The Inn at 97 Winder — Hotel in Detroit

It's disappointing to give a review of a place you haven't been able to stay at because of a severe lack of communication. I'm leaving this in the hopes that others will have better luck than I did. Back in April when I booked my room online I accidentally booked a full size bed instead of a king. This was how communication went via email: Me: Hi there! I recently booked a room that I swore was for a King size bed but when I was looking at my reservation it says it’s just a Full? If someone could let me know what my options are that would be great. Thank you (I provided my confirmation number here) Hotel: We do not have any King rooms available on that date. Me: Are there any rooms with two beds available? If so I'd be interested in reserving one if it's not too much trouble. I can call with card info if that is available. Hotel: You can go to our website to book the room with 2 queen beds. Do that soon as possible we only have one room with 2 beds. If you book the room with the 2 beds please make sure to send an e-mail to cancel the full size room. Me: I was able to book a new room, confirmation ###### so we can cancel the full size room, confirmation #####. Please let me know if you need anything else.

This was back in May and it wasn’t until the week of my trip I realized I never got confirmation from the hotel that the room I booked by mistake WAS canceled. So I tried calling and for some reason the call wouldn’t connect fully? I tried numerous times, both their local and 800 number but nothing. I tried again the next day and even called from a different phone in case my cell was being weird but still couldn’t get through. I sent a new email asking if they had canceled the previous room because I didn’t want to get charged for booking two rooms but didn’t hear back. I ended up filling out their online inquiry form and said: I've tried calling but for some reason it will not go through and I've emailed asking about my upcoming stay. I wanted to verify that I had a previous reservation cancelled. I had an email conversation when I had realized my mistake but never got confirmation the first reservation, #######, was canceled. If someone could verify this that would be great! Thank you!

The only response I received was “We have cancelled your reservation for October 6,2024.”

Here I assumed that since I gave the confirmation number of the one I needed canceled, I was in good shape. Unfortunately, when I arrived to check in, I was informed that BOTH reservations were canceled. The lady who I spoke with was very kind and cheery (Denise? I’m so sorry I can’t remember for sure I was a tad frazzled in the moment) and did apologize for the inconvenience and I understand there really wasn’t anything she could have done but seriously? I kept thinking maybe I had been doing something wrong or not asking enough questions but when I could hardly get a hold of ANYONE to get ANY information that wasn’t my fault. I’d say at least I wasn’t charged anything except I had to pay almost double for another hotel because of their lack of communication and honestly, customer service.

Be extra careful when making a reservation is all I can say and hopefully you’ll have better luck than I did……….but it really shouldn’t feel like pulling teeth to get the bare minimum...

Beware! This place has achieved an aesthetic. But as we all know, looks aren’t everything. Aside from the authentic decor, there were no redeeming qualities about the experience of our 1-night stay in a "premium" room. I stay in a lot of hotels and splurged on this place for a special occasion, only to be sorely disappointed. You want a 4-star hotel? Save your money and go elsewhere.

Questionable security at best. The lock on the room door was a standard handle lock that was finicky and difficult to operate. The key would spin and spin - I was never sure it locked and there are no additional locks on the door (deadbolts, chains, etc). Once in the room, it was very cold and we discovered it was only heated by a small space heater on the floor. Not quite what I expect from any hotel, much less a “4-star” hotel, but I figured we'd try it... We unfortunately didn't discover it was inadequate until we woke up shivering at 3am. There are no basic amenities in the room (i.e. coffee maker, mini fridge, cups or drinking glasses, not even a table for our stuff!). We looked up and the chandelier was not secured to the ceiling properly, either. Simply not 4-star quality. THIS is the kicker. Got in the jacuzzi tub (that we paid extra $ for) and when we turned on the jets, a bunch of disgusting crud came blasting out. Absolutely horrifying. See the photos. Jumped in the shower to wash off the nasty slime, but the shower was also janky! The knobs were falling off the wall, difficult to operate, and the temperature kept wildly fluctuating. We eventually got it “good enough” and took an uncomfortable shower. Got out of the shower and discovered how scratchy and rough the towels were. We’re talking bottom-of-the-barrel budget motel quality. Come on! For $375/night, at least go to Meijer and buy me a soft towel! lol but truly, just terrible. Oh, and no towel racks or hooks anywhere to hang them on. Are the beds from 1887, too?? I’ve slept on pull out couches more comfortable than this bed. It collapses in the middle (like a deflating air mattress) and you can feel the springs jabbing you. Give me a pillow top, at least! Again, NOT 4-star quality. Even just getting INTO the hotel is weird. The front door is locked and has no windows. You have to ring a doorbell to be let in, but the doorbell was missing so we had to call some phone number and eventually somebody would come get us. Even once we got our keys, we still couldn’t use the front door and had to walk around to the back to get in. And they were using the parking lot as event parking, so it was PACKED with cars. Breakfast? Served? It's barely a run of the mill continental. And they awkwardly forced all the guests to sit at the one table, even though there were other tables in the sitting area.

Finally, to top it all off, when I requested to speak with a manager about my stay, there conveniently wasn't one there. I asked them to call me when they were in, but of course they never did and when I called them, she was never there. The ladies on staff when I was there were nice enough, but whoever is running this joint should be ashamed. Thanks for the laughably paltry refund, I guess, but this is without a doubt NOT a...

If I could leave 0 stars, I would. Our stay and experience was absolutely terrible. The supervisor was not apologetic what so ever that we had to wait an additional 4 hours to get into our room. Our check in was supposed to be at 3, called at 1 to see if we could get in early, but we couldn’t because nothing was clean yet. Arrived at 3, still not clean. We missed our dinner reservation at 4 because our room still wasn’t ready. Waited until right before 4, still not ready. Eventually had to leave for dinner, in jeans because we couldn’t get into our room to change, and then couldn’t get into the room until after 5. Had to attempt to get ready in the public bathroom. When we finally got back to the hotel, the valet wouldn’t let us in the parking lot! We told him multiple times that we were guests at the hotel, because the hotel rents the parking lot from another company that sells spots during events. We already paid $25 to park there as guests, and they wouldn’t listen to us when we kept telling them we were guests and kept trying to get us to pay. After 10 minutes, and talking to three different guys, they say “oh! We didn’t know you were guests here”... after we just told them thirty times we were. Then, the fob they gave us to get into the hotel didn’t work. So, we were stuck outside for five minutes in the cold. Finally got in after calling, and again he was apologetic for our horrible experience.

The manager did not let us know what time Breakfast was or what time it ended, so we came downstairs at 10 only to find out it ended at 10. He did not give us any information at check in, nothing. After he offered the other people that were in line with us, some of whom waited more than 5 hours to get into their rooms, room rate adjustments for everything... I mentioned it to him for us as well, and he acted like he didn’t know what I was talking about. He then said something along the lines of “it never hurts to ask. I’ll see who I can talk to to get that for you and let you know.” So next morning at check out, already with no breakfast, we waited for 30 minutes at the front desk for someone to help us. The lady running the front desk was seriously in the next room, could see us, and didn’t come help until I finally went and said something about her helping us. This was after four or five other groups tried to check out as well, and just got frustrated and left. So, she comes to help. I mentioned the room rate adjustment, and she said she’d have to call the guy we talked to yesterday because he’s the one in charge of it! We were lied to multiple times, weren’t told information to make our stay go more smoothly, nothing.

I really wish that I were exaggerating on how bad our experience was, but I’m not even a little bit. It was terrible. My husband and I are very patient people, but this was ridiculous. We will NOT be...