I drove from NYC to look at few investment properties to buy in Philly this past Sunday 8/14/16 and booked the "Turquoise" room at Pilgrim's Rest B&B. I got to the B&B around 8:15pm; all I wanted to do was take a shower and go to bed. Donna the owner wanted to show me where the room was and said it was in the "lower level." I must've been too tired to realize what that meant; either that or I was too tired to argue, but it was the basement. So my business partner said "you mean the basement?" And she said "oh no, we don't call it that. We call it the "lower level." I don't care what you call it. IT'S THE BASEMENT!!! And nowhere on their website does it say "This room is IN THE BASEMENT!!!!!!". Then, as she was walking me to the basement, she said "let me show you where the bathroom is." I'm thinking to myself "I'm sure I can find where the bathroom is. How many doors would I have to open to find the bathroom?" Then I understood why. She goes on to tell me, there are tenants (3 students) living down there in other rooms. So yes, the bathroom was a shared bathroom, with 3 other people where they left their dirty wash cloths, soap, shampoo bottles, razor blade and whatever else you can imagine - Dorm style. Sorry, but college was 10 years ago for me. I don't pay to stay at a place to share dirty bathrooms with students you have living in the basement. Not to mention the toilet roll hadn't been changed. The bathroom door was a typical door you find at home depot (nothing wrong with that. I'm in real estate and have bought the same door many times) But these doors come only with primer on them. These owners never even bothered painting them, and the dirt that's been building up was so nasty I didn't even want to touch the door; not to mention the floor, sink, shower.
I've been to many B&Bs and never in a million years did I ever think that I would need to ask if the room I booked was in the basement!!!!!!!!!!! and making me share a dirty bathroom with 3 of your tenants?????????? Are you nuts??????????? Even Motel 8 has cleaner bathrooms!!!!!!! Literally.
You might be asking "why didn't you just leave?" My business partner just had knee replacement surgery and could not travel any more and needed to ice her knee. We had been driving around for 5 hours (3 hours from NYC, stuck in traffic, and 2 hours looking at properties in Philly). And no one should be trying to look for another place at 8 o'clock at night, because the owner put up a misleading ad.
So don't go renting out basement rooms, and don't throw another surprise at them where guests find out they'll be sharing a bathroom with your tenants, only when your guests have arrived.
I should've taken some pictures of this place, but honestly I just wanted to get my rest and leave.
Oh, and this is a Bed & Breakfast, right? You know what kind of breakfast they give you? A Continental Breakfast. AKA "lazy operators who get processed food out of boxes breakfast."
We didn't even eat there. I drove to a local bakery and got some coffee and muffins.
So my business partner called Donna to get a refund, and of course Donna refused. Saying we seemed happy with our stay. Lady, we didn't want to be rude in your house and cause a scene with other "tenants" you had living there.
Needless to say, we've already called the attorney general about this place for misleading advertisement. I might even have my attorney in PA file an action against them.
My business partner will be leaving horrible reviews about this place. We'll then go to Google, Tripadvisor, AirB&B and other sites so we can warn people about this place that should be shut down.
If you want to put guests in the basement and make them share a dirty bathroom, put your own family. Not a paying customer.
One thing I do have to mention is that the other room where my business partner stayed in "Yellow Room"; it did say on their website that the bathroom was a shared bathroom in the hallway; which I did not realize, because again, I've never stayed at a B&B place where I had to share a bathroom with other guests. That's called a youth hostel. read more