Wingate by Wyndham Columbia — Hotel in Columbia Township

I stayed here last week and would not recommend staying here, if you can. I needed a place to stay for two nights as Columbia hosts MO’s bar exam in July. Because of the price and unavailability of other hotels in the area, I decided to give it a try. I had not stayed at a Wyndham facility before and the reviews were better than I had anticipated, especially considering the price. I will not be making this mistake again.

I should preface this review with the fact that this is the first time I have ever written a review for a business on Google. I haven’t felt the need before to write them even when I have had prior poor hotel experiences. Often, I travel for business and have stayed in many hotels (from cheap to luxury). No stay is perfect, but this one just left a bad taste in my mouth.

Upon arriving to the room, it smelled musty and reeked of cigarettes. The whole hotel is supposed to be “non-smoking.” The room was also very warm and it took several hours to get the temperature down to a comfortable setting to even sleep. The hotel itself is quite outdated and needs many updates, but I was barely in the room at all but to sleep so I didn’t care too much because I was very busy taking my bar exam! While I wasn’t too thrilled with such, I’ve dealt with much worse upon my travels and this is not the reason I decided to write this.

A few days after checking out, I checked my bank summary to find extra charges beyond what I had booked on their website. The hotel charged for incidentals and a separate pre-authorization charge of a ~$140. Which I didn’t really care too much about the pre authorization charge (fairly STANDARD), it was just very weird that my credit card i oroginalthis separately than coming off the total I called the hotel and they told me they added a charge for “stealing a pillow.” $25 to be exact. Apparently, the hotel has an issue with guests stealing items from the room. And from what I was told the hotel “does not charge for incidentals unless they are absolutely sure that items have been taken from the room.” Imagine hearing that when you actually did not steal anything from the room and the guest gets blamed for the hotel’s mistake !! I asked to speak with the manager thinking that the charges would be taken off and that there would be some sort of apology or something for the mistake. Nope nothing. The manager was adamant that I had taken the pillow to which I explained to the manager was absolutely not the case. They would not take the charge off. From my perspective, the Manager did not seem to care or understand. Or attempt to find a resolve here. ESPECIALLY, because as a guest what PROOF can a guest show you at this point after the stay. There is none. Your just going to be stuck paying for a mistake they made. Really just a very unprofessional experience altogether. One that could have all been avoided if they apologized for the mistake and resolved it right when I called by removing the charge. But no the manager’s solution (even after I called two separate times to voice my frustration with how this has been handled) was SILENCE. She didn’t believe me and was adamant I stole an item.

Moral of the story here, unless you are willing to pay for more costs than what you originally booked for - be aware that the hotel may charge this to your stay even after you try and explain that they made a mistake. Doesn’t matter. Consumer has to pay for their mistake and REPEATEDLY tell the consumer HOW they stole an item, that was not stolen. Also, I don’t think that the hotel charging incidentals to guests is a one off occurrence either. As explained by the manager - the hotel has a history of guests stealing items from the room. So, when the charge shows up on your account and then Wingate by Wyndham doesn’t fix it after you call and explain they must’ve made a mistake. They won’t care. Expect to pay more money out of your pocket in paying for a mistake they made to which they repeatedly will say you STOLE AN ITEM EVEN WHEN YOU...

Nice stay. The staff were super friendly and professional. Check in was very pleasant and I got a bag of goodies for joining some loyalty program I think. The room was a little bit dark but you can lift the shades and it will be well-lit then. The room was clean, bathroom was clean. Fitness center is 24 hours. I tend to go to the gym late at night and I had no problem. Hotel guests are also very nice and friendly and I believe the type of people who stay in a property can tell you a lot about its class. We all said good morning to each other and made small talk. Breakfast is nice and free. The breakfast area is very nice. If you sit by the window you can enjoy some green area. Breakfast had some options like eggs, potatoes (sooo good, try those), pancake mix that you can easily turn into pancakes with their machine, cereal, some fruits, bacon, sausage, some nice tiny ham sandwiches, and my favorite little biscuit type breads. Coffee is good and it is available 24/7 in the breakfast area. You will also have a nice coffeemaker in the room. I am a solo traveler on a business trip and for people like me, I think this place is really good and safe. They do not discriminate at all against solo travelers. If anything, they take better care of you. My trip was extended and I made the mistake to move to another hotel just to try something new and I shouldn’t have! 😁 If your trip got extended and you are in Wingate, I recommend that you stay there. Other hotels are not that good. The hotel is located by the highway. So you will be very comfortable if you have a car. I have come all the way from the East Coast and didn’t have a car but Lyft usually arrives very quickly. This is a business-friendly professional hotel and that was very important for me. A little more about the room, the bed was very comfortable with lots of good new fluffy pillows, the desk chair was sturdy, the armchair was relatively comfortable, the bathroom was very clean and the closet was pretty good for a few suits and it also had an iron and ironing board. There was a safety box but it didn’t work. I think l should have gone to the reception and ask someone to come fix it. I am sure they would take care of it if I had asked. One night I had left my room keys in the room and went to the reception to ask for help. The guy there helped me in no time although he was on the phone with another guest! The multitasking was amazing. I hope they take good care of their staff because they are very well-mannered and work really hard. Internet was good and the TV had my...

I am in tears as I write this review. I have a difficult time traveling, but now that my kids are in college I have been trying to see them as often as I can. I was nervous to stay at a hotel in Columbia, Missouri, a town that I had never been to. However, when I stayed at this Wingate, by Wyndham, I had a positive experience. I decided to give it a try again, and I had stayed there several times when I made the reservation for this past weekend. Unfortunately, my plans changed, and I couldn't make my stay at the hotel. I always choose the Wyndham Rewards flexible rate, and the cancellation policy has always been the same for every reservation. I need to cancel within 24 hours prior to 4 PM on the day of arrival. I canceled two days before, and I received an email that confirmed my reservation was canceled with a cancellation number and no other message. Yesterday, I opened my credit card statement and I was charged $574! It turns out that not only did they charge me for the first night of my stay for this reservation, but they also charged me for a duplicate reservation that I accidentally made. They said that on their end it showed a 30-day cancellation policy so they will not issue a refund. They said they won't even refund one of the nights because technically both of them were made, and they were both 30-day cancellations in their system. The two people I spoke with on the phone when I called the hotel were so unkind to me, and so unwilling to help in any way. What ever happened to basic human kindness? The reason I kept going back to the Wingate by Wyndham in Columbia was because people were nice to me and my family. Then, as soon as I made a mistake on an app that's very difficult to navigate, they won't help me. It will take me months before I can travel again to see my son, as I now have to pay $574 in cancellation fees for a hotel stay I didn't even get to enjoy. No, I didn't keep my email from when I made the reservation because I really trusted the people at this hotel and didn't think I would ever need to show them documentation of the 24 hour cancellation policy that was clearly stated on the app. I am writing this review so that hopefully someone reading it will make sure they keep every communication from this company so that they don't have to experience the disheartening feeling of knowing their hard-earned money is not coming back to them. I will never stay at the Wingate by Wyndham in Columbia,...