La Quinta Inn by Wyndham Columbia SE / Fort Jackson — Hotel in Columbia

Do not stay here! This was the worst experience ever! The doors to the outside were never locked. They were to be accessible by key card only. One of the front desk ladies has a real issue with the pool. I Stayed here with my daughter in law and my 2 grandsons ages 4 and 6. We flew across the country from Wa state to South Carolina to see my son graduate from basic training at Fort Jackson and spend about 6 hours with him before he left for Oklahoma that night for AIT. My grandsons had not seen their dad in 3 months they had 4 hours together all they wanted to do was go swimming with dad. Everybody got ready headed to the pool to find it closed because it sprinkled a little bit that morning. At the time we tried to use the pool it was sunny and 92 the boys were in the room crying. I went back down explained the situation to the front desk gal. She was rude so rude. And told me she didnt care what the situation was. It was policy to close it in the rain...but it wasnt raining hadn't rained in 5 hours. I mentioned she was not accurate following policy and rules and asked why she closed the pool at 8 p.m. the night before...we had just jumped in and she made us get out. She said because it closes at 8. I pointed out that the pool rules sign said 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. she was furious. Absolutely said she didnt care she wasnt opening the pool. I called Wyndham twice they cslled her and told her to open the pool. She refused both times. As we were leaving to take my son back to base she opened the pool. She waited until it was time to go and opened as we were leaving. The next morning as we were packing up to load up and leave I was the last one in the room had just come back up from unlocking the jeep. I walked into the room and water dropped on my head. Just as I looked up a wall of water was pouring from a repaired sheet rock seem. I couldn't find my phone I picked up the phone in the room it didnt work. I was ankle deep in water yelling for help. Ran to the elevator not working as the fire alarms were going off. I went to open the door to the stairwell...locked I tried the next locked and the third locked. I ran down the hall housekeeping finally came to help me and called the front desk lady. The housekeeping ladies were helping me throw my stuff out in the hallway. The front desk gal said idk what to do. I told her to shut off the water main and evacuate the guests from the hotel. Just then the fireman arrived. She gave c them the wrong room number. As I was going in 1 last time to find my phone the entire bathroom and hallway ceiling crashed down and a river of water poured into the room I ran out and asked the maintenance guy to unlock the stairwell door so I could out of the hotel before the whole thing crashed down. I was told the 3rd floor was under construction and the guys hit a water pipe. The construction crew had not yet arrived for the day. Also the front desk lady did not disclose that the water I was covered in was from an out flow pipe...I already knew as I smelled like a port o potty. She said the hotel manager will call you but give her a little time she us out of the country. I have not heard a word. Its been almost 3 weeks not a word. Other than the housekeeping and maintenance staff everybody else was rude and incompetent. Prior to the room flooding and the ceiling falling in....the room was filled with mold and filthy dirty. My grandson was getting his snacks from the shelf below the microwave he saw something sticking out from under the microwave my son saw him reach for it jumped up and told him stop dont touch anything over there walked over with a napkin and pulled out a condom. The place should be condemned . And the front desk lady with red hair has no business being in the hospitality industry. she needs to go spend some time with children who have a parent in the military that have not seen nor spoke to their mom or dad in three months and experience that pain. God Bless the men and women who selflessly serve so that we can enjoy our freedom. And the sacrifice their children and...

I have never met a nastier front desk person than the person working May 3 at 11:50PM.

Since about 8:30PM, I was impressed by the level of service, at SE location, as I had been receiving text messages with a live person asking if they could set anything up for me. I told customer service I was just looking for the number to call and tell them I'd be arriving late around midnight, and to please hold my room. They responded, and I also decided to have a late check out for $30 at 1 PM.

After driving 10 hours, I accidentally went to the wrong La Quinta (NE location) and wish I had the front desk on their over to switch reservations. The NE location looked at my texts and said "you're at the wrong location, would you like to call and switch?" I felt some sense of loyalty from the texts, so I said no, I had everything set up at SE.

When I arrived at the SE hotel, the front desk clerk informed me that she didn’t have a reservation for me, and she was adamant. When I tried to show her the texts, she said "we don't text." So, really confused at this point, I sat down to look up my reservation number, and call customer service, and I then spelled out my name, too, to which the clerk said "I know how to spell Shoemaker." "And I've been doing this job a really long time, I know what I'm doing." Really? Wow, because everyone else tries to spell it multiple ways, and I thought there could be an error there. And someone is a little too excited to be telling someone she can't accomodate them. there was no convincing her. I then called reservations with her on the phone and she refused to give me her name saying “they don’t need to know my name.”

The best part is while I was on with reservations, the mean clerk found my reservation as already checked in, with a room assigned. "I found it, do you want to stay?" I said "I'm afraid of the room you'll give me," to which she responded, "I can't give you a room, they already assigned you one and they weren't supposed to do that." "You're not in my arrivals list, that's why I couldn't find it." And she went on and on...chastising whoever worked before her.

She then checked someone else in and said something about them using deodorizer on the carpet, and it should be ok. Sounded like the last room. Hmmm...

There was no apology, for after all, SHE had made an error. So, at this point, i was on with reservation, getting the name of the kind person helping me, and alliterating about the clerk, and she literally cancelled my reservation, and kicked me out of the hotel (at this point, she had also asked me to leave several times, she wasn't dealing with my "attitude.")

Reservations could not find me a room, couldn't give me a rate, and she couldn't wait to get me off the phone fast enough, transferred me to the front desk somewhere, who told me they were booked.

I was then stuck with a five more hour drive I’ve already driven 10 because there are no rooms available nearby. So, I drove back to the NE location, and KP, the awesome friendly clerk there checked me in, and waived my late check out fee for the awful experience I had.

I have a feeling karma will find this front desk clerk. Maybe she will find herself on a 2-day trip with nowhere to stay at midnight. She definitely shouldn't be the greeter at a hotel chain.

I wonder if she doesn't read the memos, or management didn't brief her about new services such as hotel texting, as well.

Wow, how unnecessary to treat a guest this way. I guess I was meant to stay at the better location, for some reason. Now that I've been to both, and heard how I wasn't the only one to get them confused, I think all the good reviews are from the NE location--THAT's...

To be clear, I travel for work and spend a couple weeks at a time in the same spot. Overall an okay place to rest, but not much more. Nice staff and clean rooms. Terrible-really-no-good Wi-Fi. The good: Room was simple and clean, including the bathroom and sink. The desk is huge. Enough for me to really spread out and work if I need to. The water pressure and temp is great. I could run a bath if I needed to and I didn't need to worry about it going cold. Towels and linens looked and smelled clean. Pillows and bed were soft and really good to come back to each night. There were renovations going on during my stay, but they only happening during the time so there wasn't crazy banging happening at all hours. Likewise, rooms are overall pretty quiet in my experience. I almost never heard people around me; even during the day. The pool is pretty solid. The renovations blocked easy access, but the pool area was really clean, and the water didn't feel over-chlorinated or gross. It was perfect for the unseasonably warm October we've been in. Service is solid. Staff is all really nice. I didn't really ask for a lot, but they were always good. The not-so-good: Location is somewhat inconvenient if you're taking the bus line. It takes an hour and a half to get to the downtown area/University and, if you do drive, taking a left (toward the city center) from the hotel is borderline impossible even off peak hours as it's on a main arterial road (6 lanes plus middle dividing lane). Food options include a Shoney's, Waffle House and similar within walking distance, but if you're needing to stay for a couple weeks (like me) these options are not enough. Not to mention if you're traveling with the hope of staying healthy, these options aren't really options. Not the fault of the hotel, but something to consider if you're going to be here for a week or more. Moreover, the fitness center is very minimal, only having an elliptical, stationary and a treadmill (that was out of order last I checked). Additionally, the tv in the room was out of order, as well. The really bad: the free Wi-Fi is basically a joke. I couldn't get a stable connection for more than a few minutes at a time. No matter where I was in the hotel, either. It's borderline irresponsible to say they have free WiFi at all. I'm posting this from my cell phone on my mobile internet because I'm concerned that small of a task will fail on this Wi-Fi network....