Over the weekend we took a trip for my group’s 2nd competition of the season. The show site was pretty far from home and with contest days being so long and ending so late we just thought it would be better for N and Everly to come along with me. That way I could nurse her on demand (as opposed to bottle feeding and pumping hassles) and so I wouldn’t have a 3 hour drive home, alone at like 11pm at night.

So we stayed at a Best Western, I just wanted a cheap room that was close to the school. Nothing fancy was necessary. N wanted to spring for a better hotel but I talked him out of it, reasoning that we wouldn’t be there that long and just needed something simple and cheap.

Well, they stuck us in what the rude front desk worker called the “construction section”. Being ex-hotel workers we knew Everly’s crying might annoy other guests so we requested they not put anyone in the rooms directly next to us. We did not request to be put in a room that had maintenance issues and was dirty.

Our room had a picture or mirror missing from the wall it seems. You know how hotels bolt photos to walls? Well our wall had these huge unsightly holes and some nice discoloration that made it obvious something was missing from that spot on the wall.

There were hairs (not head hairs) behind the toilet seat that I wiped away with tissue before using the toilet. Also, there was a mysterious white substance on the dark brown comforter cover thingy. We always throw those comforter thingies on the floor anyway, we know how often those get washed!

The best part is the cable TV was all jacked up. The cable TV connection wire was all frayed according to N. This made the sound quality very poor on the channels which meant we had to crank up the sound to almost full blast. Every now and then the TV would make this popping and grinding sound as a result of the frayed wires that was extra jarring with the TV cranked all the way up.

None of this was enough to warrant a complaint to the front desk because after unpacking the entire car and setting up all Everly’s baby crap the last thing we wanted to do was move rooms. We were here, the room was crappy and moving wasn’t worth it.

So we went about our day. The marching band ranked 5th out of about 21 bands in prelims and then the finals performance got postponed and then rained out. It was a good thing we got a room and didn’t have to drive back extra late and with bad weather.

The next morning checking out was the last straw…

The hotel had a computer and printer that were free for guests to use. I was trying to print off a gap baby coupon because we wanted to get Everly a few outfits for our family photos. So I am trying to print the coupon and N is checking out.

The front desk worker (who shall remain nameless) asked him how the stay was and he mentioned the TV issue. She got all defensive about it and cut N off before he could finish what he was saying. She finished checking him out all rudely then N came over to me at the guest computer (that was also in the hotel lobby).

The printer was out of ink, N tells the front desk agent this. She says “oh, yeah. It’s broken. If you can get it to work be my guest” and goes back to her shuffling papers.

N returns to the computer all ticked off and I fiddled with the printer some more, trying to print my page. The front desk phone rings…

Desk agent: “Front desk…”

Person on the other line says something about a room.

Desk agent: “Um… they are here in the lobby” she says very loudly and I notice her conversation.

Person on the other line says something else.

Desk agent: “Well, I’ve never confronted anyone about that before”.

Person on the other line says something else.

Desk agent: “Just adjust it off? Okay.” Then she hangs up the phone and we exit the lobby without our printed coupon.

What an absolute joke! That woman was so rude, unprofessional and cowardly. I could hardly believe it! We had a crappy room that we DIDN’T complain about, we paid our bill, checked out on time and just wanted to print a damn page with their guest computer but no…

Needless to say the hotel was an unbelievably awful experience for us… Kind of makes me happy I stole a pillow from the room.