We have been going to the Landmark Inn for years and thoroughly enjoyed all of our time there ... until the latest trip in late August 2019. At that point - at least partly due to seasonal increases -- we paid about $100 more PER NIGHT than on any previous visit!
"Coincidentally," it was a year or so prior that when the Landmark got a new manager. It seems to me that he has only managed the Landmark into the ground. Nothing was what it had been prior to his arrival. Our first minor clue as to what we would find inside was the condition of the garden. Formerly, a nice area that complimented the complex, it was now not groomed with any apparent design in mind. Parts were overgrown while other parts had been pruned into short messes.
As we ascended the stairs, we couldn't help but notice the railing was lacking paint, and in its stead were patches of rust. In a saltwater setting, this is to be expected -- if metal is not maintained. Paint would have been a good start!
This was all evident before we even entered the really poorly maintained interior of our 2-bedroom condo. There, we found a glob of human hair on the bathroom counter, spider webs in a number of places (which I cleaned up), dirt around the baseboards and covering the heater vents. There were various items scattered around the floor - a vacuum cleaner part, many pieces of broken plastic blinds as well as small pieces of paper and various other things too minor to remember, but the inclusion of so many things was an aggregate of junk, denoting a messy, poorly cleaned room.
This was not the worst of things, but to save words I will simply list some of our other problems:
1) Many of the plastic, verticle blinds were broken and even missing entirely. One doesn't realize the full impact of broken blinds until EARLY on a sunny morning. That condition remained for five mornings. Yes, we awoke to early bright sun for our entire 5-day stay! Privacy at night is also a problem where multiple verticle blind slats are missing.
2) Even though the manager finally found us time to explain the TV/DVD mess (he wasn't around much), his explanation was rushed and we continued to be perplexed by a very odd set-up. He told us all the other units had smart TV's, but ours was yet to come (obviously doing us no good whatsoever). Believing we would be able to watch an evening movie, I bought a local library card before discovering the DVD player was non-functional.
3) This was so obviously NOT the fabulous unit it had been on all earlier visits. He (Bruce the manager) had jacked prices well over what would have been reasonable for the summer season. Additionally, he did away with the "return guest discount." We have stayed in other $300+ per night hotels, but have never felt entirely ripped off. Price is another issue Bruce has brought to this once-beautiful inn. Additionally, this guy was unavailable for most of our stay. This was definitely our last stay at The Landmark Inn.
4) There's more - Bruce's lack of honesty was designed to relieve him of any obvious responsibility. At check-out, my wife made a couple of our complaints known to this "manager." He told her they were aware of the bad condition of this room and had plans to immediately close it (for a month) for repairs. There was a denial of any remunerative request for this "the worst" of their rooms. We were still paying $318 per night, presumably the same as guests in similar, but fully-functional units! A price cut/refund would have at least shown us they cared about our situation. A few days after our visit, I wrote the Landmark of our problems. Bruce wrote that he had no further complaints from successive guests about this room.
So, Bruce, was the room closed for repairs and cleaning as you had told my wife? Or did you instantly rent it again, knowing what a mess it was? Did "no other guests complain" because the room was closed, or did you take care of your responsibilities as we had been told (by you)? A closed unit would have explained why no one else had complained, although it all just sounds like lies to me. It can only be one way or the other.
To have charged us full price for a "less than" unit is just wrong. It was $1590 wrong!
Sincerely angry,
~Bill & Donna read more