Comfort Inn & Suites Baltimore Inner Harbor — Hotel in Baltimore

I am writing to inform you of a very dangerous situation that took place on 7/30 at the Comfort Inn & Suites Baltimore Inner Harbor 120 E Lombard Street.

First, a little information about myself and professional background. I was on vacation this past weekend with my wife, 10-year-old daughter and elderly mother-in law. I am an electrical engineer that has been involved with designing and building numerous buildings, including hotels along the east coast.

At around 5:00 am the power went out at the Comfort Inn & Suites Baltimore Inner Harbor , no big deal, right! Not so much. I look out the window from our 10th floor room, to see if it was an issue with the buildings power or the whole area. It appeared power was on to some building in the area. I then opened the door to the main corridor and noticed the 1st of many very unsafe and dangerous conditions at the hotel. There was no lighting (Emergency Egress) in the corridor, including the required exit lights. These are required to be illuminated in the event of a power outage. I called the front desk to make them aware of the situation. I was told that there was a power outage and that BG&E had been contacted. I informed them that the Emergency Egress Lighting was not functioning and they had a very unsafe condition on their hands. I was told they we trying to contact their manager. I waited about a ½ hour for the power to come back on, it did not. Being and electrical engineer, I proceeded down the unlit stairwell for the 10th floor to the lobby to see if I could assist with getting the power back on. In the lobby, I met 3 very young, inexperienced employees who were trying to contact their manager. I asked if any of them knew where the main electric room was. They brought me back to a closet which had a small subpanel in it. I Informed them that that was not the main electric room. I asked if there was a maintenance person on staff. They indicated he was on vacation. While looking for the main electric room with one of the employees, I came across the Fire Alarm Control Panel. I noticed it was not on. 2nd and most dangerous condition. The buildings fire alarm system was inoperable and the building and all of its guests were unprotected. At this point the employee was on speaker phone with her manager. The manager was telling the employee to bring Danishes to the guests in their rooms. You can’t make this SH#!@t up. I said out loud so the manager could hear, “You have bigger problems than Danishes and I am calling 911. You should really get onsite.”

I then called 911 and explained the situation. They transferred me to the fire department. I explained the situation to them and the response I received from the captain in charge was a little surprising. I was told that if they came out, they would only direct the staff to put a fire watch in place. I informed them that I didn’t believe the staff would know what a fire watch was or could implement it. I was the asked by the Captain, “What would you like us to do”. I informed him that the building and all of its occupants were unprotected. If there was a fire, none of the occupants we be made aware of it. Big Problem! I asked him to please dispatch a fire truck. They did.

I called up to my wife and told her to pack up and that her, my daughter and elderly mother-in law would have to take the unlit stairwell to the lobby using the flashlight on their phone. Once the Fire Department arrived onsite, I then proceeded back up to our room to get our remaining belongings.

I am informing you of this situation, because I believe the people around you should be made aware of this event. Someone should also make sure that the Comfort Inn & Suites Baltimore Inner Harbor 120 E Lombard Street is not allowed to be opened until this situation is resolved.

I spoke with the Baltimore City Fire Department Fire Marshalls office this morning. They indicated that the Comfort Inn & Suites Baltimore Inner Harbor 120 E Lombard Street is closed and that could not comment...

If I could give this hotel a -10000 I would. Worst stay ever and we didn't even stay the original book dates. I could sit here and write a novel on how terrible my experience was with them. When we got there we originally booked a queen which we were informed there weren't anymore so we were "upgraded" to a king suite. Nice huh? The lies one tells! We get upstairs, which by the way you need the key to get in and out the hotel by a certain hour and also need it to go up in the elevator (whatever, small observation compared to the novel you are about to receive). So we get upstairs and the room was terrible! LIKE HORRIBLE! The worst hotel room I have ever stayed in. The ceilings were low, the furniture was falling apart, there were what seemed to be water damage on a wall that was painted over, wall paper was coming off, the sink and door hinges had rust all over them, the bathroom door didn't stay shut let alone lock! I had to hold the door shut when using the toilet. The toilet tank was crooked and ran. The bed was uncomfortable and was super small, definitely not enough room for two people. The main bar sink was all rusted and gross and the cabinets on that didn't even align right. The ceilings were low, it was noisy, and we didn't even attempt to turn on the tv in the bedroom. As soon as we walked in we decided we would not be continuing our stay come morning. It was super noisy too. This isn't even the worst part. When checking out, I was told that I would be charged for one night stay plus taxes and the rest of my money would be refunded. I checked out on May 13th. Come to find out, I was charged THREE times for three different dates. It took the whole weekend to get in touch with the general manager which by the way was "somewhere in the building" when I checked out but not available. In total I was charged $556.XX on my credit card when my original stay was $395.XX. Mind you, that is with a 15% discount (so the GM said, i honestly believe nothing he says). When I finally got in touch with the GM he didn't receive any of my messages I left for him. Then he told me that I had a minimum required stay so I was charged two times (FALSE! there was a minimum for the discount but since i didn't stay that required amount, the discount dropped. That's fine, still not worth over $236 for a THURSDAY night. If you look on their site right now, their thursday night is like $78! So I have TWO UNAUTHORIZED charges on my account. The GM was rude and I had to get off the phone with him because he was of no help. Called CHOICE who i booked with, put in multiple complaints with them about the hotel. They called the hotel and the GM told them something completely different than what was explained to me at check out! He told them I was to only be charged $98 and I would receive a full refund on the other charges. I was told refund would be processed and back on card in 3-5 business days, waited those days and only the $320.70 was refunded! Called back, GM says the full refund was processed later that SAME DAY THE $320 WAS REFUNDED but since it was at a later time then it would take longer to process, he said 5-7 business days. Here we are at day EIGHT and no refund. I had to file a dispute with my CC for unauthorized charges which will take up to 90 days! I have been on the phone countless times with choice, the GM (to no avail), and the credit card company to rectify this situation. I do NOT believe the GM processed the CORRECT refund amount at all and is lying in hopes that I would get tired of getting my refunds back. I did NOT authorize those charges, but I summed the hotel up to be money hungry. WORST choice to stay here ever. No parking at all, had to pay for parking with no in and out privileges. A complete NIGHTMARE of a stay and STILL dealing with this headache! Thank GOD I looked at my credit card transaction history on a whim that Saturday or I would of never known they TRIPLE charged me. STAY AWAY!! I also reported...

My family and I have stayed at Choice Hotels before numerous times and this particular hotel does not even remotely come close to their usual standard. I took a chance booking this hotel because the location was great and it was on of the few that allowed our dog to come. I had seen a few poor reviews mainly stemming from the recent change in branding and the chaos from renovations but I figured they were perhaps very picky or judged very harshly and we've always enjoye our stays with Choice hotels before...no, unfortunately they were spot on. I knew there was no parking specifically for this hotel but with 2 large parking decks right across the street I didn't sweat that. It was however very inconvenient that there was no pull up area to even unload before parking, everything needed to be unloaded from the parking deck and walked across the street. As soon as we entered the lobby I immediately noticed debris on the floor and large pallets of boxes everywhere I'm assuming for the renovations. We checked in later that evening around 7pm so I figured we just hit at a busy time...it's now 5pm the following evening and all that stuff is still there. It took nearly 45 mins to check in because there was only 1 desk attendant and an enormous line. They had overbooked and were desperately shuffling rooms around to accommodate everyone. Our room was one that was overbooked but we were upgraded to a suite with a king and pull out couch...not ideal for 2 adults and 2 children but we made it work. As I was standing in line to check in, I won't lie, I was checking other hotel availabilities and had there been any I would've canceled right then and there and ate whatever charges they gave me. We finally got in...the room was decent but left much to be desired. It didn't appear visibly dirty but it wasn't a room I felt comfortable with my kids being on the floor or even using the tap water to brush their teeth. The next morning, my husband went out to grB breakfast for us ( continental breakfast was included but again given the condition of what we've already experienced I would not be ok with ourselves or our kids eating it) and thank God he did because when he left at 11 the breakfast had not even been set out despite it supposed to be available starting at 6am. The receptionist said it would ake an additional hour to prepare because the vendors had not delivered it yet.. Again, it's now after 5pm and the food the vendors brought is still sitting packaged in the lobby.. We spent most of the next day out and about, had a wonderful time and returned to a similar scene as when we arrived....a long line with many people not able to get the room, or any room at all, due to overbooking. We still have one more night here but I have put off writing my review long enough. We've been determined not to let this spoil our trip but it certainly has been a major disappointment to us considering our previous experiences with this hotel chain. That being said, the Staff we have seen (which has only been 1 receptionist and 1 housekeeper who was on her way out) have been very friendly and and cordial and have tried their best to accommodate us and have been very apologetic about the experience. Looking at this situation, I feel the staff are just as frustrated as the guests. We have "dealt with it" for lack of a better way to describe it but we definitely won't be returning...