Countryside Motel Albert Lea — Hotel in Albert Lea

My younger brother is traveling across the country, in the storm of the century! Needless to say he was in a pretty bad accident near by, so while his truck was getting fixed he stayed here. The first night was no problem, and everyone was so incredibly helpful in the town itself from the tow truck driver to the mechanics, and at first even the owners wife was lovely (my brother has Autism so this level of help is priceless for us as a family). However things took an incredibly sour turn, over something as simple as a credit card that was input incorrectly (which was never admitted to me, only to my brother after the fact) See, my brother has very limited funds and when this accident happened, I took on the financial support to make sure he got his truck fixed and made it to Bismark safely (after his accident we were all incredibly rattled) as well as covering his hotels. So, I had called in, asked if it was okay for me to pay for his hotel another night and the wife was such a huge help-said it was "no problem" and the card went through just fine. We then went on to talk about the weather for the next day or two, they will know more than me on what is considered safe for someone like my brother with such limited winter weather driving experience on what he should do or not (wait it out or head out basically!) This is when things went south, I called back about 30 mins later to ask if it was possible to charge the first night he was there on my card as well (I travel a lot for work and more often than not, the card is charged AFTER the stay to add in any fees that may have been charged to the room) if not, no big deal but I just wanted to see if it was possible, the wife then states (with sass!) my card had been declined, and that my younger brother paid for it already. I was admittedly frustrated with the situation, why did no one call me? She knows the situation and has been so helpful before,as my brother has EXTREMELY limited funds and needs cash for emergencies, so I asked if she could refund his card and run mine...this was the owners response:||"I have personal sh* I am dealing with, I do not have time for these games, I do not have time for this or you two and your brother was more than capable of paying for his room. When a card is declined, it is declined we don't mess around with that. Its not my problem." I tried to keep my composure as this was unbelievably unprofessional and unbelievably rude. She then goes on to talk over me, interrupt me and say she cant/wont refund the card "it costs them money", I would have to deal with her husband because she wont deal with us anymore. All the while, I was blindsided by her extreme aggressiveness and point bank rudeness...couldn't get out more than 5 words!! ||I called my credit card company, to figure out what the problem was as I had already unlocked it to make sure it wouldn't be declined (calling in the payments had already alerted them lol) but come to find out, SHE entered it in wrong! I understand personal problems, I am a part time care giver for my grandfather/my mother is homeless, my autistic brother is driving across the country and almost died last night via a black ice attack-so I totally and completely understand personal problems but to allow them to spill over into your work and AT your client over something that in all actuality, was her fault is horrible business practices. When I called back, to say, "Hey-so my card was not declined you accidentally entered it in wrong, can we please do something about this. My brother needs his cash-" She cuts me off and goes off, gives the phone to her husband who proceeds to tell me:||"We don't kiss a* here, we do not do the yes ma'am or no ma'am and the customer is not always right. I have 100 customers to deal with, and we don't have the time to deal with this. I do not believe my wife said that-you were being rude and just kept going off and your card was declined-we don't mess with that. Your card was declined its not our problem. " Every time I even TRIED to speak, he would put the phone down, and start talking with his wife over how I "wouldn't shut up" over my card...||This was, HANDS down the WORST experience I have ever had in a motel/hotel, or with any hospitality staff-to have owners doing this to customers is honestly, disgusting. To treat people like YOU are doing THEM a favor by allowing you stay there is disgusting. To cause so much unnecessary stress to an entire family, who is trying to GIVE YOU MONEY to insure the safety of a family member like its nu-sense to you because you "have a lot of personal sh**" to deal with that day??And it was YOUR MISTAKE to begin with?? Absolutely floored, and disgusted. I can put up with a lot, as I myself manage a multi million dollar company who deals with (personally!) tens thousands of some of the most demanding people across the globe, and these two managed to burn my biscuits black.||The fact that they knew, my autistic brother had been in a terrible accident, had less than 100 dollars to his name, needed food/gas/sand bags, they knew the WHOLE situation as I had already explained so they knew I wasn't trying to be difficult but the ENTIRE situation was a mess-and that I was FULLY capable of paying for everything he needed that they STILL were such disgusting humans was...just so disheartening.||My brother didn't even feel comfortable to "check out" as the owner was confrontational with him over this, my autistic brother...what stand up guy and business owner right?? ||Do not ever stay here, for 6 bucks more right up the street you can get better rooms,...

Me and the bf have stayed here a couple of times for business and each time the manager and his wife were very nice and helpful. They seemed a little over worked tho, but very very nice. We had an issue with the AC and the manager did everything he could to make sure we had some kind of air conditioning during our stay. The only issue we really had was when the AC unit that was in the room kept tripping the breaker during all times of the night. I felt bad for having to call the front desk to let him know about the AC tripping the breaker but once I did he was right on top of the issue. Him and his wife were nothing but kind and compassionate during our stay. When we had to stay longer than we had planned to due to had to put the car in the shop that was right next door(which was convenient) the manager and his wife was very kind. Could use a pool or some BBQ grills around the place during this time of the year( might bring in more business). We really enjoyed our stay while we were here and we will definitely be staying here again on our way thru on our business trips. Thanks Chris Turner &...

This place was very clean and comfortable. I arrived at 8:00 p.m., and the air conditioner was on in the room for us. Everything was clean & functional, the bed was comfortable, and the shower head was fantastic. The mini fridge was nice and cold, there was a small microwave there, plus a coffee maker. I wish there were more electrical outlets. Nowadays, motels have the outlets with the USB ports, this had nothing; I had to plug in my phone by the sink. Work needs to be done on the parking lot, you couldn't see the lines where to park, and there were cigarette butts all over the place. Given the number of weekly residents that were there, it was very quiet, which is surprising. They would have so much more business if they didn't have the weekly and monthly residents. It was price friendly, although I was not informed of the dog fee when I was making the reservation, so that was a surprise. It's difficult to find somebody at the front desk, but when they showed up, my key and was receipt were ready. I will definitely stay here again...