Excuses, excuses.
This is probably the worst hotel I have ever stayed in. And I've stayed in a lot of high-end, mid range and budget hotels in the northeast, Florida, the Cape, rural Texas, New Mexico, you name it. This place was unbelievable, and the owners will make countless excuses for themselves. I've been gone for two days, and my suitcase still smells like my disgusting room. I've washed my belongings and I'm airing out my suitcase after cleaning it with alcohol but it may be a lost cause.
What happened? I call from New Mexico to make a reservation for myself, my sister, brother in law, and two nieces. We need two rooms for three nights for our cross country ski trip to Vermont. I didn't read all the reviews, but saw a few which were favorable -- they mention the pool and continental breakfast. That said, breads and a toaster, some cereals and some cheap yogurts don't constitute a continental breakfast worth advertising.
The pool "changing rooms" were dark coffins. The pool, however, was clean. I am uncertain of the status of the astroturf surrounding it.
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We arrive and I note how old the comforters are, how the room needs updating. Fine. I'm stressed and tired as I've traveled a long way to be with my young nieces. Then I turn down my bed and there are crumbs. I attempt to overlook this, and wipe them off. I turn down my nieces' bed and there is an unidentifiable brown crusty sludge on the comforter and blanket. I'm mortified - clearly the beds have NOT been changed. This is a code violation and a health hazard.
We ask for housekeeping to change the bedding and were subjected to some ridiculous excuse about how the bedding had been placed on a heater, which caused the sludge? They asked me to show them the sludge and I replied no, thank you, I'd rather not lay eyes on it again. I have pictures of everything but I won't be looking at them unless need be.
Later we found other horrors in our two rooms, for example:
Beneath the rickety wooden stairs by our entrance was a sheet of ice where no effort had been made to put down rock salt nor sand - a dangerous hazard.
There was a piece of old bread under the dresser in my room. There were other debris as well on the floor that we did not bring. The room obviously hadn't been vacuumed for a while.
A yellowed burned out bathroom light in the other room made the bathroom dark and difficult to use. Exposed wires beneath the light may also present an electrical hazard.
All the lamps in both rooms still had the plastic wrapping covering the lampshades. This is a fire hazard and represents the stinginess of the hotel owners and their disregard for guests.
A box spring in one room had a completely torn cover which looked filthy and seedy. I couldn't believe they would leave it like that. It was horrid to look at.
Blinds and curtains in both rooms were both dusty and grimy and appeared not to have been washed nor changed out in decades.
Headboards in both rooms were broken and fell off the wall. This is a hazard for sleeping children and adults.
There was a strong a smell of urine in my room by the bottom of the bed on the right. This is the smell still embedded in my suitcase.
The lack of hairdryers and hair products in the rooms again represent the stinginess of the owners. This is winter, and children need to have dry hair. Particularly when there is a swimming pool.
A shining new large home on the property (the owners'?) is in obvious contrast to the hotel's lack of upkeep. It made me resentful of the 1100+ dollars (after tax) I had paid for the two rooms over three nights. That is not really cheap if you parse it out.
After making some complaints known, the owner came to our room, even entering our room, and began to intimidate us about the problems we've experienced, making excuses and asking which lights didn't work. I honestly felt harassed at this point and was near tears.
The girls couldn't stop talking about it over the course of our vacation and my younger niece even wrote about the dirty bedding and room in her journal. She's six years old.
We were, after much discussion with both owners, given a refund for the third night, but they continued to withhold a 50 dollar fee. We simply could not bear to stay a third night, but had no place to go the other two.
The whole thing was highway robbery and we felt like marks.
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My understanding is the owners want to sell the hotel to open a restaurant. No comment. read more