Sleep Inn Raleigh Durham Airport — Hotel in Durham

You do not want to stay at this Sleep Inn!||||Other than the night desk manager, the people we dealt with at this property had Asia-subcontinent accents and could be difficult to understand. I came to believe that the problems we encountered may have stemmed from a different cultural approach to customer service. ||||We checked in late at night, around midnight. The elevator didn't work, but we were not told this until AFTER we checked in. (This turned out to be important, later.) So, my wife and I had to lug our luggage up three floors.||||The refrigerator didn't work, but, of course, we could not have known that until AFTER checking in. (Again, this turned out to be important, later.) ||||My son, who was staying in a room down the hall, said that his refrigerator did not work, either. We called the desk. ||||The guy at the desk came up and couldn’t get it to work. Couldn't even figure out if it was plugged in. The cord disappeared into the back frame of a dresser.||||The toilet, when flushed, splashed refuse up into my wife's face. ||||The pillows had a foul odor. Again, none of this could have been known until AFTER checking in.||||The next morning, we attempted to check-out because of these problems, and were told it was not possible to check out. ||||The desk manager's Asia-subcontinent accent made him somewhat difficult to understand. He said that we could leave if we wanted to, but because we had already checked in, and had reserved three nights, they would not check us out. We would be charged for 3 nights whether we stayed or not. ||||The desk manager told me it was Choice Hotels' policy, and there was no way to override it on his computer. I asked to speak to the manager. He said that the owner/manager would be there within an hour. We left and came back in an hour. No manager. ||||We waited in the lobby for another hour. No manager. Another hour went by. ||||Meanwhile, the guy behind the desk would engage with the owner/manager on the phone (in an Asia-subcontinent language), then come to us, give us some excuse for the delay, and say that the owner/manager would be there shortly.||||He, also, told us that the elevator works "sometimes", and that if anyone needs help up the stairs, the front desk would help. ||||Shortly thereafter, a woman came into the lobby carrying two, heavy, plastic shopping bags and asked the man behind the desk if the elevator was working. The answer: "No." ||||The woman rolled her eyes and looked exasperated and angry. She stood at the foot of the stairs for many seconds, seething, taking deep breaths, and bracing herself for the climb, but desk manager offered no assistance.||||He offered to move us to a room on the first floor. My question: and what if that room, also, has foul smelling pillows or a refrigerator that doesn’t work? The answer: “Sorry, that's all I can do for you.”||||I called Choice Hotels Customer Service, which told me that the no-refund policy must be a policy of this particular property because it was not Choice Hotels' policy. ||||The guy behind the desk told me that, no, this was a Choice Hotels' policy and he could not refund the money because (a) I had made the reservation on the Choice Hotels website, and (b) I had received a AAA discount. ||||So, I called Choice Hotels Customer Service back with my complaint case #. They put me on hold and called the front desk. I could hear the front desk guy's side of the conversation. He told Customer Service that it was "policy", and he could not issue a refund because we had booked on the Choice Hotels site and gotten a AAA discount. ||||Customer Service came back on the line with me and told me that, yes, this was a policy of this particular property. So, there was nothing Choice Hotels could do about it. ||||When the call ended, the desk manager told me, “See? Customer Service confirmed that I cannot refund the charges,” even though he had heard Customer Service tell me that it was a policy of this property, not Choice Hotels||||I mentioned to him that, although he said that the reason for no refund was that we had already checked in, we did not know about the elevator, the refrigerator, the toilet, or the pillows until AFTER we checked in. Did not matter. Once checked in, you are charged for the entire stay.||||Finally, he admitted that, despite having kept us waiting for 3 1/2 hours, with promise after promise of the imminent arrival of the owner/manager, that person was never going to arrive.||||If I had not had unavoidable family events scheduled for that evening and the next day, I would have sat in that lobby, all night, and told everyone who walked in: "You Do Not Want To Stay Here!"||||Is it consumer fraud to advertise a working elevator and room refrigerator, not mention that they're not working, and then wait until after check-in to tell them the “once you check-in you can’t check out” policy? You will be hard pressed to find that policy in your online booking process.||||Also, I'd be surprised if a non-functioning elevator did not violate state and federal access requirements.||||This was not just the worst Choice Hotel -- by far! -- that we have ever stayed in, it is -- by far! -- the worst combination of bad accommodations and bad management we have ever encountered at any hotel, anywhere.||||We left that Sleep Inn, kissed more than $200 goodbye in the process, and went to stay at the Wingate Wyndham just down the street.||||I suspect that the reason this property has adopted a "stealth" policy of "no refunds after check-in" is that it is such a terrible place to stay that many people, like us, want to check out right after...

YOU DO NOT WANT TO STAY HERE ! The worst Choice Hotel -- by far! -- and the worst combination of bad accommodations and bad management we have encountered, anywhere.

Other than the night desk manager, the people we dealt with at this property had Asia-subcontinent accents and could be difficult to understand.

We checked in late at night, around midnight. The elevator didn't work, but we were not told this until AFTER we checked in. (This turned out to be important, later.) So, my wife and I had to lug our luggage up three floors.

The refrigerator didn't work. Of course, we could not have known that until after checking in.

My son, staying in a room down the hall, said that his refrigerator did not work, either. We called the desk.

The desk manager came up and couldn’t get it to work. Couldn't even figure out if it was plugged in.

The toilet, when flushed, splashed refuse up into my wife's face.

The pillows had a foul odor. None of this could have been known until AFTER checking in.

The next morning, we attempted to check-out because of these problems.

The desk manager's Asia-subcontinent accent made him somewhat difficult to understand. He said that we could leave, but we could not check out. We would be charged for the 3 nights we reserved whether we stayed or not.

He said it was Choice Hotels' policy. There was no way to override it on his computer. I asked to speak to the manager. He said that the owner/manager would be there within an hour. An hour later - no manager.

We waited in the lobby for another hour. No manager. Another hour went by.

Meanwhile, the desk manager would engage with the owner/manager on the phone (in an Asia-subcontinent language), then come to us, make an excuse for the delay, and say that the owner/manager would be there shortly.

He, also, told us that the elevator works "sometimes", and that if anyone needs help up the stairs, the front desk would help.

Shortly thereafter, a woman came into the lobby carrying two, heavy, plastic shopping bags and asked the man behind the desk if the elevator was working. The answer: "No."

She rolled her eyes, looked exasperated and angry, and stood at the foot of the stairs for many seconds, seething, taking deep breaths, and bracing herself for the climb, but the desk manager offered no assistance.

He offered to move us to a room on the first floor. I asked, "What if that room, also, has foul smelling pillows or a refrigerator that doesn’t work? The answer: “Sorry, that's all I can do for you.”

I called Choice Hotels Customer Service, which said that the no-refund policy must be a policy of this particular property because it was not Choice Hotels' policy.

The desk manager said that, no, this was a Choice Hotels' policy. He could not refund the money because (a) I had made the reservation on the Choice Hotels website, and (b) I had received a AAA discount.

So, I called Choice Hotels Customer Service back with my complaint case #. They put me on hold and called the front desk. I could hear the desk manager's side of the conversation. He told Customer Service that it was "policy", and he could not issue a refund because we had booked on the Choice Hotels site and gotten a AAA discount.

Customer Service came back on the line with me and told me that, yes, this was a policy of this particular property. So, there was nothing Choice Hotels could do about it.

When my call ended, the desk manager told me, “See? Customer Service confirmed that I cannot refund the charges,” even though he had heard Customer Service tell me that it was a policy of this property, not Choice Hotels

It did not matter to him that we did not know about the elevator, the refrigerator, the toilet, or the pillows until AFTER we checked in. Once checked in, you are charged for the entire stay.

Finally, he admitted that the owner/manager was never going to arrive.

We left that Sleep Inn, kissed more than $200 goodbye in the process, and went to stay at the Wingate Wyndham just...

Stayed here with two friends over July 4th weekend. The hotel is in a very good location between major cities. The hotel fulfilled the bare minimum requirements, so thankfully we hadn't spent a lot of time in our room during our stay.

The lobby was simple, yet seemed clean and organized well-enough. We stayed in a non-smoking double-bed room on the second floor. The elevator smelled stale and musty, and nerve-wrackingly jerked whenever you arrived on your desired floor, then took forever to open the doors.

The room smelled of stale corn chips which we immediately noticed upon entry. The bedding was clean, but the floors had some debris, and there was, what seemed to be, a coffee stain spilled against the wall by the desk. The TV in the room was hilariously small for the space. It couldn't have been any more than 32 inches. The bedding and pillows were soft and comfortable. We did find some cigarette holes in the comforter, that had attempted to be hidden by the bed scarf/runner. There is very little noise isolation, and it sounds like people in the hallway or adjacent rooms are in the room with you. Road noise is also bad. I get that it's near a major highway, but it sounds like you're sleeping with your window open.

The worst part was the bathroom/shower situation. The toilet and shower were in a tiny room separate from the sink/vanity, which was in the hotel room itself, no more than three feet from one of the beds, which was separated by a tiny partition (if you could even call it that). The toilet flushed incredibly loudly, and the sink was also loud. So good luck trying to not wake up anyone else in the room if you have to use the bathroom at night with the loudly flushing toilet, then having to wash your hands at the also loud sink in the room, only a few feet away from the bed. The sink's spout had a very short neck, as the water only flowed about two inches from the the back of the bowl. So you're trying to wash your hands without rubbing them all over the back of the sink bowl. The ventilation in the shower/toilet room wasn't great, especially for how small it was. Things steamed up very quickly in even a lukewarm shower. The shower itself was a nice walk-in with a glass door, which was very spacious and had good water pressure. There was a gap at the bottom of the shower door, which caused water to get on the floor.

While there were signs for vending machines and ice dispensers on each floor, the room where they were supposed to be was empty on the second floor. The ice machine on the third floor worked, but the vending machine was sold out of everything. The fourth floor had an ice machine but no vending machine. After seeing this, I didn't bother going to the first floor to check for them.

We didn't partake in the grab-and-go breakfasts, but the selection seemed decent. There were some pots of coffee, a water and juice dispenser, waffle station, a small refrigerator with yogurts, muffins and granola bars, cereal, and disposable utensils and plates, from what I could see.

A very okay hotel. Again, I'm grateful that we didn't spend much time in the room, as it wouldn't have been too pleasant. We really only needed a place to shower, sleep, and leave our stuff while we were out during the day. It was a very affordable room, especially for its location during July 4th weekend. Still, I would not recommend for an extended stay, if you have children, or intend to spend more time in the room than required for sleeping and bathing. If you're looking for a hotel than you can actually enjoy being in, then there are a few nicer ones in...