Best Western Inn Florence — Hotel in Florence

The hotel itself is fine for the price. It’s not the most updated or upscale hotel but it is clean and comfortable. I slept great for the time I was asleep and I have a bad back, so the beds are great.

However… the reason I left a star off is because of the front desk guy at check in. If I just say what he did it would sound worse, so I’m going to include the details because I did make a mistake as well.

I called last week to ask a few questions; cost, animal friendly, pet fee, etc. I’m a night owl so my interactions are going to take place at night, so the AM is correct on these. When I spoke to the lady, at about 1-1:30 AM she told me she only knew of them ever charging one pet fee instead of per pet. I said great. The woman I spoke to that night was very nice. I told her I would have to call back to choose a day after speaking to my husband. She told me she would be there the next night after 7 if I wanted to talk to her.

I didn’t end up calling back to make our reservation until about 1-2 AM the day we were leaving. Which would be Thursday October 9 about 1-2 AM (I’m including dates and times so they will know which employee was where/when). The gentleman I spoke to that night was also very nice. He did say two pet fees and I said okay but the other night a lady told me one. He asked if I knew who I talked to and when. I said I thiiiiink her name was Lisa? He said okay I’ll charge you for one instead of two. I didn’t want to get anyone in trouble so I replied that if she was wrong it was fine and we don’t mind paying for both. He said that Lisa is the owner so he will charge me one. I said okay great. I later found out I mistook when she said her name and I actually spoke with Aliesha, not the owner.

Here’s the thing. When we check in at around exactly 4 PM on Thursday October 9 and stayed one night, I get told by the guy at the front I will get charged two pet fees. I said okay but I was told one by the owner (at this point I hadn’t learned my mistake yet). So even though two people told me that it would be one fee (one rightfully only due to thinking I had spoken to the owner) the guy at the front desk basically says that he’s charging me two and that the owner doesn’t know anything about what she’s going here. My jaw nearly dropped but I felt bad because (still thinking I had spoken to the owner) I thought she was extremely nice. So I said that at least she was really nice to me on the phone last week. The guys response to that was - She actually answered the phone. That’s shocking. All she does is sweep up cigarettes in the parking lot.

So first of all, not knowing my mistake, I worked for my father who ran a business for 25 years and he never would have charged two fees if someone had been told one, especially by two people. It wouldn’t have mattered if the fee was $30 or $1,000. He would have waved it. The proper procedure there would be to explain to the customer that someone told them wrong and that you will only charge one this time but in the future it will be two. Then, go deal with whatever employees don’t know that procedure, if it’s a big deal. But the talking smack about the owner TO GUESTS is absolutely unacceptable. Basically calling the owner of the company, that signs your checks and puts food on your table, stupid and lazy is… well. It’s a choice. That’s for sure. I would never allow someone to have spoken about my dad that way back then. So this review is more for Lisa than anyone else. Lisa, the young man who said all that was there at the date and time I stated above and shouldn’t be hard to find since he’s covered in tats with dirty looking hair. I hope you explain to him how things work when you talk trash about your boss to random clients/customers. He was rude and definitely not hospitable. But we enjoyed our stay, other than that. Aliesha was very nice and so was the other gentleman that answered the phone the night...

Hopefully the Manager sees this.

I booked a reservation from 02-09- to 02-11–2024 (Friday to Sunday) at this hotel since the prices were cheap and close to the school I was visiting for the weekend. When I checked in on Friday at 2 am, apparently they gave me the wrong room(311), which i found out a that afternoon(Friday) when someone tried to get into my room. I went down to talk to the receptionist(guy) and he said that I can stay in the room since I have already been there for a day and they will give my room to the other people and everything was fine, until the other receptionist (she, did not get her name ) told me that I had to leave Saturday afternoon and that I was trying to take advantage of them by coming a day late and trying to stay one more day. The conversation with the Caucasian receptionist as follows:

Saturday 12 pm

Me : walking into the hotel

Her : u need to leave now, u come a day late and now you are trying to stay an extra day. (They gave me the wrong room (311) my reservation is until Sunday 11 Am)

Me : I think you guys messed up.

Her : how dare you talk to me like that, I don’t know how you treat girls back home( I am from india) but u can’t talk to me that way. This is why you don’t get any girls, that is why no one likes you.

Me: What “laughing out of shock”

Her: you need to leave now

Me: trying to explain that I have a reservation until Sunday and they gave me the wrong room over her screams.

Her: I need you to leave now or I am calling the cops.

Me: okay, I will leave. Went to my room to get my things and on my way out, I told her I want to talk to the manager.

Her: is that how you want to do this ??? Leave now, or I will call the cops

Me: okay, call the manager and I will talk to her and leave.

Her: starts screaming that I am pos and calls someone and tells them “I am harassing her and I am trespassing “

“Few mins later the cops show up, mind you I thought she called the manager and she is on the way”

Cops: you need to leave now.

Me : I didn’t do anything

Cops: It does not matter, you need to leave now or you will be arrested.

“Asks for ID, I give them my ID”

Me: but, I have a reservation until tomorrow “shows my reservation on Priceline”

Cops: it does not matter you need to leave.

Me: let me get the managers number.

Cops: if you go in, we will arrest you.

Me: what about the money for the reservation.

Cops: not my problem.

Her: picks my bag from the hallways and says “ I don’t want to throw his stuff, i will just place it outside” to the cops.

Me: I left after the cops trespassed me and told me i will get arrested if u come back.

I called Priceline today hoping to get the money back for the day I was was kicked out. They called the hotel and she(receptionist) told Priceline, that I used all 3 days of my reservation when in fact I was kicked out...

Unfortunately this was one of the worst experience we had had at a hotel. Up arriving the attendance instead of checking my elderly parents reservation was made for one night using Best western Inn platform directly. Refuse to accept or even checking my parents reservation even at around 1:40 pm as check-in was at 3 pm. However my parents had gone to the hotel as they had received email saying the room is ready. The person at front desk Tammie - was leading my parents saying she could not do anything to check-in them and they would need to cancel their reservation with the booking company and book with them directly and being charged more for that. My parents had to call me as they were confused as I had placed the reservation. I asked my mother to put me on speaker as the front desk number was not being answered. I explain we made the reservation on the website, and if she could accommodate check-in if the room was ready (Bare in mind we are in the mix of Covid19 and many hotel are not at full capacity). Tammie replied as I had to go and cancel and book with them and the new rate would be 45% higher than what book on Best Western Platform. I denied and said my parents would wait till the check-in 3 pm. She was almost making my parents sign this new rate. I had to call the number directly advising we want to keep our reservation and wait. I mentioned about this entire situation could be avoided and we were very unhappy about all the trouble as my parents were flexible to take any room in the hotel. after a few minutes then their room become available.

The people at front desk Tammie needs serious mentoring in regards customer services. I'd advise any customer who arrives at the hotel she first welcome them with smile and get their reservation number to check where was that made before assuming it was made a third party booking vendor. In addition to that- it is not to cause the trouble to try to cancel reservation and make a new one in a sneaky way to charge for more. Give the customer an option - it's fine to say - your room is not ready even as we had received email confirming such and about 1 hour away from check-in time. Tammie could simply say to my parents if they could wait at lobby till room become ready at 3 pm or return them instead of making the entire scene of hanging the phone on me and trying to charge for more. Very sad situation - needs attention as this owner-operator is not meeting standard as we have seen as loyal customer to the brand in the past.

Based on my parents experience- just avoid this hotel as depending who is at front desk you may have a very bad experience at...