Delta Hotels Bristol — Hotel in Bristol

TRAVELER BEWARE!!!!! First and foremost, upon check-in, the front desk clerk attempted to tell me that I owed full price for my stay and that my card on file would be charged as such. I ask her why, because I was actually staying on a points+cash night, which would, in fact, be less than half of the dollar amount she JUST quoted me. She then looked at her screen again, and said "Oh, you're right!" and continued on with general conversation. I ask about breakfast hours, she told me from 6-10am through the double doors behind me, and then stated "It's decent, but pricey." I ask what type of food they served, and she gladly found a menu for me to peruse for a moment. I thanked her, and we went to the room. The next morning, I sent my daughter down to check us out, as I gathered our things, and she called me after speaking to the front desk clerk, to say that they wouldn't giver her a receipt because they told her they weren't allowed to because it was a 3rd party booking. After I hung up with my daughter, I got a text from my bank, saying that my card had been charged $20.00. NOT a hold, mind you, or a preauthorization, but a CHARGE. I stopped at the front desk, on my way out, and again, ask to check out, and that I needed a copy of my receipt. The lady was VERY rude, and stated "I'm the Front Desk Manager and I've already told your daughter that we don't give out 3rd party receipts!" At that time, I advised her, that a 3rd party receipt, in fact, is a receipt for when you book through a travel company or website, NOT IHG's app. She looked confused, and looked at her computer screen and scrolled for a few moments, and then said, "Well, all I know is, It's showing 3rd party on here and we can't give you that receipt because it shows how much your stay was on our end and it's never the amount people pay and it causes them to be really upset so I can't give you that info!". I then ask for the General Manager, because the plaque on the wall said "Manager on Duty" and had the name "Duy" . She stated that he was not in, and would be in sometime after 10am. I then ask her "Why is his name posted, then, as being the Manager on Duty, if he isn't here - physically? She couldn't answer me. So then I ask her "If YOU are a Front Desk Manager, as you just stated, why isn't YOUR name listed as "Manager on Duty"?" and again, she couldn't answer me. All that she could say was "That's just the way we do it here, we always leave his name up!" I then ask her why my card was charged $20.00, and she said "It wasn't a charge, it's just an authorization in case you want to order room service, we do it to everybody." I told her I didn't sign or authorize for my card to be charged, or for any funds held, other than my room charge and tax. I ask her to show me on my registration card that I signed, where there was a disclaimer stating that I was authorizing a charge or a hold for Room Service, or ANY additional amount to which she replied "There's nothing on there, it's just what we do here, we do it to everybody!". I ask for the GM's name, and she wrote it down on the back of a key envelope. I ask for her name, and she was not wearing a nametag of any sort, and she wrote down "Jennifer". I ask for her last name so that I could identify her correctly, and she stated "I'm not giving you my last name!" To which I said, fine... I'll take your photo then! And as she was saying "I'm not letting you take my photo, either!" The photo was taken. I tried calling back that day 10x to speak to the GM, and he was NEVER available. I called back after 4pm, and spoke to a clerk named Kasey (sp??) who stated that the only manager still there was Susan, and she transferred me back to Susan, and I went directly to the vm, no live person. I hung up and called back, and explained that I needed to speak actually TO someone, not leave a vm, and she was confused as to why I had went to vm. She put me on hold, and I was on hold for over 15 minutes, with no one picking up the phone. Needless to say, the $20 was NOT a hold - it...

The ONLY thing making this a one-star rating is the overall comfort of the room. The hotel was FILTHY! Granted, they were in the midst of renovation but the rate should have reflected that and it did not. The room furnishings were falling apart and there were no amenities that I could say anything positive about. The wifi was so bad that pages wouldn't load and we ended up using our mobile hotspot instead. The Marriot hotel across the parking lot had a stronger signal in our room at this hotel! There was no vending or ice available on the floor. There was a coffee maker, coffee and tea bags in the room but no cups and no way to heat water to make tea ( the Kurig coffee maker would not heat water without a K-cup in it ). When going to the front desk to get cups and ask about hot water, I was given a single cup ( I had to ASK for two ) and was offered use of the microwave in their mini-store. When I asked where to get water, I was offered to BUY a bottle of water and had to ask where the restroom was to get it from the tap. They offered NOTHING that even the most basic, budget hotels offer and seem to be more concerned with tapping their guests for every dollar that they can. We were told that they had a restaurant in the hotel ( but it is closed on the weekend and, later learned that it is a "temporary" set up in a conference room. We can only imagine what atrocious food they might be offering in those conditions ). The "fitness center" is, likewise, a few pieces of exercise equipment setup in another conference room and, they have an outdoor pool that is inaccessible due to the renovation -- of course NONE of these "inconveniences" or "omissions" from their booking description were disclosed until we actually asked about them or happened to find them on our own.

The air conditioner in the room roared like a freight train, no exhaust fan in the bathroom, no full length mirror, no in-room microwave. That's just what we noticed during our first night!

We happened to visit Bristol during their "Border Bash" festival and were treated to the most awesome hospitality and live music and we will DEFINITELY be returning to visit again soon, however, this hotel will not even be considered at ANY rate due to their lack of transparency and indifferent attitude during our stay.

02/12/2023 UPDATE: While we have not returned to Bristol since our previous stay, I have made plans for later this Spring and was pleased to notice that this hotel is now a Marriott property ( and no longer appears to be the "raging dumpster fire" Holiday Inn property that we had the misfortune to experience ). Based on our past experiences with Marriott, which have all been wonderful, as well as the photos of the hotel after renovation, I have increased our rating to "3-Stars" ( instead of the previous dismal "1-Star" ). Im certain that when we arrive there later this year, we will upgrade our rating of this property again based on our...

I would not recommend anyone stay here. I certainly will not ever stay here again. The staff is incredibly rude, like you are bothering them. We arrived early and was told our room was ready but they do not allow early check ins, ok not a huge deal. We had coffee from an outside vendor and because there is no outside food or drink allowed back in the conference room area we choose to sit in the lobby and finish our coffee. A hotel employee which we assumed to be the front end manager or some sort of management came over to us told us we needed to move back to the conference room area since the group we were with this weekend had booked that area. We told her since we had outside drinks we were not allowed back there without possibly facing a $750 fine. She agreed that was in fact the rules. We also told her we would gladly go to our room since it was ready but front desk would not allow us to check in. Again she agreed that was the case. We asked her if we were bothering anyone by sitting there and she told us no, so we continued to sit. Isn’t that what a hotel lobby is for? The weekend progressed and said management employee patrolled the hallways and checked bags to ensure no outside food or drink made it back to the conference room areas. BUT if you purchase food or drink from the hotel, that is allowed back in the conference room areas. 🤔 Only 1 elevator was working. If you decided to take the stairs you had to walk 2 flights of stairs OUTSIDE the hotel to get to the second floor INSIDE the hotel. The pool gate hung wide open all weekend. No key card was ever required to enter the building. (From inside the pool to get inside to the second floor stairs) if you order DoorDash or pizza delivery, all outside food deliveries are supposed to be checked and left at the front desk for you to come get. In the conference room area there was 2 enter/exit doors. One of those doors was CHAIN locked on the outside putting us all at risk of there was a fire or emergency. We had 5 guests in our room, 2 adults and 3 children and we were left 3 towels. Oh and on Friday and Saturday night there was loud live karaoke in the restaurant/bar area until at least midnight. The interstate is directly beside the hotel so if you are a light sleeper, pick a different hotel. They also allow pets. Dogs were everywhere and you can smell them too. I love dogs and have 2 of my own but dogs have total free reign in the hotel but you better not take outside food or drink in the conference room areas, but if you purchase it from the hotel that’s ok! Lastly in one of the restrooms, a ceiling tile is missing and is very nasty/trashy looking. Who knows what’s up...