Have you ever stayed at a hotel that seemingly started out OK, but there keeps being another and another little issue that all adds up to making the experience just… meh?
So, I’m not going to identify this location, only that it was an extended stay location that I found for a decent price.
So, I stay at quite a few hotels every year, for personal travel and when travelling for conventions. I don't always look for the cheapest hotel. When I first started my business, I did look for the cheapest I could find (other than the sketchy bargain basement hotels and chains). Now that I am doing a little better, I look at a little nicer hotels.
I booked this hotel as a nice budget-friendly location. When I first booked it, the price was decent, so I went ahead and booked it. I happened to check the pricing in the week before check-in, on a whim, and I noticed the prices had actually dropped. By cancelling my months-old reservation and rebooking, I saved nearly $25 for the one night.
Well, it turns out that this hotel has a reason for being so budget-friendly.
When I first got there, everything looked OK. The room was really clean. However, despite being booked as a non-smoking room, it was pretty obvious that someone had done some smoking in there. Now, I'm not a smoker, but the odors do not bother me. It is more of an unpleasant smell, more than anything. I was so tired and I didn't want to bother the front desk person, so I just sucked it up and dealt with it.
Next, when I went to eat my dinner, I went looking for a plate and utensils in the cabinets, and came up with… absolutely nothing. There was nothing in any of the drawers, cabinets, anything. When booking an extended stay location with a kitchen, something I expect is to have the things needed in a kitchen. I got a little upset, then noticed a sign on the counter indicating that if I did want to make use of these items, I had to notify the front desk, and they can provide me with what I needed.
Again, I was tired and didn't want to deal with that, so I just made do with what I had.
As the night wound down, I took a nice hot shower (which was great), and got ready for bed. That's when I noticed, there wasn't a trash can in the bathroom. I went into the room to throw some things away, and realized… there isn't a trash can anywhere in the room. Seriously! What kind of cost-cutting measure is that? How is it more efficient to leave out trash cans, which would make the cleaning staff have to do more work?
I could have gathered my trash into one spot to help out, but by this point, I was starting to get bitter. When I left in the morning, I didn't bother trying to tidy up.
I crawled into the bed and tried to get comfy. All that was on the bed was a sheet, and a thin comforter cover-type thing. This was not even thick enough to be called a blanket. It was just there to have something over the sheet. This thing and a sheet is not enough to be comfortable enough to sleep. I had to warm up my room quite a bit in order to stay warm overnight. It was pathetic.
I have stayed at extended stay locations several times before, but this one has to be THE worst one. I can tell you that when I am back in this location (and believe me I definitely will be and already have dates booked), I will not return to this hotel. I have no problem spending more money for a hotel, but I get really irked when I pay more and get less amenities. I'll keep looking around this area until I find one I like, and will stick with it.
Please feel free to leave me a comment, and let me know what hotels or chains that you prefer? I would love to get some feedback!