Best Western Galena Inn & Suites — Hotel in Galena

My partner and I booked a "luxury suite" here for her birthday weekend on 9/27/23. We had to evacuate that night due to a rampant bedbug infestation in our room (so severe that we didn't even have to pull back the sheets, they were crawling on the blankets) as well as pubic hairs left in the room's jacuzzi tub and a pungent, unidentifiable smell in our room. We immediately gathered all of our things and packed up the car. When we went to the lobby for assistance, the front desk person hid from us for over 10 minutes while we continued ringing the bell. As soon as I called the front desk, she came out of a closet (yes, a closet) and tried to answer the phone. I told her about the bedbugs and the pubic hairs, and offered to show her pictures. She was not phased or surprised in any way, and just said "okay" and offered us a different room. When I told her that we didn't want to sleep anywhere that had bedbugs, she told us that if we leave immediately we won't be charged for the room. We were then stuck out of state, in the middle of the night with nowhere to go. We finally found the Stoney Creek Inn, which luckily had an open room. Their front desk staff told us that they were not surprised to hear about our experience at the Best Western, and that this location has a terrible reputation. After speaking with BW customer service on 9/28, they told me that Amy, the manager of this location would need to reach out to us within 3-5 days. We called three more times in the following weeks and finally got a call back on 10/31, almost five weeks later. Amy (mgmt) was unhelpful, disrespectful and completely unprofessional. She denied everything and offered absolutely no help. Amy said that this was the first she had heard about our situation, despite Best Western sending her reminders weekly that she was required to follow up with us or face a penalty fine. She laughed at me on the phone when I shared my concerns with her, and said there were never any bedbugs. She has yet to respond to my email with the photos of multiple living bedbugs crawling across the sheets and blankets in our room. Needless to say, we will not be wasting any more time or money with Best Western. Especially when you can stay at the Stoney Creek Inn for less money, in a clean room that doesn't smell like...

Traveling with our pet cat was of major importance to us. On the WWW I found several sites that listed the BW in Galena, Illinois as "Pet-Friendly". We had booked the room for two nights then decided to add a night so I phoned the hotel directly. I informed the front desk clerk that we had a pet cat, so that she could book one of the "pet-friendly rooms" that are typically blocked ,yet she said NOTHING about the hotel changing it's pet policy to service dogs only. When we arrived we were told "no pets allowed"! I said to the clerk (whom was the same woman I spoke with the day before) that I told her about the cat and the clerk flat out denied hearing it therefore in essence calling me a liar. She called her manager about the issue that finally relented BUT we had to sign a document that our pet could not be alone in the room at any time. What were we supposed to do? Carry her around in her carrier all day? Keep her in a hot, locked car? We spent one night which was a disaster in itself... someone at the motel was playing a guitar at high volume at midnight, then we woke up to construction that was directly across our room. We were never informed of any construction issues, by the way. So, we had to cancel our vacation plans and head home all because the front desk clerk failed to inform us that the hotel had a NO PET policy. The manager then insisted that she could not find "anywhere on the web that we are pet friendly" again implying that I was lying. I showed her proof after I looked up the websites on my phone but she failed to acknowledge what was in front of her. Not once did we get an apology, either. It was embarrassing to us as well as other guests who saw and heard the conversations. BW Galena, Illinois lost not only two nights of revenue but future bookings from us and our many friends and family.For what its worth, my husband has been in the customer service for 30 years and has never come across such rude treatment such as from the two employees we dealt with at BW Galena. We just wanted a nice get away and did everything right on our end yet were treated like low-life liars....

I cannot believe the people leaving anything positive about this place. We stopped on our way into town around 1:00. I was greeted with a “nope”. Not good afternoon, no eye contact, just “nope”. I said excuse me? She said you can’t check in yet. I said ok, I just thought we could check in and give you our information. The answer was “nope, now when we are this short of help”. We turned around and left. When we returned around 4, there was a different gentleman who was at least professional. Room was ok, but you can see space around the door to the outside and we had flies in the room. There was long black hair on the bathroom floor. The carpet had NOT been vacuumed bc I could see white strings and fuzzies. The town was sold out, so we stayed after inspecting the beds completely. Woke up this morning and went for coffee. None. NONE. I walked up to the desk where the lovely lady (sarcasm) from yesterday once again, sitting on her cell phone didn’t look up at me, and when I asked for coffee she told me I had to go to the gas station next door. Are you KIDDING ME? there was one guy running around trying to get food out, but she didn’t budge. Just said “I’ve been telling the coffee supplier”. Really? I’m not sure what was going on with this woman, but having her work behind your desk is the BIGGEST mistake. I don’t care if you don’t have food, but get coffee. When we asked for another one for the room she said what happened to the ones from yesterday? Unbelievable. Um, we drank them. This is by far, the worst experience I’ve ever had and I was really liking some of the newer Best Westerns bc we travel a lot. Awful,...