Terrible experience across the board. The ONLY Pro I can give this property is that the lobby and common area is nice and smells good. That's it. I don't often write google reviews, or complain if I feel like I paid a low price and what I got was halfway decent, but this wasn't. Here's the details of our stay:
- Check-in - my husband booked on the Choice hotels app, as he's a platinum member, and we were staying 3 nights, the first reservation was Friday & Saturday, paid with card, second was Sunday, paid with card and points - The system doesn't let you combine. So we go to check in Friday evening, the desk clerk was taller and slimmer, he had a nametag (the only employee all weekend who wore one) I think it said Tom. My husband left his wallet in the car, so I gave them my card. After completing everything, he said they'd have to change the reservation to my name in their system, because it was my card. My husband was standing right there and showed his ID and everything. We asked, Will that affect his reward points? He said "I don't know." We wanted to ensure he got the points for the stay, and we travel a lot and we alternate his card and mine & it's never been an issue before, and the guy rudely says the hotel is franchised and they can make their own rules. Spoiler: it did remove the reservation from his rewards acct, and corporate confirmed they're not supposed to do that, even if they're franchised.
- The room - after checking in, we went to the room. We booked a king 1 room suite with sleeper sofa, which the website says sleeps 3 guests. The first thing we noticed were the stains on the sleeper sofa, all over it. *see photos* Moving to the bed, it had hairs on it, as did the towels. The bathroom was dingy and peeling, and there were stains on the ceiling and walls. There was a woman's hair claw clip on the floor by the bed, and a toothpick cleaner device inside the sofa sleeper frame. When we pulled out the "sleeper sofa," we were shocked to find a thin plastic mat instead of a mattress, not much thicker than a yoga mat, with crumbs on it, and no linens at all. We checked the closet and drawers, no linens or pillows. An adult could NOT sleep on this mat, and we wouldn't have even put an older child on it.
We returned to the front desk where the same clerk said he could check for us. He returned with a small bundle of sheets. We asked about pillows and a blanket, he said they were out. I asked if he could just grab some from another room, he said no because that room would be short, and what if they sold out that night. It was nearly 10 pm and we were the only people about. I pointed out that if they don't have enough linens for all of the beds, then they shouldn't continue selling rooms. The website says the room sleeps 3, and they are refusing to provide linens so that it can sleep that many guests. He suggested we should provide our own! We're traveling, who travels on a plane with a full blanket and multiple pillows when they're paying for a hotel?! He just shrugged and said he couldn't offer anything else.
We returned to the room and turned on the TV, which we were momentarily pleasantly surprised was a smart TV with streaming apps! Unfortunately, not ONE of them actually worked. The login screen wouldn't load on a single one. We tried casting to the TV, which didn't work either. My husband tried in vain to talk to the clerk, who told him it's not his responsibility to help with TVs. My husband told him this is the worst service he's ever experienced at a Choice hotel and that he'd be calling customer service, and the guy just said, "Ok, you do that." He spent most of the night in the office with the frosted door between the desk and the snack shop closed and a sign up saying to call a number for assistance. Just UNBELIEVABLY unprofessional and rude.
The bed was rock hard, it was an older innerspring mattress on a cheap metal platform with no box spring, and I don't think it's a mattress that's designed for that. We agreed it was the absolute worst mattress of any hotel we've ever stayed at. We were tossing and turning all night, all three nights, and left exhausted. They played classical music at a loud volume in the common areas 24/7, but you could still hear every time doors opened and closed, and the keycards didn't work on the first swipe, it took an average of 5 tries to get the doors to open.
Speaking of doors, the exterior hallway doors had keycard swipes on the outside, but they were never locked, so anyone could walk in - and did.
- Breakfast was served from 6-9 am, was emptied fast and we were told when the food was gone it was gone. The attendant was very nice, but the hotel sets the policies. There were signs everywhere that Breakfast was "dine in only" so as to not get "crumbs on your sheets," which was also rude and unprofessional, as there's a seating area in the room, and quite frankly the linens need to be washed regardless, so what does it matter? I've never seen that at any hotel, ever. Not everyone wants to dine with the whole hotel before 9 am, if a guest wants to enjoy a muffin in their room, they should be able to do so. Also, why put fridges and microwaves in the rooms, and then expect guests to not eat? The coffee was really bad, also, and the eggs were rubbery, especially on Sunday.
- Pool - the pool and hot tub were both open, but the hot tub was dirty, and had leaves and tape floating in it. It was also lukewarm at 5 pm. The pool is definitely not heated. We didn't see any pool towels provided.
- Check out - as I mentioned, we had 2 separate reservations, so on Sunday morning at 9 am we went to the front desk together to officially check out of the first reservation and check in for the second. My husband made sure to bring his wallet and card so the second reservation would be under his name, but was told the clerk on Friday "pre-checked us in," even though he made a big stink about how my husband had to come back with his ID to check back in on Sunday.
We also asked about late checkout for Monday, again since my husband has Platinum status it's supposed to be guaranteed, and most hotels offer as late as 2 pm, especially on a weekday. The day clerk said he could only offer 12 (1 extra hour). He didn't do anything on the computer so my husband confirmed that he would note the account, and he nodded.
Monday morning rolls around and I had to go to an appointment (part of the reason for the late checkout request) and I Almost stopped at the front desk to double check that they had that noted, but didn't. My husband called at 11:15 to say he'd just been awoken by housekeeping pounding on the door telling him checkout was at 11. As he's standing there groggy and confused, he's telling them that the front desk approved late checkout, and they're telling him no they didn't and to get out. They scared our child who was with us with the aggressive behavior. I immediately called the front desk and the clerk asked who I spoke to, I said I had no idea because no one wore nametags. He said they put in a note for late checkout Sunday - yesterday - the day we Weren't checking out. I asked, why would we ask for late checkout on a day we weren't leaving?! He didn't know. When I returned, there was a housekeeping cart down the hall, but all doors were closed, and no staff present. 2 other rooms were still gathering their things and leaving.
We did contact Choice hotels corporate on Friday night just after checkin, they contacted the property and, surprise surprise, they refused to cancel our reservation even though we'd only been there 30 minutes. They desperately wanted our money, they just didn't want to actually provide what they promise. We would've GLADLY went elsewhere. They did credit us 10,000 points, and the property was penalized, and a formal complaint was made, which we appreciated.
I would never, ever, stay here again under the current management. I would sleep in the rental car first. If we hadn't gotten a compact car this time, we probably would've slept in it and gotten a better night's rest.
US
BR