Best Western Plus Chain of Lakes Inn & Suites — Hotel in Leesburg

On December 13th, 2024, around 10:30 PM, my family and I (husband, thirteen-year-old daughter, and puppy) arrived at the Best Western Plus Chain of Lakes Inn & Suites from South Florida after a 5-hour drive to check in for a reservation made on November 14th for a softball tournament. Upon check-in, the receptionist, Angela, had a hard time finding my reservation using my name and confirmation number. I showed her the email confirmation from Best Western and the email sent by Best Western on December 12th, stating "looking forward to your stay." She replied, "I did not send that email." Angela then told me she could get us a room for the night but not for Saturday night because they were fully booked. I thought this was a reasonable start and planned to speak with management in the morning, as we were tired and needed our daughter to rest for her tournament. Angela quoted me a price of $200 for the night. I explained that this was unacceptable, as I had booked my rooms for $130 a night one month ago, and it was not my fault that they lost my booking. She told me, "It's not my fault," and "I cannot give discounts." She also said that I should not "get hostile" with her, as she had "just gotten out of the hospital yesterday." I responded, "I am not hostile, I am an unhappy customer—one who booked a room a month in advance from your website, received numerous confirmation emails, including one the day before, and not one email stated that my reservation was canceled. Now, I'm being told I have to pay nearly double and find another room for Saturday night, likely at an even higher price." As we continued our conversation, my husband, Richard, walked in to check on me, as 10 minutes had passed. When he entered, he said, "Hey, Raina, what's going on?" Angela responded, "Oh, God, don't shoot the messenger, don't go crazy on me." My husband looked confused because he had no idea what was happening. I briefly summarized the situation, and Richard demanded to speak with a manager. We waited about 15 minutes for the manager, Lloyd, to arrive. By this time, it was past 11 PM, and our daughter was still awake and tired. Lloyd explained that our reservation was canceled because a pre-authorization was run on the card on file on Friday morning, and it was declined. He read this from the manager's notes and offered us a room with a $10 discount for the night. This note had been left on file at 4:00 PM. I asked Lloyd, "If this is true, why didn’t the manager on duty call to ensure there wasn't an error on their end, or ask for another form of payment?" That is, if any of this was true. The card on file was used the same day to book the next room for the weekend, for which I had to pay double due to the last-minute booking. The "declined" card was also used to book a rental car the same day and for the entire trip. I am beyond disappointed with this experience on many levels. We are upset that we were treated so poorly and labeled as "angry people" instead of being recognized as unhappy customers. There was no compassion for the needs of customers who drove for hours with a sleepy family, having clearly made a reservation, only for the establishment to drop the ball. It was easier for the receptionist to call us angry and hostile and to say, "I can’t handle these people." Instead of efforts to right the wrong, there were more efforts to place blame and avoid accountability. We are disappointed in the lack of professionalism, accountability, deceitful practices, bias-driven behavior, and the complete failure to redress this major oversight. We were left to find a hotel near midnight in an unfamiliar town and had to pay double what my original reservation had cost in November. Our daughter only had 5 hours of rest before the tournament and...

I had a leak in my bathroom shower/tub which the floor got extremely wet and was soaked in water at midnight. I called the front desk immediately and he (the owner) didn't show up until 45 mins later with towels. When he came in he proceeded to yell, be very rude to me and my daughter and blame us for this issue. Upon checking out in the morning I was told by the front desk clerk that I was being charged $40.00 for water damage and to compensate the guest below for water that supposedly went through the vents of the room below me and caused damage. I asked for proof of said damage as well as the compensation he had to provide the guest for this said damage that was caused from the shower and somehow my fault and he denied that to me. The front desk clerk called the owner and he said that it was my fault and to charge me, I asked her to call him back because I wanted to speak with him(the owner), she called him and told him that I wanted to speak with him, upon me getting on the phone he began to yell and blame me for this incident. I told him that if he charged me for damages/compensation that he cannot provide me proof of I will call the news outlets and get the military involved for theft. He told me that if I was in the military that I wouldn't act or speak to him like that and I would accept that he is charging me these damages because that is what the military would do. I told him that I refuse to accept and pay anything without proof and also something that was not my fault, he kept yelling and proceeded to tell me that he is going to blacklist me from ever staying at his hotel again and to get out. He then asked to speak to the front desk clerk, after this lengthy and embarrassing check out in the corridor of the hotel, he then told her to refund me and blacklist me. STAY FAR AWAY FROM...

At first glance it looks like every other chain hotel. However, it soon became a nightmarish experience! Things can look good in any establishment until there is a challenge! On the second (and final) night of our stay, we were awakened at 4:00 am by a stairwell door and the adjacent outside door situated right next to our room slamming repeatedly for a period of one half hour. I contacted the front desk who probably did take care of the problem stating that she will find "whoever it is" and have them exit through the lobby instead. The slamming finally ceased. However, at 9:30 am, we received a call from the manager, Mr Patel (an hour and a half before checkout), stating that we had 10 minutes before the electricity would be turned off for the next few hours. As we stated our thoughts/feelings with regard to this matter, as we had a meeting where appearances were of the utmost importance, he hung up on me abruptly. Meanwhile, we left with hair dissheveled and with make-up applied in the dark. When we checked out, we confronted him with regard to his rude behavior and our extreme inconvenience. He denied that he was responsible for the hang up...."it must have been someone else." However, he later admitted that he made the phone calls to notify all the patrons of the hotel about the electrical issue. Suffice it to say, that I am sure the 4:00 in the morning door slamming had something to do with this electrical problem, and that he knew way before the 9:30 phone call that there was a problem that needed to be addressed well in advance of a 10 minute notification. He refused to do anything to compensate us for this inconvenience. Therefore, we would like potential patrons to seek other accomodations, as we will do...