After our church conducted it's weekly Sunday services at this location for nearly a year, we decided we would also conduct our annual Spring Conference here as well. On May 26th, 2016, after our very first morning meeting, we left the meeting room to get lunch as a group (about 11:30am). When we returned to the meeting room for our afternoon meeting (1pm), we found that the room, which had no lock on the door (but we were assured that was not a problem as anyone entering the meeting room must first pass the front desk) had been entered and that thousands of dollars worth of audio, video and computer equipment had been stolen. We used the equipment to video and audio broadcast our meetings online LIVE, as well as to video record our meetings for sharing also on the web. Our ministry is locally very small, but we have a very large internet following. So needless to say this ais a vital part of our ministry as we get between 8,000 - 10,000 views of our videos each month. We have five video channels (Two on YouTube, one of which we use to LIVE broadcast on Sundays), Vimeo, GodTube, and Daily Motion. We also have a web radio channel on Spreaker that we use to broadcast our Sunday services, as well as any special services live. We use a HD video cam and HD audio mic to record and broadcast our live services. We use a separate HD video camera which we use to video tape our services and then later edit and add the message/teaching to our various channels. It has taken our church YEARS to acquire all of this equipment and to establish the huge web presence we have today.

Upon notifying the manager of the theft, I insisted that a lock be installed on the door to the meeting room or else we would leave the venue immediately and would no longer conduct any meetings at this location. I did this as we yet had a great deal of sound equipment and various other electronics in the room which had not been touched, although given the opportunity, the thief might return for more. The manager told me that the owner had agreed to refund what we had paid IN ADVANCE for the conference (which was a measly $480) to "help us recoup some of our losses related to the theft. He promised me that the credit would be issued the next day. It was never credited to us at all. We finished our conference, unable to broadcast our meetings as we had intended to do. When Sunday came, we arrived for our service and began to set up. The manager then came into the room and began to explain to us that they would not be refunding the amount we paid for the conference as their insurance company would be covering our losses. I asked what one thing had to do with the other? He replied that since they were going to refund that amount as a means of helping us recover our losses in the theft, and since the insurance would be paying for our losses, they did not wish to pay one dime more to us as a means of compensating us for the theft. Long story short, we immediately removed ourselves from the hotel and decided to no longer do business with this establishment. These people obviously have no clue in the world how to conduct business! Here we had been good, faithful customers for just under a year, and they saw no need to take any personal responsibility for our losses, which were strictly due to their own negligence, by refunding the amount we had paid for the conference. Insane!

While it may be true that no one could enter or exit the meeting room without first passing the front desk, someone from the hotel staff had left the back door to the main building into the laundry room wide open! The thief was able to enter the open door (which I have pictures of, taken the day of the incident) and pass through the laundry room, through the breakfast area, and enter the meeting room ENTIRELY UNSEEN. They have video of the culprit walking away with a gray tote containing our things (it was our tote that we used to bring electronics (mics, wires, etc) back and forth each week into the meeting room). They also knew the man to be the boyfriend of a woman who had registered as a guest, so they had a copy of her DL as well. After waiting nearly four hours for the police to show up, and not being able to conduct the meetings that afternoon that we had planned as we were waiting for the police, they finally showed up and took our report. Much of what I said the officer did not even bother to write down. It was obvious that he had no interest whatsoever in actually trying to recover anything.

Bottom line: We were referred to the hotels insurance company. For months we tried to reach the rep we were referred to and our calls went unanswered and unreturned. When I finally blew a gasket and began to make noise on the internet about the treatment we were receiving at the hands of this insurance company, I finally got a call, only to be told that they would not be reimbursing us for ANY LOSSES whatsoever! So we were jerked around for months, only to be told, "Nope, we are going to pay you nothing." To this date, October 7th, 2016, the hotel has not returned one single phone call or email that we have sent them. I tried contacting the Super 8 corporate HQ, and they only referred us back to the local management, and they too have offered to do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in regard to this matter. I strongly advise anyone who might be thinking of staying in this high crime, prostitute and drug ridden area (yes, we knew this to be the case, but we are a church trying to reach out to those very kind of people), I strongly recommend you find a far more secure location. If you should personally be injured or assaulted, or should your room be broken into and robbed, you will not be able to get ANY satisfaction from the management. They are more than happy to take your money, but they know nothing of the proper way to do business and treat customers.