Solved: EV Unfriendliness in Scottsdale (Talking Stick)

[Mikial]

My girlfriend and I took our first real road trip this weekend (from Vegas to Phoenix), and were very surprised by just how unfriendly of a response that we received from our selected hotel -- The Talking Stick Resort.


Before leaving, I called to inquire as to whether they would allow 120v charging in their parking facilities (to avoid having to use public chargers) and could not get a clear answer from anyone despite three calls and two email inquiries.
Upon arrival, I was happy to find outlets all throughout the garage and asked for permission to plug in at the front desk where the front desk manager gave me the green light. Later that evening, however, I became aware that the car was unplugged. Upon my return, I re-plugged the car in and left a note believing there had been a mix-up. At that point, however, security intervened and advised me that the car needed to remain unplugged. As I attempted to educate four (4) security guards they radioed their supervisor who advised that they had strict policies because they consider EVs to be a fire hazard and insurance liability and the conversation began to turn to whether I would be able to park at there hotel at all.


While they did, ultimately, allow me to park, they would not let me plug in. The hostility and ignorance that I encountered was truly shocking, and really left a bad taste in my mouth. Suffice it to say that I would not recommend the Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale to any Tesla owners…

 

[bonnie]

UPDATE: Since I'm not a mod in this area, I can't update the thread ... but conveniently, I have the second post. So there is an update to this story on May 9th (kudos to the OP on how it was handled!), down thread & I'll post it here:

Follow-up:

I had a long talk with the Hotel Director yesterday, who advised me that what happened was the product of misinformed security personnel and confusion that arose as a result of them not having any formal EV policies.

Based upon my letter, he investigated all of the companies' 22 affiliated properties and learned that only 4 had charging facilities. He has indicated that he is taking this issue very seriously, and will immediately begin implementing policies to ensure that EV customers needs will me met. He has indicated that he will keep me apprised of his progress, will attempt to formally open up the standard wall outlets for use in the interim, and hopes to have formal pro-EV policies in place by September. He even reached out to Tesla prior to our conversation, to find out the details of their equipment installation program and confirmed that their facility was prewired for EV charging that had not yet been implemented.

Major kudos to Robb McCreary -- the hotel director -- for taking these issues seriously and for talking this issue head on. I wasn't expecting a response to my letter at all, and instead found a hotel director who listens and cares about his customer's issues.

 

[GoBlue88]

I played golf at Talking Stick several years ago and really enjoyed the experience, including posting a positive TripAdvisor review. Very disappointing to hear that they have that attitude towards EVs. Good thing there are a lot of great courses in Scottsdale because after hearing about this, the next time my crew and I go there for a golf trip, we won't include Talking Stick.

 

[AnOutsider]

This reminds me of the one thread we had where the OP plugged in through the motel window via extension cable haha. I think it'll be a while before the general public accepts this behavior -- and perhaps the electrical systems at certain places just aren't built for it. For all we know that hotel could have had issues in the past with space heaters or similar juice hogs causing issues.

 

[abasile]

That Talking Stick supervisor needs to stop allowing vehicles to park on the property. After all, gasoline vehicles have been known to spontaneously burst into flames on occasion. ;-)

We've taken our Nissan Leaf on a few overnight trips within Southern California. I will not confirm any overnight accommodation without first confirming for sure that they will allow us to charge our car, and I make it very clear that this is a requirement if they want to earn our business. This requires considerably more calling around, but provides peace of mind to us while reinforcing to property owners that EV drivers are a growing constituency.

 

[Cottonwood]

Be careful. As they say, it's easier to get the mule moving with a carrot than a stick.

This may just be the case of a misinformed manager, owner, etc; some education may be in order. Providing some references to indoor charging at other locations, danger of gasoline in car tanks relative to batteries, California laws requiring openness to charger installation, etc, combined with how well Scottsdale is now connected, and soon will be better connected, for MS owners to visit, may swing the hotel management to becoming EV supporters.

At the very least, send them the link to Tesla Destination Charging, and let them know that they could qualify for a free HPWC.

 

[Mikial]

Cottonwood -

I did a letter to management and focused on the financial benefits of them embracing and attracting EV owners in the hope that they will come around, and encouraged them to contact Tesla and take advantage of the free charging equipment. Hopefully we can get them to come around.

Coming from Vegas (where casinos have embraced EV customers) the experience was a big surprise for me. Luckily, the Tesla store at the mall was gracious enough to lend me their charger for a while!

 

[Cottonwood]

Cottonwood -

I did a letter to management and focused on the financial benefits of them embracing and attracting EV owners in the hope that they will come around, and encouraged them to contact Tesla and take advantage of the free charging equipment. Hopefully we can get them to come around.

Coming from Vegas (where casinos have embraced EV customers) the experience was a big surprise for me. Luckily, the Tesla store at the mall was gracious enough to lend me their charger for a while!

Great work as an EV charging evangelist; you are way ahead of me!

 

[gene]

What a bad experience! I'm sorry that happened to you. Please post a review at Talking Stick Resort - Scottsdale, AZ | Yelp - while it won't help other EV enthusiasts, necessarily, it will be something that the resort management will definitely see & perhaps change their policy for the future.

For hotels and motels, TripAdvisor is a better venue than Yelp! (though I am a huge Yelp! fan for everything else). I have spoken to Trip Advisor via emails and they plan to have a rating for EV friendliness added to the reviews.

 

[ZBB]

EV Unfriendliness in Scottsdale (Talking Stick)

There are multiple hotels in Scottsdale with charging avail (look through Plugshare). Let TalkingStick know you will plan on staying at a competitor for your next stay.

 

[swegman]

I had a similar experience at a hotel (Hampton Inn, if I recall correctly) in Jacksonville, FL. The hotel, located in a shopping center, said there were public chargers. When I arrived, it turned out not to be the case (the chargers became paid chargers the week before, and I did not have a card for it). The manager on duty gave me permission to plug into a 120V outlet in the parking lot. At 3 am, I got woken up by the replacement manager (shift change) that insisted that I disconnect the car, as EV's are a fire hazard. The manager would not listen to reason. Needless to say, the whole incident left a bad taste in my mouth, as I arrived at the hotel counting on an overnight charge from a L2 charger, and then could not even get any charge from the hotel. Luckily, a Nisan dealer let me charge in the morning enough to get to the next SC, but it cost me several hours at the dealership. I wrote a complaint letter, but never got a response.

 

[pbleic]

Somebody should ask these hotels whether they allow charging of laptop computers. LOL.

 

[Doug_G]

I always call ahead and specifically ask for EV charging. If none is available, and they aren't even willing to permit a 110V plug (for longer stays), then I tell them I'm sorry but I cannot stay at their hotel. And I call elsewhere.

Fortunately a lot of the Best Westerns in Canada have charging available now.

 

[MikeC]

I'd like to see a TMC Blacklist of EV-ignorant hotels and other establishments. Offending hotels like Talking Stick would have to explain why they deserve EV customers if they wanted to be removed from it (and maybe they'd have to install a charger, too).

 

[dsm363]

And when you book that other hotel in the area call the other hotel back and speak with the manager. Tell them that is X$ for the number of nights you were going to stay there they gave up for about $5-10 of electricity.

 

[dadaleus]

That Talking Stick supervisor needs to stop allowing vehicles to park on the property. After all, gasoline vehicles have been known to spontaneously burst into flames on occasion. ;-)

Actually ICE cars catch on fire dramatically more frequently than EVs. I know it's like 10x compared to Tesla. Not sure about other brands.

 

[Mikial]

Somebody should ask these hotels whether they allow charging of laptop computers. LOL.

i actually used that exact analogy with the casino manager and got nowhere. I was told that they also feared that the hotel could be liable for such a laptop if it was damaged while plugged in and got nowhere. While I did admittedly get a bit defensive with the "fire hazard" comments, I did my best to educate them in the hope that they would come around.

Hopefully management will respond, and I can use this as an opportunity to get them to see the business opportunities. Of all the businesses in the world, you would think that they would see the benefits of having high-income EV owners being a captive audience for a few hours while they charge. In my case, I will definitely book a different hotel in the future unless they change their policies...

 

[PhilBa]

I think a combination of carrot and stick is the way to go. Certainly let them know beforehand when you are shopping for a hotel. If you have a problem where you got mixed messages, put it in a tripadvisor review. Hotels see the power of TA and work hard to get a good rating. A negative rating costs them business. Though, you must take care to be rational and even handed in the review. In that scenario, a win is a response that they are reviewing their EV policies.

I really wish that plugshare/recargo would have hotel search available as this would be a tremendous carrot to get them to add EVSEs (or even just let us use a 120VAC outlet). Right now the best we can do is point hotel managers to EV forums like this. I hope TA does something as that would be a huge draw to supporting EVs.

 

[ZBB]

I think a combination of carrot and stick is the way to go. Certainly let them know beforehand when you are shopping for a hotel. If you have a problem where you got mixed messages, put it in a tripadvisor review. Hotels see the power of TA and work hard to get a good rating. A negative rating costs them business. Though, you must take care to be rational and even handed in the review. In that scenario, a win is a response that they are reviewing their EV policies.

I really wish that plugshare/recargo would have hotel search available as this would be a tremendous carrot to get them to add EVSEs (or even just let us use a 120VAC outlet). Right now the best we can do is point hotel managers to EV forums like this. I hope TA does something as that would be a huge draw to supporting EVs.

Plugshare added a search near hotels feature a while back... Works on their iOS app and the Tesla-optimized website. In iOS, it's part of the search screen...

 

[Mikial]

Follow-up:

I had a long talk with the Hotel Director yesterday, who advised me that what happened was the product of misinformed security personnel and confusion that arose as a result of them not having any formal EV policies.

Based upon my letter, he investigated all of the companies' 22 affiliated properties and learned that only 4 had charging facilities. He has indicated that he is taking this issue very seriously, and will immediately begin implementing policies to ensure that EV customers needs will me met. He has indicated that he will keep me apprised of his progress, will attempt to formally open up the standard wall outlets for use in the interim, and hopes to have formal pro-EV policies in place by September. He even reached out to Tesla prior to our conversation, to find out the details of their equipment installation program and confirmed that their facility was prewired for EV charging that had not yet been implemented.

Major kudos to Robb McCreary -- the hotel director -- for taking these issues seriously and for talking this issue head on. I wasn't expecting a response to my letter at all, and instead found a hotel director who listens and cares about his customer's issues.