Best Western Plus Kelly Inn & Suites — Hotel in Fargo

VERY DISAPPOINTED IN CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!

My wife made a reservation for this hotel using Booking.com for 8/11/2025. We decided to change the dates of our stay to 8/21/2025. This was done within the timeframe to do so with no fees. When we showed up at the hotel on the newly scheduled date (8/21/2025) after driving three and a half hours, they had no reservation for us in their system. We had all the information to support our reservation, including a confirmation number and the dates of our stay. Staff said that the only reservation we had was on 8/11 and that we were a no show. They had then billed us on that date. Again we had all the documentation to show otherwise. We asked for a refund because this was a mistake. Staff at the desk said they could not issue a refund because it was prepaid and we would have to contact Booking.com. NOT TRUE! I pulled up the transaction from my credit card which showed that it was the hotel that billed on 8/11, Booming.com did not bill us, the hotel did. That also proves that it is not a prepayment. They still didn't want to refund us. The staff then said that they have had all their double bed rooms booked for the last year in advance so they didn't know how Booking.com would allow us to make a reservation. What they didn't know is that my wife had over 15 years of travel and booking experience including working at the front desk at a hotel and working for one of the online booking companies. She has some knowledge of how the system works. It is up to the hotel itself to block off rooms with online booking companies if they have them reserved. Then a woman from the back office, who I can only assume was a manager, came out, looked over our emails and confirmation documentation and told us how horrible booking.com was. She made no apology, no attempt to accommodate us, she only played the blame game. Staff at the desk said that they could put us in the room we wanted for the first night but not the second. They also said that the only other rooms they did have were two suites. When I asked if they could just put us in one of those for the same rate they said that they could not. Keep in mind... We have a confirmation number that we had a reservation and other supporting documentation. Does this mean nothing??? They also have a empty room that they are going to make $0 on if nobody takes it. Wouldn't you try to fully accommodate the customer for the error, regardless of where the mistake was made? Would you rather some money and have some sort of customer service or make $0 and turn away a customer? I would certainly think that they would have done all they could to keep the customer in their hotel and hope they would stay there again in the future, but I was wrong. Instead I will certainly not stay here in the future. At the last minute they were able to refund us for what we were billed... Funny, if the hotel didn't bill us how can they refund us??? Instead, my wife booked another hotel using a online booking service from their hotel lobby, we traveled less than five minutes to the next hotel, and they had our reservation prior to our arrival. We were in our room in about 5 minutes after arrival.

I am very disappointed in this hotels ability to accommodate. No, I'm sorry for the inconvenience, here's a room. Just the blame game.

EDIT AFTER THE HOTELS RESPONSE:

As far as getting a refund… my wife requested a refund right away before one was ever offered. Staff at the desk said they could not give a refund telling us that we had to get it from Booking.com because they said Booking.com billed us and they said we prepaid, which again, we did not. And that was collaborated on by the two staff members working at the front desk. We only got the refund just before we left the hotel to go to another, and that was after we showed them evidence that the hotel was the one that billed us not Booking.com.

They are again playing the blame game instead of working with the customer. They let us walk out of the hotel and left one of their rooms empty for two nights, regardless of...

Where do I start: ||Unprepared for outgoing or incoming check-ins, understaffed, bad attitudes from like 4 of the employees the entire stay. unprofessional attire and does not greet customers or ask how their stay was. This hotel overall was the worst hotel I have stayed at. They blame other customers for their lack of prepared keys like previous customers are so irresponsible they can’t even return a key or keep a key on their person to get back into the rooms. One of the employees didn’t even know I had children and said I wish this was a hotel that didn’t allow kids because they are loud and annoying. I just smiled and shrugged and said well just be careful who you say that to because I have kids and she immediately got red and said well I’m sure your kids are well behaved and respectful. She was very embarrassed. ||One employee in the evening time was even screaming at another employee over the phone about hotel keys that they accidentally took home instead of checking in the 3 guest waiting to go to their rooms. Decided to yell at the man over the phone in front of customers. Huh! That’s also interested I am saying this because even another customer mentions the same thing I heard and probably stayed at the hotel at the same time. ||Very very rude and not accommodating at all. Do not use the washer and dryers. They will burn your clothes and make them smell so bad for a long time. I had to take mine to a dry cleaner just to get the clothes out 225 dollars later they are finally back to normal. That’s funny now that I say the amount that’s the cost of my whole hotel stay. ||But to complete this review they also had 2 separate fire alarms one at 2:15 am until 3 am and then back to sleep and then another at 4:30am until 5:30 and we still could not go into the rooms because the alarms were louder in the rooms than in the hall way. Not to mention it was hot and humid outside. Not one staff member apologized or offered any accommodation for the inconvenience. I heard a the guest at breakfast say not even the GM showed up to apologize to their customers. Manager is a joke and does not care about customers at all. ||I called hotel the yelled at me and hung up on me. I called again and said we will do nothing for you and still didn’t apologize for the inconvenience of the alarms. How a simple apology can go so far if they just try. I called the best western customer relations and still got no where. No refund, no apology, no what can we do to make sure this does not happen. NOTHING!!!!! Do not go to this hotel you will regret it. I have also added a previous response made by another customer with the same employee arguing with another. ||Christine don’t bother responding back with your AI apology now. It’s too late and I have already reported you to BBB AND OSHA FOR...

We went to Fargo, North Dakota to see family and choose Best Western Plus Kelly Inn and Suites from reviews and pictures of their pool.

We were very happy with our decision to stay there! The 3 story hotel is clean and very well maintained. There is plenty of free parking.

The king size bed was very comfortable as were the pillows.

They offer a free breakfast daily. There was a nice variety of offerings- scrambled eggs, ham or sausage, toast, bagels, pastries, donuts, waffles, pancakes, fruit, yogurt, milk, tea and a variety of juices. The food was very good and the hot food was hot and the cold food was cold!

Aaren, one of the guys at the front desk is amazing. He always had a smile and a very pleasant disposition. He was a wealth of knowledge on where to go and what to see in Fargo. You can tell that he really likes his job, he made us feel so welcome!

Our room was on the ground floor so we had an outside door and an inside corridor door and were able to park right outside of the door, so convenient for coming and going!

The hotel is very quiet and the outside was very quiet. A very peaceful place.

The location was perfect. From the hotel, it is only a 5 to 10 minute drive to anywhere in Fargo! So many good restaurants around the hotel, within walking distance (like really, right next door).

The indoor pool was so much fun! It is popular with the hotel guests, but we always found a place to sit.

The pool is not deep, from 2 feet to 3.5 feet deep. It has 2 slides one for toddlers and one for the bigger kids. There are water features, floating "wood" disks that you can try and cross the pool! Lots of fun features. There is a hot tub in the same area. The deck has tables and chairs. We brought in pizza and soda one evening to feed our hungry group. As long as you don't bring any glass inside the pool area, you can have food. Please pick up after your group when you leave, no one is there to do it for you.

We will stay here whenever we return to visit...