Comfort Inn & Suites Heath - Newark South — Hotel in Heath

DO NOT STAY HERE. This is the first hotel I have ever written a review for, but this was bad enough to where I'm wanting to take time out to warn others. I stayed here on late 3/13/2019 evening - 3/14/2019 morning in Room #412 if it makes a difference. I arrived very late, the hotel was booked full except for like 3 rooms, and I had to get what sleep I could for business in the morning. I entered my room and had to use the bathroom. The toilet was dirty and had some residue on the seat, so I wiped it off with toilet paper, put toilet paper down like a rest area toilet, and went. It's old-style that easily backs up, and it did on the second flush. I had to reach down to remove the clog, flushed it successfully, and then washed my hand and arm for about 4 mins. I went to grab a towel and noticed something was off. The towel was slightly damp and smelled moldy. It also had small bits of debris in it - it looked as if it had just been folded back instead of being washed. I pulled another towel and another and same thing - they all appeared to just be refolded and not washed. I walked into where the beds were and noticed a dark stain about 8" in diameter on the carpet between the beds. I checked the bed on the right - no bed bugs, but there was a stain on the sheets and it looked and smelled as if it had been just remade without the sheets being laundered. I checked the bed on the left - same thing, but without the stain. I also noticed the fake-leather rolling chair had large amounts of white chalky residue on it that I believe to have originally been bodily fluids. I remembered back to when I had stayed at this hotel previously and remembered something seeming off about the towels and bed but was too tired to look closely. I realized that all the rooms in this hotel were likely like this if you look closely enough and that switching hotels would cook what little sleep I was going to get for that night. I went back to my car to sleep in it, but I couldn't get comfortable. Then I went back to my room, kept my clothes on, laid myself perpendicular to the bed with my feet sticking over the edge directly over a blue throw (I figured that would have the least human contact), positioned my arms under my head so my head wouldn't touch anything on the bed, and got what sleep I could. When I went to check out (and you smell the overpowering smell of chlorine from the pool anywhere on the ground level), I wasn't asked how the stay was (I do not believe they cared). I didn't pro-offer the information because I didn't feel like allowing the hotel to steal another 30mins of time from me when it had already stolen a quality sleep for that night that my company had paid for. I went hungry rather than trust the breakfast. The second night I stayed at a Hampton nearby and had a very enjoyable stay where I caught up on sleep and finished out my business trip strong. I can count on 1 hand the number of places I've stayed that were bad enough for me to sleep in my clothes on top of the sheets. I've stayed in places with stains on the walls, but at least those were clean. All a person really needs is a clean bed and a shower, and I can handle most things. With that context, this was the worst hotel I have ever stayed in. Save yourself a lot of pain, and DON'T STAY HERE - you have been warned.

Update: I see where the owner has responded. I accept the apology, and I respect your statement of using the feedback to improve the situation. Notwithstanding, I will not be calling - I have nothing further to...

Beware; this hotel will change the price of your reservation without notifying you. In January, I made a reservation for a stay here in September with a estimated total of $600 after taxes/fees. Around April or May, I logged into Choice Hotels (the hotel’s primary online reservation service)and I noticed that my total changed this to $834 without notifying me, $234 more than my original reservation price. These weren’t additional fees or taxes: my nightly rate changed dramatically. I made about 12 calls trying to deal with this-I spoke to hotel employees, the hotel manager, and Choice Hotel employees—all telling me they will look into it and get back to me soon. No one got back to me. A week before my stay, I called Choice again, and they told me to send an email to the hotel. I did. The next day (after months of making calls), I finally received a call from the hotel owner, and I explained the dishonesty and exploitation of this practice. His response was, “Don’t tell me how to run my business. Some hotels will cancel reservations without telling their customers.” and offered to cancel my reservation for free if I decided by the next day—more dishonesty because my online reservation gave me a few more days of free cancellation. I may have been able to get a better reservation if they were prompt about responding to me about this situation. They took advantage of the situation and left me without any options since their (very-rude) response came in days...

There is an event at the end of September that we travel to the area for every year. I booked a room from Thursday-Monday at the Comfort Inn on January 7, 2022 for September 22-26, 2022. The total was supposed to be $540.54 paid at check in. A few days before check in my card was charged $214.62. No problem, I understand it’s a busy weekend so you want to make sure we’re coming or whatever (still not an authorized charge when it was agreed to pay at check in) and then upon check in Im told my total is $879.98, not the amount I rented the room for $540.54. I travel extremely frequently and a lot of the times for specific events so I book as far in advance as possible. I’ve never had a hotel change my rate at check in like this. I have left numerous messages with front desk staff and with corporate for the GM with no response. We were also switched to a wheelchair room which I did not book. I was told my front desk staff that I should be grateful that I’m getting the rate that I am since people are paying much more now. Absolutely unethical and bad business practice. I’m planning on filing a claim with the state. There was nothing that I agreed to that said my rates would inflate the day of check in due to high occupancy… we were also given no notice and no time to make alternate arrangements....