SureStay by Best Western Florence — Hotel in Florence

I have been a loyal Best Western customer and Diamond member for many years. I have stayed at hundreds of Best Westerns, and this one by far has been the worst one I ever stayed at. I am not one to usually complain about hotels because I usually just use them as a place to sleep for my trips and don’t expect much, but I cannot stay silent about this experience.||You are greeted in the parking lot by a bunch of unsavory characters roaming the grounds. Inside, the check-in process was somewhat normal. The employee was very nice, thanked me for being a Diamond member and gave me a bottle of water. He explained that breakfast was at 7 am and gave me my keycard and directions to my room. That was the best part of my stay.||Upon going down the hallway, your nose is met with a poignant foul odor that meanders throughout the hallways. And guess what, the same unsavory parking lot characters roam the hallways at all hours of the day and night, too.||The room appeared to be adequate, however upon closer inspection the bedsheets had cigarette burns on them as well as an unknown reddish stain on one of the sheets. The bathroom towels also had stains on them. One of the towels looked tie-dyed it was so dirty. The room appeared to be in need of a deep cleaning.||I stayed here three nights and not once did maid service make up the room, take out the garbage, or replenish towels and toiletries even though I requested it with the hang tag that was provided for the door handle.||I did not go to the breakfast the first morning (thank God) because 7 am is usually too late for me. But on the second morning I went to the breakfast room at 7:05 am. The lights were off and the door was closed to the breakfast room. I opened the door, turned on the lights and I saw roaches crawling inside the bread and muffin container. The roaches appeared to be enjoying themselves walking all over the bread and muffins. No other breakfast items were available - either the roaches ate it all or the staff was late. No eggs, no meat, no anything. Needless to say I turned the lights back off, closed the door, got all my belongings from my room and got the hell out of there. No employee was present in the reception area to voice my concerns.||I refused to stay the third night in that hotel. I actually stayed in my car in the parking lot for the third night. However, I was frightened for my life. I thought I was going to get carjacked by one of the many seedy people roaming the parking lot. I have never been so scared in my life, and that is coming from me, a Sergeant who has been working in law enforcement for a major US city for 19 years.||After my parking lot nap, I slid the keycard in the the reception window on that third morning since no employees were there to check me out, and I left.||I saw no employees during my stay except for the one at check-in.||My fault for not reading all the negative reviews for this hotel before my stay. All of the previous negative reviews appear to be true. Lesson learned. Don’t be fooled by the reasonable price and convenient location.||One piece of advice for the hotel staff, maybe if the staff cleaned the rooms and took out the garbage, the roaches would leave, too.||This hotel should be condemned, and Best Western should be ashamed that their brand name is attached to this hotel. ||They responded to my google review and said they wanted to make things right, yet here we are and never made...

I have been a loyal Best Western customer and Diamond member for many years. I have stayed at hundreds of Best Westerns, and this one by far has been the worst one I ever stayed at. I am not one to usually complain about hotels because I usually just use them as a place to sleep for my trips and don’t expect much, but I cannot stay silent about this experience.

You are greeted in the parking lot by a bunch of unsavory characters roaming the grounds. Inside, the check-in process was somewhat normal. The employee was very nice, thanked me for being a Diamond member and gave me a bottle of water. He explained that breakfast was at 7 am and gave me my keycard and directions to my room. That was the best part of my stay.

Upon going down the hallway, your nose is met with a poignant foul odor that meanders throughout the hallways. And guess what, the same unsavory parking lot characters roam the hallways at all hours of the day and night, too.

The room appeared to be adequate, however upon closer inspection the bedsheets had cigarette burns on them as well as an unknown reddish stain on one of the sheets. The bathroom towels also had stains on them. One of the towels looked tie-dyed it was so dirty. The room appeared to be in need of a deep cleaning.

I stayed here three nights and not once did maid service make up the room, take out the garbage, or replenish towels and toiletries even though I requested it with the hang tag that was provided for the door handle.

I did not go to the breakfast the first morning (thank God) because 7 am is usually too late for me. But on the second morning I went to the breakfast room at 7:05 am. The lights were off and the door was closed to the breakfast room. I opened the door, turned on the lights and I saw roaches crawling inside the bread and muffin container. The roaches appeared to be enjoying themselves walking all over the bread and muffins. No other breakfast items were available - either the roaches ate it all or the staff was late. No eggs, no meat, no anything. Needless to say I turned the lights back off, closed the door, got all my belongings from my room and got the hell out of there. No employee was present in the reception area to voice my concerns.

I refused to stay the third night in that hotel. I actually stayed in my car in the parking lot for the third night. However, I was frightened for my life. I thought I was going to get carjacked by one of the many seedy people roaming the parking lot. I have never been so scared in my life, and that is coming from me, a Sergeant who has been working in law enforcement for a major US city for 19 years.

After my parking lot nap, I slid the keycard in the reception window on that third morning since no employees were there to check me out, and I left.

I saw no employees during my stay except for the one at check-in.

My fault for not reading all the negative reviews for this hotel before my stay. All of the previous negative reviews appear to be true. Lesson learned.

Don’t be fooled by the reasonable price and convenient location. You have been warned.

One piece of advice for the hotel staff, maybe if the staff cleaned the rooms and took out the garbage, the roaches would leave, too.

This hotel should be condemned, and Best Western should be ashamed that their brand name is attached...

The SureStay wasn't perfect, but we were, overall, pleased with our selection of this motel for our 2 nights in the Cincinnati area. The room was nice-looking, and the 3 of us slept comfortably in the 2 double beds. It was great having a refrigerator, microwave, coffee pot, iron, and ironing board on hand.

I always check for signs of bedbugs the first thing upon entering any hotel room. No signs of them in this room. Yeah!

Breakfast, compared to similarly priced hotels, was fine. In addition to a few cereal choices, bakery items like bagels and muffins, and instant oatmeal packets, there was yogurt (not the sugar-free kind, which I detest, so I was happy about that), and fresh fruit (apples, bananas). The first morning, there were biscuits and gravy, and the 2nd morning, mini-biscuit and sausage sandwiches that could be heated in the microwave.

This isn't the quality you'd get at the Drury or other hotels in that price range, but certainly better than many within our budget.

The 4 different receptionists we encountered at the desk were all pleasant and helpful. The parking area was well-lighted, and our 2 cars that were obviously full of items to move our son into his dorm room the next day, were unmolested when we got into them the next morning.

We liked the location because it kept us out of the higher-density traffic areas and aligned nicely with our intended destination on the south side of the Cincinnati metro area.

Now for the negatives... Signs indicate that this is a non-smoking hotel, but our room had a slight cigarette smell, and so did the stairwells, which could use a little cleaning and brightening. The bathtub was in good condition, and the bathroom looked mostly well-cleaned, but there were 2 hairs in the tub that did not belong to any of us, and there were a few black specks of something on the wall above the splashguard near the shower head. We forgot to remove the privacy sign from our doorknob when we left the room the first day, so we didn't get to see whether house-keeping would have cleaned the black specks off the wall. I would have preferred having the sink separate from the bathroom, as 3 people in one room can get ready to go in the morning more quickly if access to the sink is not cut off when someone is in the bathroom.

In spite of a few imperfections, we would definitely stay at this place again, and probably will. The service received was very good for...