Candlewood Suites Kansas City - Independence by IHG — Hotel in Independence

I stayed here Christmas weekend so my boyfriend (a Steelers fan) and I (a Chiefs fan) could celebrate Christmas watching our favorite football teams battle it out. While the trip itself was great and the room and stay were great, dealing with this hotel was nothing short of a hassle. I had pre-paid my reservation through hotels.com back in November, so I was looking forward to a relaxing, stress-free stay. When I checked in, the clerk seemed like she wasn't sure of what she was doing. She asked if I wanted to use the card on file for incidentals and I advised her that it was pre-paid and therefore that was not my card, so I gave her another card for the $50 refundable deposit. After she ran the card, she looked puzzled and ran it again, then asked me if it was pre-paid, which I had already told her it was. After some "computer issues," she issued me keys almost 10 minutes later. After that, the stay ran smoothly, until I left. 3 hours after I left town, I received an alert that my card was charged $159.99. I immediately called the hotel for an explanation and was told the hotels.com card declined, so it defaulted to my card, and I would be refunded because I was not liable for the charges since the reservation was through a 3rd party. The following day, both the $50 deposit and the extra $159.99 were removed from my card. On December 29, however, a single charge for $209.99 posted to my account. I called the hotel again, and again was told I would be refunded in 3-5 days. Trying to be mindful of weekends and holidays, I waited 7+ days before calling again, as I still hadn't received my refund. I was again assured I would be refunded, and again I was lied to. I contacted hotels.com who told me the hotel agreed to refund me in 5-7 days, and that was another lie. Because I booked through a 3rd party, IHG's customer service was unable to assist other than to forward my e-mail to the hotel's GM. I ended up disputing the charge through my credit card and just now almost a month and a half later got my money back. I understand things can be tricky with 3rd party reservations but I have never had a situation like this, and now I am very leery to even book a hotel reservation. I definitely won't be staying at this hotel next time I am in town. My relaxing weekend ended up turning into the month from hell. Beware if you book through a 3rd party at this hotel, and consider using a pre-paid card for your deposit, because you might end up paying more than you...

Rooms were clean and well stocked. However, the service was horrible!!! I had reserved a three night stay. We could not make it to the hotel the first night do to storms and heavy traffic we decided to stop sooner than later. We called the hotel to explain, we knew we would be charged for the day and were perfectly happy to pay it. Now since our room was paid for, I should be ours correct? Just empty. So we arrived the next day early and the staff wasn't sure they had a room for us? What!!! We paid for our room! So should be ours finally she was able to give us our room and check us in. Now nothing else changed, we were staying the remaining two days of our reservation still all paid Well we go out to lunch and come back and stopped at the desk to arrange a late check out since I am a platinum member. She tells me we were already checked out!!! What? Do after arguing and proving I had a three night reservation and checking on our belongings the clerk decided to give us our room back(after talking to her manager!!) she was absolutely snotty about it explaining the hotel was full!! Excuse me?? Why is that my problem? My room and stay were paid for months ago!! They literally got paid but were going to remove our stuff from our PAID room!!! I would never stay at this hotel again!! Absolutely horrible!! Please keep in mind I called the hotel 5 times to explain we were running late and would not be there for our first day and they could charge us. In fact st midnight of the first night they called me to find out where we were, again I explained we were coming in the morning and everything else was the same. We would be checking out after staying the remaining days of our reservation. Totally floored that even though our room was paid and we were staying 2 of our remaining reservation that they would check us out while we went to lunch!!! No apology, nothing!! The clerk acted like she was doing ME a favor, NO you made a mistake and checked us out!! I had email, app and could show my room was paid for three days and yet they did me favor giving me MY paid for room back??? Stay away from this hotel! Worse stay I ever had at a Candlewood!! That's the experience of being a platinum member? God help the person walking in from...

When I booked my room I specifically asked for a roll away. My son and I were in town for the Royals game. Upon check in I was told they were all out of roll aways. I asked to be moved to a room with 2 beds. I was advised that since I was using my Spire points that was not an option "Besides, I think we're sold out!" one of the other girls at the desk chimed in. The girl said "I guess I can go double check for a roll away." to which I replied "If you're not too busy" as I look around at an empty lobby!! A couple hours later, since I heard nothing about the bed I decided to go look for myself. When I walked out of my room I noticed a roll away sitting in the hallway next to the office just down from my room. I went to the front desk to thank them for getting the roll away for room 105. To which the girl replied "I think that's for someone else!" Who? I replied. "Let me check" finally after standing there for 10 minutes watching her walk around behind the desk thumbing through paper and typing, I said "I'll just take it to my room., and if I could get some sheets, pillow, and blanket I'd appreciate it." Those were stacked on my bed when I got back to my room around midnight.

The next morning the bill under my door had a $10.00 charge for the roll away. Upon leaving I approached the lady at the front counter and explained my situation and the events of the previous day. I also explained I had been an IHG Member for many years as well as a Spire member and have never been charged for a roll away let alone after how things had transpired. She pointed to a plaque on the wall with the name of the Company that manages this property and they have very strict rules when it comes to things like this and this is a charge they will not waive! I asked how long the property had been open? Knowing it was fairly new property. To which she replied "This is a brand new property about a month old!" To which I replied "Be very careful, there's a lot of...