La Quinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham Knoxville East — Hotel in Knoxville

DO NOT EVER STAY HERE!

This is how we started out the beginning of our Thanksgiving holiday week this year.

The outside looks nice but just wait til you enter the lobby! You are greeted by a plastic banquet table stretched across the front of the front counter and another one which blocks entry to behind the front counter. The flooring in the lobby and the breakfast area is deplorable. The man on duty when we checked in, was not really friendly. There was bed pillow on the couch in the lobby, which turned out to be where he would sit when he was not behind the counter.

Our son and we were both traveling with one dog each. On the website it’s indicated the pet policy is a nonrefundable $25 charge for two dogs in a room. There is a paper sign sitting on one of the long, plastic tables that specifies their policy is $20 per dog per night with a maximum charge of $40. A difference of only $15, but when you consider we were paying $200 for the room, which ended up to be a nightmare, $15 is quite significant! I expressed dissatisfaction about this discrepancy at check-in and the man at the counter indicated that he can only push a button that charges the fee automatically based on the number of dogs. SERIOUSLY?!?!

The whole check in encounter was a strange and awkward experience.

The elevator needs to be replaced. The hinges on the bathroom doors are old and rusted. The door knob on the entry door is old and needs to be replaced. There was a no smoking sign glued to our door and one or two other doors on our hallway. None of the other doors had these, but they tout themselves as a non-smoking property. From all other appearance of the room, it looks pretty nice, but looks can be very deceiving!

We were in room #321, a double queen room. They had to have gotten that pair of mattresses off the side of the road. At first, I thought we were sleeping on boxsprings, but then realized they were actually mattresses… VERY OLD MATTRESSES!! my husband, and I had to hang on to the edge of the mattress to keep from rolling into the sunken center and every time we moved, and we moved a lot due to discomfort, there were loud creaks. Our son had the same problem on the other mattress.

There is no way that these are La Quinta flag standard mattresses! We have stayed at many La Quinta hotels in the past and most always had an amazing experience.

To make matters worse, the toilet would not flush.

To sum things up about this particular LaQuinta property - they have put lipstick on a pig!!!!

La Quinta corporate needs to get out...

Just drive a little ways down the road and stay in Sevierville!!! We stayed in Sevierville in the Winter 2021 and decided to stop in here for this trip (since we had such an exceptional stay just down the road last time). We made reservations while on the road so we were sure there would be a room available. We arrived late ..around midnight. At check-in, the front desk clerk said “let me go check the room and make sure it’s ready”. I thought that was strange, I mean, if there is an available room shouldn’t it be clean since the last person checked out earlier in the day?? Regardless, he came back and said “yes, it’s ready” and gave us our key. We passed a lady when heading to our room (she was heading down the elevator). We arrived in our room and it was okay. A little dingy in the corners but very, very smelly. I don’t know what the smell was. (Thank goodness for travel Febrese). We were in the room about 2 mins and the phone rang. The front desk clerk asked if there were clothes in the closet.. we checked and yes, there were. He said he would be up in a moment to collect them. The last guest had just called (at 12:30 am??) to say they had forgotten them. When the clerk arrived at the door to get the clothing, the same woman we passed in the hall at arrival was with him. He got the clothing from us and handed it to her. (Was she previously in our room…what was going on??) It was too late to move hotels and we wouldn’t be there much anyway..so we stayed both nights that we had reserved. Our card was deactivated the second day and we had to return to the front desk to have it fixed. Breakfast is available and it’s ok. They do have some protein and hot options which is good. The beds were hands down the very best part!! Very comfy! The beds is actually what brought this...

We will generally choose LaQuinta as budget friendly but still nice accomodations, and this location has not lived up to the brand name.

Room 318 -- there is an apparent leak in the room that left the carpet along the bathroom wall soaking wet. The wall near the tub is waterlogged and moldy (picture attached). Didn't realize this until my fiance was already sleeping after a long day of driving and my luggage was wet from the carpet. The rooms appear updated-ish, but the furniture is very poorly made (drawers would not open/had trouble closing, bed was far less comfortable than we expect from this chain, etc).

The customer service was lacking. We called ahead and requested a late check out. We were told on the phone that checkout is at 11:00AM but we could ask upon arrival for a late check out which would be at 12:30PM. When we asked in person, the rude lady behind the desk stated, "checkout is at 12:00PM, we cannot change that, and if you have a problem with it, the manager will be on shift in the morning."

In general, this hotel was not nice. This is what you expect from Super 8 across the road. Not even worth the $100 we spent, and based on other reviews, I will not be going anywhere near the breakfast in the morning.

It is truly unfortunate you cannot trust a brand name to be up to par across the country. And so much for "southern hospitality"

EDIT: the breakfast this morning didn't even look appetizing even if I thought I could trust it. The mold/water damage issues were reported to front desk staff, who didn't seem concerned in the least bit. After sleeping here all night, my fiance and I both woke up feeling ill.

EDIT #2: changing to 1 star from 2 stars since housekeeping knocked on our door 3 times between 10:47 and 11:16 to see if we were ready to...