Iris Garden Inn — Attraction in Garden City

The reason I stayed at the Iris Garden Inn was because I was traveling on very short notice (with kids and a dog) and the locations that I normally would have chosen (e.g., The Weston, The Bohemian, Perry Lane, etc.) were booked. However, the website advertises The Iris Garden Inn to be a “Reimagined Luxury Hotel in Garden City”, which can only be true if one ‘reimagines’ the experience of a “Luxury Hotel” to be synonymous with a dilapidated Motel 6. There are a multitude of reasons why I have the aforementioned opinion, but I’ll start with the easy ones:

(1) The room smelled HORRIBLE! Moreover, when I asked to be relocated, the alternative I was offered (which was the room right next door) smelled even worse, but that clerk told me that it was the only other room available and as such, I opted for the original room. If I had to describe the odor, it’s as if those rooms had been flooded at some point, and then allowed to develop mold/mildew.

(2) The staff claimed to be powerless to remedy the situation. I asked if someone could be dispatch to sanitize our room to remove the odor but instead, I was (literally) handed a half-empty can of Febreze by the desk clerk as she said: “…this is the only thing I have”. So, I would implore whoever reads this (if anyone) to ask yourself one simple question: is this the standard that one would expect from a luxury property? Seriously?

(3) During the daytime hours, we were away from the property to run various errands and we crated our dog and left her in the room. After returning to the room in the evening, we discovered that the air conditioning doesn’t run if occupancy sensors don’t detect anyone in the room. There are two issues here: first, the room smells horrible to begin with, so instead of keeping the air circulating via the A/C, it seems that management thinks it’s a better idea to allow the air to stagnate even further. Second, I HAD A PET IN THE ROOM…it’s illegal to leave a pet in a hot vehicle during the day, but it seems that the Iris Garden Inn management may actually be waiting for a dog to asphyxiate in a hot room before amending the A/C policy.

(4) The parking lot was reminiscent of a truck stop. In short, multiple rows of parking spaces were occupied by several large moving vans, trucks with heavy equipment trailers, etc. Although I understand that movers and truck drivers need a place to sleep too, but should each of those vehicles be allowed to occupy an entire row of parking spaces? If so, I don’t recall ever seeing that at the Ritz or Four Seasons…and yes, I know those are much different properties, but please remember, if your organization chooses to brand the hotel as “REIMAGINED LUXURY”…then please, take a moment to ‘REIMAGINE’ the brand into a more accurate reflection of the actual product/service.

(5) Truthfully, I can go on and on, but for the sake of brevity, I’ll simply add a few items that need to be addressed: the hallway carpeting is tattered; the breakfast selection in the kitchen makes a public-school menu look good by comparison; and someone has apparently thrown a large rock at the front sign as it has a spider-web crack in the center.

Clearly, my experience at the Iris Garden Inn was horrible but I’ll take partial blame for not having the time to perform more due diligence before booking. Had I known then what I know now, I would have dismissed the possibility of staying at Iris Garden Inn, in the exact same manner that I dismiss the possibility of staying at a pay-by-the-hour motel. However, the good news is that I (along with my kids) have learned from this mistake and we won’t...

When we arrived at the hotel on May 28th, unbeknownst to me, my friend and I were placed in dog friendly rooms, 118 and 119. In addition to having severe allergies to pet dander, we were appalled at the odor in our respective rooms. We returned to the front desk to make it known there were issues with our rooms. Stains, odors...general conditions. We asked if we could be changed to different rooms. We were advised they would have to check with management. It was at that time; we realized the hotel does not provide free daily shuttle service to downtown Savannah as advertised on the Agoda website. After a day of traveling, we were hungry and decided to utilize the shuttle so we could eat. When we did not hear back from the hotel, we called back after dinner, we were advised it was too late to change rooms. At that point, we knew we could not stay in those rooms and inquired about cancelling the remainder of our stay and seeking accommodations elsewhere and receiving a full refund. We were advised it was too late for a refund for that night but management would be consulted about issuing a credit through the 3rd party Agoda for the remainder of our trip. The next morning, we again went to the Front Desk. The person was very nice and professional but she had no idea what we were talking about. We had to start over explaining all the issues that we had. We spoke with a Manager, who advised us we were placed in dog friendly rooms and she was surprised we were placed there since we did not have animals with us, She then said she would speak with the General Manager to see what could be done. At this point, we were so disappointed in not only our rooms but also in how the situation was handled, we decided to book, through Agoda, another property, Mrs. Savage returned to the Front Desk and was advised since we had booked through a 3rd Party, (Agoda) a refund could not be issued. At that time, we requested to speak with the General Manager directly. A short time later, she came over from the other property. When we spoke with her, she was puzzled why the Front Desk did not advise us she had authorized the changing of the rooms. She offered to move our rooms for the remainder of the stay. At that point, we were so upset and that still did not address the lack of free shuttle service to downtown Savannah, we had decided to make other arrangements, The General Manager advised us she would consult with the owner, to see how this could be resolved, A short time later, I received a call from the General Manager, that she had made an "executive decision" and made an exception to their policy to refund the remainder of our trip. We were very appreciative. We were advised to contact Agoda for this refund and the hotel would approve it. Mrs. Savage contacted Agoda and received her credit of $267.64. However, when I contacted Agoda, they were advised the refund had only been issued to Mrs. Savage for her room and not my room, I reached out both via email and through phone calls, to get this corrected. On the 31st of May, I received a call from the General Manager, that she claimed she was unaware that we were actually staying in two separate rooms?? I was advised at that time, she would consult with the owner to get this resolved and I would hear back from her by Friday, June 3rd. Months have passed. I have called numerous times and sent numerous emails. I even sent a certified letter to the Owner. To this day, I have not received an acknowledgement...

BEWARE! We checked in on a rainy Friday. My husband walked in to check us in and start unloading our bags. From check in, we were greeted by a younger girl who rolled her eyes and smacked her lips every time we asked a question. Not a good sign I had thought to myself. Boy was I right! We continued into our room which was much more outdated than I expected by the pictures online. I should have heeded the warnings in the reviews. We traveled with our dog who immediately starts munching on leftover food that was not cleaned up next to the mini fridge in the room from previous guests. Disgusting. I tried to take a shower. The lights in the bathroom flickered and the water pressure was a joke. If you turned the water all the way to left you got a little hot water. At this point, I was ready to check out. Called to report all of this and see if we could just end our stay there and find another hotel and same rude front desk girl says the manager is not available and has left for the day (it's before 4 pm at this point). We asked about shuttle policies and the driver and front desk girl says they don't follow the schedule, just to give a call with 30 minute heads up. We take the shuttle downtown no issues. When we are ready to leave, we call to give the heads up and are told the shuttle follows a schedule and our only options are to be ready in 5 minutes or the next one in 2 hours. This is not what we had been told. I'm 8 months pregnant so we literally run to the pick up spot in the rain to avoid being stuck 2 more hours. Super uncomfortable for me. We decided to avoid the shuttle and hotel as much as possible for the rest of our stay and ended up paying for our own parking in the city (expensive) even though the shuttle had been our reason for choosing this property. The breakfast was nasty and the drink machine was also broken so your option was room temperature water bottles you could purchase from the front desk. After checking out, we were charged the full amount for our stay. There is another charge on our account from this property for $128 extra dollars still lingering and apparently won't be removed from our account until a week after we checked into the hotel. We travel a lot and don't have charges that linger this long normally. Super inconvenient! My husband and I both tried speaking to the general manager on this. She apologized but the credit/justice for all this trouble? A $25 credit to our account that I'm still not even showing has been initiated as being taken off. Guess that'll take another week or two as well. Thanks for ruining what was supposed to be a special trip before having our baby. This property actually advertises as luxury?...