We have used "Choice" (their term) Hotels for over 17 years. In fact, we are Choice Privileges Gold Members. That is over. (It was actually over as of my experience trying to make this reservation, but this hotel cinches it!)
We arrived at the motel and realized immediately that it was not our usual - and "favorite" - Choice Hotel, the one where we had stayed previously. This was a 'Quality' Inn, an entirely different place: a shabby gray stucco building with an uninviting lobby. (The other was a Comfort Inn).
There was:
- Mildew all around the tub. (Photo)
- No drain mechanism in either sink or tub: the tub drain was on the bathroom floor (photos). Classy!
- NO TELEPHONE IN THE ROOM. (They promised to bring one, but did not.)
- Thick dust on the bureau and headboard in the room. ...which I removed.
(See photo pf cloth)
- Poor repair and general shabbiness (Photo of paint conditions)
- Thin walls allowed the neighbors' TV to be heard....until 3 AM!
- The antiquated A/C made a tremendous noise...& either over or
undercooled: no adequate temperature control.
- The smallest TV I've ever seen in a nearly $100 room!
- No hot tub... just a (cold!) outdoor pool.
- The desk clerk gave us an Internet password on check-in, but warned that
we 'probably wouldn't be able to connect'. She was correct.
Choice Hotels has gone into a steep decline: a recent experience in Phoenix was also awful with 3/4 size beds (I measured) in our "queen" room: they had no king rooms. Their response? "That's what we call a queen!". (That is
what we call a lie.)
This will be our last stay in any Choice hotel. "Ba-Ba-Book".....Elsewhere!
The reservation process:
Clearly, 'Choice' no longer wishes to speak to you on the phone. Bad enough, but their computer is incapable of understanding city and state names! It never did get it right, but refused to turn me over to an agent, insisting I answer, "one more question": the answer to which it was also incapable of understanding. (I speak unaccented American English.) I ultimately got an agent who insisted that the prices were $15 more than advertised on their "new, improved" - and entirely inadequate - app! I finally gave up and used the app....where the prices were now, amazingly, ALSO $15 higher!! Worse, there was no way of knowing that the hotel I was booking was not the same one we had previously booked multiple times. (That one was no longer listed. They must have insisted on excellence as it turned out it has left the franchise.)
All in all, it was a relationship ending experience, start to finish!
"OUR" Comfort Inn is now part of Best Western....just where it always was and still managed by charming people who are meant to be in the hospitality business. I was correct: Choice Hotels got stupid and our friendly hotel in Buffalo, WY left the franchise! But they're still there....go to Best Western to find them! read more