SureStay by Best Western Grants — Hotel in Grants

My husband and I were on the final leg of our three-week road trip from California to Maryland and back. We needed a room in New Mexico, near Albuquerque, for a brief one-night stay to rest. We booked it through Booking.com. We checked the amenities, looked at photos, and read reviews of several places in the area before deciding on this one. My sister-in-law used her credit/debit card to reserve the room, but we planned to pay cash upon arrival.||Upon our arrival, I was thrilled to find not only the heated indoor pool that was advertised as an amenity but also a jacuzzi. However, at that moment, there were four adults and five children making a lot of noise in the pool area all wearing straight clothes which the sign on the door explicitly did not allow I understood that this could happen sometimes so I overlooked it.||We attempted to check in, but we were informed that our stay had been booked for the previous night and that the card on file had already been charged due to a no-show. My sister-in-law confirmed that her card had been charged. We soon realized that an error had been made on our part, which wasn’t surprising considering our previous issues with Booking.com’s website during the original booking.||We explained our situation to her, emphasizing that this was the final day of our long road trip. We asked her to allow us to stay in the room since it had already been paid for a night that we weren’t there. Despite our request, she abruptly said, “I can’t do that,” and that was it.||Obviously, we needed a place to stay, so we had to pay for the night we wanted. To make matters worse, they placed an $100 hold on our card, which wouldn’t be returned for 7 to 10 business days after our visit. Exhausted and getting late, we decided to accept the situation.||My husband, who is retired military with 20 years of service in the US Army, did receive a military discount of 10%. We were given our key card and informed that our room was upstairs, but there was no elevator. My husband explained that I have a bad knee, and the clerk responded, “So do I, and I have to climb them every day. If a 70-year-old woman can do it, your wife can do it too”. She then said this was the only room available for someone using a military discount, what does that even mean? A military veteran doesn’t deserve a better room? Anyway, within ten minutes of being in our room we realized there was an issue with our toilet. It wasn’t flushing properly, which made us think it might be clogged. We decided to address it after we returned from the pool, as I had been eagerly anticipating a refreshing swim and soaking in the hot Jacuzzi.||We waited in line for 10 minutes down in the lobby to get towels since we were told at check-in that we could not use our room towels for the pool. To our disappointment, the pool was extremely cold, despite the website listing an indoor heated pool as an amenity. I quickly got out and headed straight to the Jacuzzi, only to find it lukewarm.||Ok now I’m getting irritated. I took my phone to the desk and asked the clerk to read the amenities listed on their website, including the indoor heated pool. However, she had no response. After five minutes in the pool area, we were done and decided to stop at the vending machines to grab some drinks. Considering I’m diabetic, I was happy to see they had a Diet Coke option and water, but unfortunately, both were completely sold out.||My husband wanted a bag of chips that was listed at $1.25 which he put in but the item wouldn’t drop. The machine just kept blinking $1.25 over and over. He continue to add money a quarter at a time and tried selecting the item after each quarter added hoping to get the item he wanted. Finally, when he reached $2.25 the chips dropped down.||We returned to the clerk and informed her about the issue. She mentioned that she would write the problem down for the manager to see when he arrived on Monday. At this point, we were quite upset.||I said look…the heated indoor pool is a lie, the Jacuzzi is barely warm, the vending machines list incorrect prices and are completely out of sugar-free drinks, we were given an upstairs room despite our request for a downstairs one and the toilet doesn’t flush. When we arrived and discovered the error on made on booking.com for the previous night you offered no assistance or refund for a night we didn’t stay. It’s as if you expect us to overlook all these issues while we weren’t giving the the same consideration. We were told once again there’s nothing she could do about it and we would have to speak to a manager. |It was evident that she had strict rules to follow, and I could guess that if she didn’t, she would be fired. She was the only person there with no help whatsoever, I actually felt bad for her.||Back in the room, things that I normally wouldn’t care about started to bother me. The extremely loud running refrigerator, the empty body wash dispenser, and the fact that the remote control wasn’t programmed for the TV were particularly annoying.||The next morning, we woke up early for the breakfast they provided, which started at 6 AM. I made a waffle, and my husband poured a bowl of cereal. He took one bite and said something was wrong with it. I tried it as well and agreed. He said the milk seemed bad, so I checked the refrigerator, and it was BARELY cold.||I didn’t bother to mention this to the person behind the desk because I knew it wasn’t a manager. Upon checkout, I asked the clerk to give us receipts for the night we stayed and the previous night we were charged for despite not being there. She gave me my receipt for the night we stayed and said the reservation for the previous night had been canceled.||I told her I wanted the receipt anyway, and she gave it to me. Both nights listed the charges and both showed a balance of zero dollars owed. Obviously the first night HAD been charged to my sister-in-law’s card despite the fact that it showed as “cancelled” in their system.||This was the last thing we needed for the last day of our long trip home. First of all, it’s a Best Western, a well-known international brand, and I expect much more. I don’t expect five-star accommodations, but I do expect the basics. I also don’t expect such a well-known hotel chain to engage in false advertising on their website and brochures. In certain circumstances, such as our incorrect booking date, a little bit of human understanding would be appreciated. It wasn’t like the hotel was full or even busy, and I believe they could have given our situation more consideration. If our situation had been handled with more grace, we would have been more understanding in our response to the hotel’s issues. I’ll be submitting an email to Best Western corporate, Booking.com, and the hotel manager. I’m hopeful, but don’t know if I’ll find resolve with any of them. We’ll see how Best Western & Booking.com handle this situation but at this point I wouldn’t book anything with either of them again.||I understand that I agreed to pay if I was a no-show when I originally booked, but given the circumstances, the issues we had on the booking.com site, and everything we had to deal with regarding the hotels deficiencies I feel that a refund for that night...

Update: to clarify, I DID NOT interact with 3 people during my stay—I only interacted with two people—as stated in my formal letter sent “Additionally, the customer service I encountered was unacceptable. The man at the front desk during check-in, Brandon, was rude and spoke so quietly that it felt intentionally dismissive, which made me uncomfortable addressing my concerns. The next morning, the young lady on duty, Jessica, was equally unfriendly, suggesting that this lack of courtesy and professionalism may be a broader issue at this location.” I sent this letter the very next day and in the letter explained why I was uncomfortable addressing my concerns. Also, as you can see in the photos why I’ve requested the refund. You know it is the right thing to do. The pictures are literal proof of why I am deserving of a refund. I also have a video and as expressed in my letter I had traveled such a long way. As you see in the photos this was unacceptable. I have contacted you via email along with custom care team. You have stopped responding to my emails. It’s unfortunate that you are portraying a false narrative that you are genuinely concerned and working to resolve this issue. Also, to intentionally be dishonest is disheartening. I only interacted with Brandon when I checked in and Jessica during check out. Those are the ONLY people I interacted with and I have digital proof of that as well and documentation of my stay as well. I only interacted with two individuals during my stay and asked both of them for their names and documented it. Before posting I reached out to the customer care relations and the hotel location via email serval times before posting a review. I uploaded the photos as proof that this isn't an empty complaint but a factual and valid complaint amid inaction. There has yet to be an appropriate resolution from the hotel. People work hard for their money and how you have chosen to handle this has been discouraging/disheartening. May God bless you all and soften your heart. I hope that you have a change of heart. These aren't alleged issues, I have uploaded the pictures and sent them immediately via email?? ———————— My experience at this location was unacceptable. The room was filthy—dirty bed, stained towels, hair in the sink, filthy tub with hair in it as well, the lamp doesn't work on one side of the room conveniently the side of the bed that is dirty and stained, and overall unsanitary conditions that made it impossible to rest comfortably.

On top of that, the customer service was just as poor. The front desk staff were dismissive and unfriendly, making it uncomfortable to raise concerns.

When I requested a refund, management stopped responding altogether. Customer relations keeps “updating” my ticket and stated its being “sent to management” at the location and to wait 2–5 business days, but nothing has been resolved. I explained multiple times that I’ve already informed management and as soon as I requested a refund management stopped responding.

Between the unclean room, rude service, and lack of accountability, this was one of the worst hotel experiences I’ve had. The pictures are false advertisement!...

It’s a shame. This property has the potential to be a great little hotel. They really remodeled it nicely, but as soon as we walked into the lobby the smell of fragrance was overwhelming. The lobby was decorated beautifully, and the lady who checked us in was really nice although it took a very long time because she was talking on the phone to a customer, for about half an hour and there were a few people in line, with only one person at the counter during prime time check in. Our room was located in a place were we could park right in front of our car, we did like that. When we walked into the room, there was the heavy fragrance odor again. It was like they used some kind of cleaning product like Fabuloso or Pine Sol lavender right out of the bottle. You’re supposed to dilute that stuff. I’m very sensitive to fragrances and it was tuff dealing with it all night. We had the window open for several hours to try and air it out, but the screen did not fit the window opening very well and flys came in through the gap, the chain on the blind was also broken, and still the odor persisted anyway. It was so overwhelming my eyes were burning, my throat was irritated, it was giving me a headache and made me nauseous. The sad thing is that despite the smell of cleaning product. The place wasn’t really all that clean. The faucet was a beautiful new contemporary polished chrome but it had water spots all over it as did the mirror. There were several areas where the workmanship from the remodel was not done very well. Bathroom ceiling looked pretty bad. The walls were not as clean as they could be, especially the bedroom area. The towels were clean and white, but skimpy.The microwave and refrigerator worked well but the outside of the fridge dirty. Microwave was clean though. They bed was very firm, if you like that, uncomfortable for me though. Pillows were ok. The comforter under the spread had some stains. The air conditioner worked ok, only if you turn the temp way down. We had to put it on 64, to get it to about 75 degrees actual temp. The shower was frustrating. The regulator was tricky to use. The water was either too hot, barely warm, or too cold and you had to play with it again and again because if you were able to get a comfortable temperature it changed and you had to play around with it some more. The TV was new but small, and not many real channels, mostly...