A United States veteran, Jason Schmidlen, unfortunately, had an unpleasant experience with the Super 8 motel in Kingston this past Friday evening. Schmidlen rented a room for himself along with his service dog, a 60lb pit bull mix, for which he stated he has a prescription due to his PTSD.  Allegedly, after Super 8 found out he had a pet in the room, they told him he could not stay there. After 4 hours at the Super 8, he was ordered by the owner that he would have to leave the room because it would violate the Super 8 policy of pets in rooms. However, according to their website, pets are allowed with a  $20 per night charge for dogs over 50 lbs.  But it goes on to say that ADA-defined service animals are also welcome at this hotel.  Schmidlen, whom we contacted by phone, stated he wanted the police department called and upon their arrival, Sergeant French took the report. At that point, he left without incident.  Schmidlen then went to another hotel in Harriman and was able to rent a room there with his service dog. When we contacted him, he had filed an official complaint with the Wyndham Corporation which operates the Super 8’s across the country.

The Super 8 Motel in Kingston issued a letter of apology to Jason Schmidlen for asking the veteran to leave the motel on Friday, March 10, 2023.

Today, we received a letter of apology written by Viresh Patel who is the owner of this Super 8. According to this letter, Schmidlen is accused of “making a scene because he filed a complaint”. Here are the complaints sent to the Wyndham Corporation.

From: Customer Care

3/10/2023, 01:56 PM

Jason states that he went to the washroom, he leaves his dog outside of the room. Then he got a call from the front desk they asked which disability he has and what his dog does. He told them he was ex-military and the dog helps to calm and reduce anxiety. PTSD is not a disability and we only allow military with PTSD. The person on the call was Mr. Patel. He wants him to be trained on the ADA.

From: Customer Care

3/10/2023, 02:24 PM

The guest said that he called earlier to file a concern and the owner of the hotel is kicking him out now. He said that he was told that he was making a scene by filing a concern. He said that the hotel called the cops on him. Called the hotel and spoke with the FD Manager Matthew. FD said that the owner called the police to make sure the guest will vacate the hotel. FD said that he will cancel the reservation of the guest and refund his money back.

Mr. Patel’s Letter to Jason Schmidlen:

Mr. Schmidlen,

We apologize for the inconvenience. As you mentioned in this case to the customer care team, your interest was not just to stay at the hotel comfortably or peacefully. Upon asking two simple questions about the service animal, we did not break any rules by ADA compliance, to begin with. We checked you in without any difficulty. You stayed in the room for a few and also freely walked around the parking lot with your “service animal”. I asked you those questions just to make sure that we had the right guests in the right room since we are a pet-friendly hotel but we charge fees. You were allowed to stay without any further questions. You ended up accusing the hotel of wrongdoing while we as hotels make sure we follow our rules. We tried to consult with you on the same and you threaten me with my position and the whole business by suing the hotel. You even called your attorney to settle the matter between you and the hotel. It reached a level where we had no choice but to call law enforcement to vacate the room since we in the state of Tennessee have a right to refuse the service in situations like this. We took this decision based on your unruly behavior toward the service animal in the room. We honored service animals upon check-in, to begin with. 

I wish you had a better understanding of the whole situation. You would have been our guest like any other guest. Unfortunately, not all establishments take abuse like you tried to enforce on us and we tried our best to work with you but you chose to do something else. And we again apologize for our actions. 

Sincerely,

Viresh Patel

We will continue to follow this story and let you know of any updates.