Quality Inn Kingsport South — Hotel in Kingsport

I am ripping mad at this place. I have been planning a group rally with up to 25 people, and this hotel was our last stop on a 2500 mile ride of older sport touring riders. It's really hard to manage a group on Facebook, but we've been doing it for years, and this year, this hotel was our last stop. More than a month ago, I confirmed a group rate for up to 20 rooms. I got a group rate for our stay, and posted the update for people to start booking. I called on April 5, April 16. I had been promised a call back by Rick Trinkle about a better rate and to get my individual confirmation, which was also promised. That never happened. On My 18, I called again. I found out that I was never booked, while many from my group already were!! The desk then said that there was no group listed. OMG. How could that be. I then found out I wasn't booked? I also was told that there was only a few rooms left. This all occurred with the guys were telling me they were getting various rates !! I was then promised another return by Rick Trinkle. That return call never occurred too. That's twice now. Tell you how much attention to detail is paid. On May 21, I must have called 4 times after not getting a call back.

When I called the hotel on Monday - my phone just rang and rang - and then would get hung up. that happened 4 times. I was livid. I finally called CHOICE HOTELS, then got transferred to Group Reservations where over the next hour, we struggled to get a block of rooms this late in the season. I did get a block of room, but it wasn't nearly what I wanted, and I finally pulled the plug on this too and decided to move the group to a new hotel chain, closer to Bristol.

When I have a bad experience - I always call the establishment - to be fair. I told that man about Rick - and he told me what Rick said. I responded - you mean the Rick who never called me back again !! That was to make a point about how negligent this person was at managing a group reservation. All in all, this easily was the worst booking experience I've ever had. This hotel didn't just lose good sum of money, but the entire experience of dealing with Choice was just as painful.

Goodbye Choice Hotels. This was a...

As we were driving home at 10:00pm, I went online to the Choicehotels.com site - bought points and then used the points to book a hotel room at the Quality Inn Kingsport. We then proceeded to the hotel to check in. The clerk informed us that, although he had our reservation, he did not have a room for us. That was it - just no room - sorry. Are you kidding me? It’s now 10:30pm and I have to call Choice - and sit on hold for an extended amount of time. Then, I hold for a while longer while customer service calls the hotel. The clerk told customer service that someone must have booked the room in person at the same time I booked it online?? Anyway, I asked her if I could get a room at the Comfort Inn next door - her answer was no. She said that I would need to drive over 11 miles to another Choice Hotel that cost the same number of points. Again, are you kidding me - this was not my fault!! I asked her to cancel the reservation and return my points. She now informed me that she could cancel the reservation, but could not return my points. I hate to sound repetitive here - but are you kidding me? In order to get my points back she had to transfer me to someone else. By this point, we had left Kingsport and headed home to South Carolina. We drove down the road for 20 minutes before I got any help. This customer service rep was willing to transfer my reservation to the hotel next door (now 33 minutes later). He also called the hotel clerk - who told him that he had a room, it just wasn’t clean!! At the end of this entire ordeal - I got my points back (exactly - nothing for my inconvenience, time, or trouble) - and an invitation to apply for a Choice Hotel credit card - so that I could earn more points. Are you...

I chose hotel because of the availability, reasonable price, and the seemingly positive reviews. Picture used for this hotel made it appear to be new and very clean. I figured out quickly that the photos used were either of another hotel, or taken when this one was new. The pictures were extremely misleading. The hotel is run down with old, torn carpet throughout, the rear door to access the building did not latch or lock (I have pictures). The locks were gone from the door allowing anyone to walk in at anytime. My room (223) was in the same poor condition as the rest of the hotel. Carpets were poorly vacuumed, both furniture and towels were stained. My biggest issue is that the room had a strong smell of cigarettes. Spray air fresheners temporarily masked the problem, so we stayed. However, the smell kept coming back. Every time we walked into the room it smelled like someone had just smoked a cigarette in the room. What we discovered upon checkout is that staff (and possibly guests) were smoking at the rear exit and throwing their lit cigarettes, which were still lit, into a small bucket which was underneath my room (I have pictures). I assume that the air conditioner was pulling that smoke into the room making it seem like someone was smoking in there.
Extremely disappointed in the misrepresentation of this hotel upon booking, and the run down,...