There was a basketball tournament my weekend, so lodging was sparse. My wife found us a Holiday Inn Express in Kanawha City. It proved to be my worst hotel experience to date.
Upon pulling up, a sign in a window said that the hotel was under renovation. That should have been a first clue. I wasn’t expecting 5-star accommodations, my expectations were very low, the hotel went through the basement.
There were dead bugs in the windowsill of my room, which showed poor property maintenance. The fold-out couch bed had no sheets and there were no extra sheets in the room. When I went down to get bedding, I was offered sheets but no blankets. The pool room was oppressively hot and poorly maintained.
On three separate occasions, I saw guests in the lobby complaining about their stay and asking for refunds. I was there for a singular purpose, to lay my aunt to rest, so I tried to tough it out. I am a pack of six, so finding another hotel and moving everyone seemed too much for a day or two. I kept my head down and tried to make the most of it. The kids enjoyed swimming, so the adults kept our chins up.
When it was time to check out, I decided to forgo the free breakfast and get out of the hotel as quickly as possible, wanting to put the experience behind me. We arrived home safely and without incident. I assumed I would never step foot in the Holiday Inn Express Kanawha City again, and I can forget the place altogether.
I forgot to mention that my wife said she overheard the staff discussing missing toiletries in their staff closets. They outright said they believed someone on staff was stealing them. I forgot the story after she told me about it, as just a tale of a door I will never darken again
I realize once I am home, I am missing a garment bag. My wife and I called several times, and they say they would check and call back, but they have yet to do so.
I called on Wednesday, 72 hours without my clothes. I get the manager Mark. Mark said that, despite my six calls on the matter, he had not heard about the issue but would look into it. Mark hears my story and tells me that the clothes are not there. He is already stonewalling me. I asked him to check the room as the other staff members said they would. He said he would check the room and call me back. I call him back within the hour because this hotel is horrible at calling back. Mark said that there were no clothes in the room. I say that this is unacceptable. Who has my clothes? Mark gets offended at the mere idea that I would infer that his people took my clothes. I explained that I know I left my clothes in the hotel. I called about my clothes several times, and somehow, they disappeared. I asked Mark how he could run a business that loses people’s personal items.
Mark essentially tells me there is nothing he can do. He offers no other options or recourse. I appeal to Mark’s humanity. If he were in this situation, where he knows he left a garment bag with his suit, his overcoat, his mother in laws dress, and his children’s dress clothes after attending a funeral, and the hotel tells him that they disappeared in 24 hours, what would he do? Mark could admit to 'possibly' being upset by this series of events, but as the general manager, he could see no possible solution to the matter.
I do not necessarily believe that he personally has my suit and my children’s clothes, but someone in that hotel should be able to produce my items. Mark says, “what do you want me to do, buy you new clothes?” I say, “I want my clothes, Mark.” I tell him I left the clothes in the hotel, and I believe that they should still be in that hotel unless that hotel is an unsafe place for people to stay. I tell Mark that I have felt stonewalled since I made my first call. Mark tells me that he has other matters to attend to and needs to get off the call. I tell him that I intend to call corporate. He is pretty much done with me, and he hangs up.
When we enter into an agreement to sleep in a hotel, we are entering into a transaction where we are expecting a modicum of safety, cleanliness, and security of person and personal effects. To violate that agreement, in my eyes makes an establishment unworthy of my business and I think, unable to call itself a safe place. I intended to tell everyone to stay away from his hotel!
In the end, I am without a suit, my overcoat, and my children’s church clothes. I am still livid three days later..
AVOID THIS HOTEL!!!
