Big mistake. Oh the room was clean and the beds were comfortable, big screen HD tv, microwave and refrig, and nice breakfast.

But things went south in a couple hours. "Guests" started arriving and then the fun began. Slamming of doors, kids running and hollering in the hallway, people in room above us must have been shoving each other into the walls for fun, tv blaring on both sides of us, etc etc.

This was Sunday night, figured it wouldn't be crowded. Calling the desk was worthless.

Never again. People just don't give a crap anymore or so it seems. And btw this was not some fleabag motel, the reviews were mostly all positive.

Reminds me of what an Ex Dir of a public housing authority once said- "my projects would be nice if it weren't for the tenants."

I did that once. Wound up with a baby 9 months later...

quote:

Originally posted by Lord Vaalic:

I did that once. Wound up with a baby 9 months later...

Medical science is pretty close to figuring out the cause.

I had a similar experience and the locals DNGAF.
I contacted the corporate folks and they sent me a gift card good for three nights.

Uh-uh, Mother-m-mother, uh, what is the phrase? She isn't quite herself today.

It must have been around 1970. Two friends flew with me to Grand Bahama Island, for a break from a bitter cold Chicago area winter. We stayed at the Freeport Inn, which had the hotel rooms arranged in a square around the swimming pool. We were on the second floor; our adjoining rooms had balconies overlooking the pool area.

Middle of the night, we were awakened by really loud, shrill, female voices having a shouted conversation punctuated by screaming and loud drunken laughter. A group of American young women, dressed up, re-playing their evening at the casino.

We stepped out on the balcony and asked them to quiet down, they suggested that we self-fornicate.

That's all it took. We filled every waste basket in our rooms with cold water, carried them out to the balcony, and dumped them on the partying girls. They objected, we offered to go downstairs and give them breath control training in the pool. Things got quiet pretty quickly.

We stay in about 15 different hotels each year. We try to stay in something decent under $100. We have never had a problem with noise from other guests. Maybe we’re just lucky or sound sleepers.
Mike

A few years ago I was on the road a lot, at least two weekends a month all over from St. Ignace Michigan to Florida and points in between selling performance car parts at shows.

We stayed in Dublin Ohio at a higher end hotel while working at an event at the State Fair grounds. We went to dinner and retired to our rooms, outside they were setting up an unrelated charity car show for the next day.

We entered from the back parking lot, at the front facing the show a local radio station was setting up a remote broadcast. And a BIG speaker setup, right under my window on the third floor, all unbeknownst to me.

Five freaking thirty in the morning I peel myself off the ceiling while grabbing for the alarm clock next to the bed thinking that it was the cause. I never used their clocks, always set my phone to wake up. So I realize that it is not the rooms clock radio, stumbling to the window I open it and now see the remote broadcast at about 300 db directly below!

I now call the desk uttering every four and five letter and some multiple word epithets that were buried in the deep recesses of my abruptly awakened mind.

The desk clerk was frazzled too. He said that it would be stopped right away as soon as they could get outside and I was not the only one to complain, he was right,suddenly the sweet sounds of silence were again. Too late for me, I could not get back to sleep.

And my co-worker, well his room faced the other side of the hotel, he slept through the whole thing.

Life is too short for cheap, shitty hotels.

Just bump your budget up another $50-100 (it's only one night after all) and your problems will disappear typically.

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
Life is too short for cheap, shitty hotels.

Just bump your budget up another $50-100 (it's only one night after all) and your problems will disappear typically.

I’m curious what you consider cheap and shitty. I travel a lot, currently around 70-80% and I spend most my time in upscale, full service hotels. Personally I find them to be occupied by the more rude and loud 20-30 somethings. I’ll take a Hampton or Fairfield over a Hilton or Marriott any day. Even an extended stay which I find to be heavily occupied by blue collar guys who have to be up at 5am is usually quieter than many upscale hotels I stay at.

I won’t stay at motels like Motel 6 or Travelodge. But I’ll take a Fairfield Inn any day.

“Just bump your budget up another $50-100 (it's only one night after all) and your problems will disappear typically.”

There is evidence that rich people sometimes have inconsiderate asshole kids, too.

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
Life is too short for cheap, shitty hotels.

Just bump your budget up another $50-100 (it's only one night after all) and your problems will disappear typically.

Where did you get the idea it was cheap and shitty? Didn't you read the OP?

Just ask any flight attendant about the behavior of the first class passengers. No screaming kids but rude, demanding and entitled people more often than not.

I've generally only had that type of issues when there was a class trip or certain types of conventions staying at the same hotel.

Try to figure out where people in town for work stay.

I had a trial in New Orleans last year. It was noisy, because many people there were tourists. In a town like New Orleans, that can be a hard problem to avoid.

Price doesn't seem to matter unless you go really high end.

quote:

Originally posted by RogB:

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
Life is too short for cheap, shitty hotels.

Just bump your budget up another $50-100 (it's only one night after all) and your problems will disappear typically.

Where did you get the idea it was cheap and shitty? Didn't you read the OP?

All the OP said was "And btw this was not some fleabag motel, the reviews were mostly all positive."

"Mostly all positive" does not necessarily equate to "good, quality hotel." Maybe it was, maybe it was not. I will say this: My wife puts forth great effort selecting where we stay when we go on a road trip. Just like buying any other product: The ratings and reviews don't necessarily tell the whole story. You have to read the reviews closely to evaluate what they're really saying. Particularly since most people are more bargain-driven than quality-driven these days.

Example I recall, off-hand: We were going on a simple, two-night stay somewhere. One hotel got really good ratings. Major, well-known chain. Somewhat higher-end, with room rates to match. She drilled-down. Reading between the lines: Yeah, not so good, after all. Then she went and checked the various bed bug check and report sites. It was listed. Repeatedly.

It would be interesting to know just what place this was, so we could evaluate it for ourselves.

My wife and I were in New Orleans for business the week after Mardi Gras and during Spring Break. We stayed at a luxury hotel. Kids were screaming, running up and down the halls, and bouncing off the walls until about 4:00 am every morning.

I chose a room on top floor, aaaaaway from the pool and the main road.

when you check in , and ask for a specific location ,
let the night desk person know how important "quiet " is by tipping him $12 -$15 bucks,

I have been in the hotel business for almost 40 years. I am a VP of Operations and I oversee 20 hotels that carry the flags Marriott, (Autograph, AC, Courtyard, Residence Inn), Hyatt (Hyatt Place and Hyatt Centric ) Hilton, (Hampton , Homewood, and Hilton Garden Inn) and have managed full service hotels up to 1000 rooms.

In most cases you do get what you pay for. That being said, virtually all brands have the ability to make things right if there are issues. The problem is lousy operators and even worse guests. A good operator will give you excellent product and service and if they have guests that get out of line, they will give them 1 warning and then any further issue gets a visit and escort out by the local police. The problem guests are the ones that do not stay in hotels except for the once in a blue moon trip and have no clue how to act.

As far as Bed Bugs, even 5 star hotels have issues and with the exception of the "quick sheet" joints, the hotel is really not a bad place because they have them. In about 99% of the cases the bugs are carried in the luggage and usually from our travelers from the East Asia area, and not being a racist, but primarily India and Pakistan. A hotel will pay usually around $2500 to get rid of them and that is to remove them from one room. Believe me, NO hotel operator wants them in your room

Stay in the better brands...ask for a quiet room or whatever your request is. If you travel frequently, join the brands reward program and you will be given in most cases excellent product and service. Most brands have a guarantee...Hampton has a 100% guarantee that they will make it right. There are people that abuse it and we know they are just trying to beat us but it is the cost of doing business.

Please...don't ever confuse airline service with hotel service. If we ran our hotels like the airlines we would be out of business. There is far less competition in the airline industry versus the hotel business....and they treat you knowing they are the monopoly that can screw you anytime they want. I fly over 100k miles each year and status with them means dick...

Trip Advisor and the brand sites have reviews of course and you can trust what you see. Very few hotels have perfect operations but the big brands have stringent guidelines and inspection processes to try to keep you happy and loyal to them.

Threatening to call the cops because teenagers are gettin' crazy and you smell weed has had some positive effects before. No I wouldn't call in a false report...but the hotel didn't know that and apparently that was a sore spot. Things got quiet.