The pattern is that they particularly like to terrorize veterans.
Original review Jul 29, 2015
KEN COZIER, the large statured african-american man working the front desk but reported to be the manager...poses a real and present danger to the guests of this motel, an enormous financial and legal liability to the Value Place Corporation, as well as Expedia, and sadly is also is a pitifully poor representation of a staff member in the first place he lacks the ethics and business-sense necessary to over-see any daily business operations; which is a mockery of the honorable duty of management. He also displays both sociopathic and violent tendencies. I witnessed him lie, verbally assault, physically intimidate, act emotionally out of personal vendettas as opposed logical business priorities and company policies, and insult on a personal level both myself and the disabled veteran I care for. Having been angered, completely unbeknownst to me, that I had used the same booking site to extend my reservation as I had to originate it, he sent two members of his mantainance staff to beat on the door of my room and when I didnt open it, while knowing I was in there, these two men forced entry. They were threatening not only in demeanor but also in appearance. One caucasean man with hardly a tooth in his head, unshaven, overall unkept. The other a young latino male covered up in tattoos and wearing nothing but street clothes to include a plain colored t-shirt which is of course synonymous with gang-affiliation…not..being on duty in any place of business. The older man began to immediately perpetrate a verbal assault against me, prior to my having any knowledge that the staff or management felt I or my traveling companion had done anything that had upset anyone. As the assault continued, this man scolded me for not having opened the door (and why would anyone especially a female alone be expected to open the door for two strange men with such demeanor?) He exclaimed, "WHY DIDN'T YOU OPEN THAT DOOR DONT YOU KNOW I WAS OUT HERE BANGING ON THE THING LIKE A COP!?!?!?!" Truly alarmed as well as frightened, I told him there was no cause to behave in this manner and he shouldnt be banging on doors 'like a cop' because that was not in his right and he was going to scare everyone on that floor. His alarming response was, "GOOD! THAT'S THE IDEA!!!!" Then he continued to verbally assault me exclaiming, "YOU ARE NOT THE BOSSMAN AROUND HERE! THERE IS ONLY ONE BOSSMAN AROUND HERE AND HE IS DOWN STAIRS AND NO ONE CAN TELL YOU THAT YOU CAN DO ANYTHING OTHER THAN BOSSMAN!!! SO YOU WANT TO DO SOMETHING? YOU HAVE TO ASK HIM! YOU CANT JUST DECIDE WHAT YOU ARE AND ARE NOT GOING TO DO, AND NO ONE ELSE CAN SAY YOU HAVE PERMISSION TO DO IT OTHER THAN HIM! NOW GO DOWNSTAIRS HE WANTS TO TALK TO YOU!" Horrifying. Truly horrifying. I have never in my years as a traveler experienced a situation where any staff members of any hotel thought they could speak to me in such a manner. Whatever organizational culture exists there, that allows employees or management to think they are within their right to in any way threaten or even to scold guests like little children that have been naughty. So this behavior was illegal, and it was also wildly inappropriate. Let us not forget that I am the paying guest here. Our reservation was PAID IN FULL at the time this assault was launched against us by this Ken Cozier character and his maintenance staff. The fact we had used Expedia to extend our reservation, which is what we had used for booking, instead of coming down to the front desk (when it was completely unecessary to do so) in no shape, form, or fashion justifies the assault that was launched against us by these three out of control men. It was totally inexcuseable. Being a female alone at the time, as my travel companion was doing important errands as this happened, there was no way I was going to leave that room as I knew I was not physically safe. My one mistake was not immediately calling the police and having them escort me safely from the property at that exact moment. I instead call the front desk and Ken Cozier answers the phone. I immediately report the assault to him and instead of apologizing he began to launch a verbal assault of his own! It was astounding, and beyond that, he actually told me word for word that I was going to be 'punished' for not following 'his rules' that guests are not allowed to extend their stay through booking sites and he ordered me at that time to collect my belongings and quote...'get out of his hotel.' I told him that was both unfair and unethical as we had already paid for the reservation, and had done nothing but be valuable guests. He said to me, 'That being so, I stand by my decision you didnt follow MY rules and you and whoever the MAN is staying in your room need to get out of here!' Additionally, he repeated the phrase, "I told your husband two days ago that you are not allowed to just sit up there in that room and keep extending through Expedia and think you can stay here. It doesn't work like that! And because you have failed to follow my rules, you have to get out!' I told him that the 'man' he was so rudely referring to was a decorated war hero that had received a purple heart, and also had suffered traumatic brain injury in the line of duty and if he did not completely understand something then that was no fault of his own, and he (Ken Cozier) should have spoken to me the many times he saw me in person when I walked by the front desk, or called me on the phone, as my name was on the reservation as well and I was his (Mr Manygoats, the other traveler's) Caretaker. I also told him that he was not my husband, and he needed to stop calling him that (I asked repeatedly that he stop referring to him by that title and he refused, he adamantly refused to call Mr Manygoats or myself by name even though he knew our names and they were on the reservation, I believe this to be a very purposeful gesture of disrespect on his part.) Even if I were to believe Mr Cozier, and I do not, that he informed Mr Manygoats ahead of time that we were going to be thrown out of the hotel if we extended our stay through Expedia…even if that conversation did take place…in what way does that justify it? It doesn't. To throw a guest out and refuse them service because they extended their stay through the same site they used to book it originally, is absolutely ludicrous. It not only is completely unethical, but it doesn't even make good business sense. Why would any business person forgo over $1200 of revenue for no reason? Because the price charged at the front desk is higher? So what, that doesn't make any sense to turn away over $1200 in revenue because you have a personal anger management problem and you became infuriated that a guest had found a better rate online than you charge at the front desk. Then to terrorize the guests over it using yourself and your maintenance staff to threaten and harass them as a 'form of punishment for not following the rules' that is sociopathic behavior. Any way you approach the situation, Ken Cozier was not in his legal right to do what he did. I ended the conversation by telling Ken Cozier I would collect my belongings and leave as soon as my traveling companion came back but not to expect it to be that second because my clothes were still hanging in the closet and food in the fridge and I would have to have time to gather our things. He said, 'fine' and hung up. However, the events that followed that conversation included both Ken Cozier and his staff members verbally and physically harassing us...at our room...continuously as we immediately packed our belongings to leave. I had told my travel companion, a decorated war hero with no criminal record by the way and myself a graduate student with no criminal record, that we were being thrown out of the hotel and he needed to return immediately it was an emergency. He got my texts and returned to help. Nevertheless as we packed we were harassassed and threatened constantly. Three intimidating, unfprofessional in their demeanor men including Ken Cozier, beating on the door of our room multiple times harassing and threatening us while we were leaving. One time prior to my traveling companion returning while I was in the room alone, it was the young latino man in street clothes at the door who said, "He (referring to Ken Cozier) wants you to come downstairs so he can speak to you." I said, "Absolutely not! There has certainly been enough said and I am getting my belongings as fast as I can, and you guys need to back off and let me get out of here without harassing me any further!" and he replied, "Well he (referring to Ken Cozier) may or may not want to apologize to you I don't know." as he shrugged his shoulders sarcastically and grinned…as if this were all so amusing, the fact I was crying and scared was somehow a great show. I stated, "He should absolutely apologize because his behavior was despicable here today, but I do not owe him any further conversations, he already threw us out of the hotel and I told you already I am collecting my belongings as fast as I can and I am leaving." He stated, "Well if you feel the accommodations are not acceptable to you, and you wish to leave, then fine. Go ahead." I realized at that point in time I was not dealing with someone in touch with the reality of the situation, and that intended to be dishonest about what was being done to me, and it was truly not a good idea to have even opened the door. I shut the door immediately without saying another word and did not open it again until my travel companion was back and we were ready to leave. Shortly thereafter, my travel companion returned and he began to help me collect our belongings. However, the staff including Ken Cozier refused to allow us to do so in peace and continued the harassment. He, along with the two staff members, returned yet again to our room and attempted to demand to see me personally. Expedia Supervisor Anton, a truly wonderful man that I believe was genuinely concerned about how we were being treated and wanted to make sure we were safe, was on the phone listening as this was happening, and as the staff was refusing to take their calls. While Anton was on the phone with me taking my complaint, the three men including Ken Cozier were at the door of my room trying to insist I open it and speak to them and I refused and told my travel companion…who thank heavens was back by then…to try and get them to leave because I felt very afraid and cornered in that room and wanted reasonably space to get out of there without feeling physically threatened and harassed by the three men. When Mr Manygoats went to the door Ken Cozier exclaimed, "I wanna talk to HER!' at which time Mr Manygoats stepped into the hallway shutting the door and said, "No, you have cornered her and threatened her and she does not want to speak to you. We are leaving, and unless you are here to apologize you need to leave." At which point he said the three men turned and left. My one and only regret was not having called the police because I know I was not safe, and I am thankful to have made it out of that place without being physically harmed other than the anxiety and stress we were both put through. Immediately after leaving the motel, I called a northern Value Place location in Tallahassee, Florida and requested information for the supervisor of Ken Cozier and corporate offices of Value Place Inn outside of the state of Florida. A very kind man named Rudy took an official statement from me at that time and filed an incident report with the following reference number #233068. He apologized profusely and assured me that this behavior was in no way reflective of the organizational culture of Value Place Inn, and that no manager should ever act according to 'personal' policies but they should only act in keeping with 'company' policies. I do not say this half-heartedly…but I firmly believe Ken Cozier to be a dangerous man. I also believe he is encouraging his male staff members that it is ok for them to threaten and intimidate guests, as well as to enter guest rooms without authorization for the purpose of threatening guests. This behavior needs to be stopped. Until Value Place Inn Corporation convinces Expedia that they have taken the appropriate measures to remove the dangerous staff from this location and replace them with a safe one, I feel Expedia should revoke this locations booking privileges through the Expedia site. Because they are creating a legal liability for Expedia, as well as severely damaging your honorable brand name by terrorizing your valued customers in this manner. Unauthorized entry into a guest room while occupied is illegal Verbal assault is illegal Making a person believe that physical assault is going to occur is illegal Posing as a police officer to scare people into doing what you want them to do even if it is with sound is illegal Throwing guests out of a hotel, and lying about the circumstances, is horrifying business practice All of the above actions warrant not only arrest, but also are grounds for a 'tortious interference' lawsuit according to the United States constitutional and business laws.
Garbage across the board! Never stay here!