Wisconsin Woman Stays At Hotel For 9 Years, Now Being Evicted Over $29K In Late 'Rent'

By Lisa White in News on Oct 17, 2013 10:00PM

A Wisconsin woman is being evicted later this month from a hotel room she's called home for the past nine years after the hotel claims she owes them $29,000. The Associated Press reports that Jana Ganjian moved into the Racine Marriot in January 2004 after her house went into foreclosure. She also said she has been living at the hotel because she has no family and couldn’t afford a place to live. According to Ganjian, in the nine years she stayed at the hotel she has paid $300,000 in rent. “I have always paid something” Ganjian told AP. The daily rate at the hotel is $89.

If we break down just the basic math, $89 a night for nine years is a total of $292,365 and that doesn’t include any tax. If Ganjian is telling the truth, her $300,000 in payment should (in theory) cover her expenses or at least come close.

She paid some of the daily rate using her monthly disability payments. We’re not sure where the rest of it came from. And we get the gesture of saying you “always paid something” but this isn’t a barter system. Hotels clearly advertise their rates, it isn’t something you usually can pick and choose unless you negotiate with the hotel for a long-term price. When you pay for a hotel room—when you pay for anything—you can’t just offer up a portion of the total cost.

A more alarming issue here is if in fact Ganjian paid the hotel the $300,000 over nine years, she clearly could have afforded an apartment. If you broke the total down, that is spending $33,333 a year on your residency. We know some really nice apartments in Chicago you could afford with that kind of money, let alone what it could buy you in Racine.

You can watch the full AP story below. We’re hoping her lawyer helps her find an affordable apartment (and maybe a money manager) sometime soon.