Hmmmm. Well, on the one hand you could say, OK, it IS a Super 8 after all, and not the Hilton, so what do you expect??? But I guess when I'm paying almost $100/night I'm expecting a BIT more than mediocre!!!! I came to Houston for a family visit and since my niece was house-hunting and staying with my sister everyone was booked up. So, I needed a "reasonable" hotel to stay at for a week. Now, I recently had knee replacement surgery so I'm still walking with a cane and not the most mobile person on the block right now. We chose the Super 8 because we figured I could get a nice, first floor room that my niece could just pull right up to when she wanted to pick me up, plus it was close to my sister's place.
Check in was a pleasant experience. The hotel owner is a kindly man who helped me get my bags to my room, turn the air conditioner on, and get settled in for the evening. As another reviewer mentioned the room smelled fresh and clean, and the beds are super-comfy--so comfy in fact that I over-slept breakfast by about 10 minutes!!! When I arrived at the lobby at 9:10 (breakfast ends at 9:00), there was a sullen-looking younger women at the desk who looked to be the owner's daughter. I hobbled in on my cane and asked (in my sweetest old woman voice) if I had missed breakfast. Without looking up from her magazine she barked out, "Breakfast ends at 9:00!" Now: the hotel was in no way crowded. I was dropping close to a $1,000 to stay there for a week. I'm an old woman who really was just looking for some milk and maybe some hot coffee or maybe even hot water or a teabag. She couldn't have looked up from her magazine to ask me that? It wouldn't have taken much for her to say to me, in a polite voice, "I'm so sorry ma'am, our breakfast service just ended, but we do have some cold cereal and milk if you would like, and I can get you some tea (smile!)"
Next up: cleanliness. Because I was being picked up by my niece to go and do things every day, I wasn't leaving the room until about noon or so every day. Now, I have NEVER had a problem with this EVER at ANY hotel I have EVER stayed at--even the fleabags!!!!--in terms of maid service coming to clean up the room. If I left at 10 am, I came back and the room was made up. If I left t 3 pm, I came back and the room was made up. Not so at (un)Super 8!!!! The second day I left the room at 12 noon. The maidservice carts were still rolling back and forth, so I assumed I would come back to a clean room. NOT!!!!!!
Day 3. I'm in the room at 10 a.m. still in my pajamas watching television when my phone rings. It's the linebacker woman at the front desk saying they "couldn't" get in my room yesterday ad they have a policy that "if they can't get in the room to clean it one day they must clean it the next." I said OK, when do they need to get in to clean it? In her oh so pleasant voice she barked, "NOW!!!!!" I explained that I was disabled and that I wasn't expecting this, and that I wasn't even dressed yet and that it takes me at least 20 minutes to get dressed. I could hear her mouth-breathing on the other end of the phone. I said well ok I guess I would get dressed and that they would need to give me 20 minutes to get out of the room. In ***10 minutes**** the maids were pounding at the door!!!! I opened it and told them I wasn't ready yet. They stood there mouth breathing, so I said OK, tried as fast as I could to get dressed, and gathered my things to go sit in the lobby. On the way out the maids asked if I needed the bed that I was sleeping in "changed" or just "made." I said it was OK if they just made it since I had only slept in it for one day so far. When I came back that evening, I discovered that they had done NEITHER!!!! The bed was UNMADE and UNCHANGED, lying there just as I had left it that morning!!!! (Which made me wonder what other types of "cleaning" had actually gone on?!?!?!)
Day 4. I'm watching TV in the morning, waiting for my niece to come pick me up. The phone starts ringing. It's the man from the front desk, stating that my toilet seat is "loose" (really? I never noticed...). He asks me to please call the front desk when I leave that day so that they can come in and fix it. OK, that's good, I'll get a fixed toilet seat and another clean room! I dutifully call the front desk when I leave the room that day. When I come back, the room has NOT been cleaned, and as far as I can see the toilet seat is in the exact same condition it was when I left.
Day 5. No maid service. My grand-nieces come into the room when they come to pick me up and go, "Aunt De De, what's that smell????" Hmmmm...
Day 6. They actually cleaned my room. Woo-hoo!!!!!!
That was the last time that I actually had any type of maid service in the room.
Now, I don't know about y'all, but two room cleanings for a week-long stay is kind of gross?
A sad, nasty, wallet-emptying experience... read more