Best Western Plus Longbranch Hotel & Convention Center — Hotel in Marion

My husband and I came here hoping for a relaxing, stress-free one night our experience was the opposite. Walking to our room we could see a large group of kids ages 7-14 running and screaming playing hockey in the lounging area. After getting to our room on the 3rd floor all the way down the hallway all we could hear was those kids screaming. We called the front desk and they said they’d handle it. After about 30 minutes of the screaming continuing we tried calling the front desk again they proceeded to tell us that they can’t do anything until 10:30 when the lounge closes. We decided we’d try to enjoy the swimming area but couldn’t cause there was at least 10 unsupervised children in the pool and hot tub running and screaming. While we were sitting in the sauna (the only place that didn’t have a bunch of unsupervised children) we were chatting with another customer staying there and he said he got hit in the face not once but TWICE with the ball the kids were using to play hockey. After several attempts of calling to front to complain about the noise they said we weren’t the only ones that’s called to complain about the noise but they can’t do nothing but relocate ME. Around 10 PM we hear screaming for help over and over then there was a knocking at our door my husband went to go see who it was a group of kids, they saw him and ran away laughing and screeching. After asking where there parents were my husband was then threatened outside of our own hotel room by several drunk men and woman one guy was holding a hockey stick as a weapon. After that incident the front desk switch our room to an “upgrade” which it most definitely wasn’t. It was 11 and we wanted to play a game of pool, there’s signs in the lounge saying it closes at 10:30 but there was a bunch a drunk people down there still. So we went to the front desk to ask if we’d get in trouble if we played a game of pool the lady at the front desk was extremely rude and said the lounge was close despite the very loud drunk group in it. This experience was flat out the worst experience I have ever had at a hotel. The front desk people are very rude, unprofessional, and frankly just don’t care. When you walk into the pool area your eyes and nose burn from the chlorine, never had towels. The sauna is falling apart in several spots. All the walls in the room are paper thin you can hear your neighbor sneeze. I paid $180 for a pool side room, when they “upgraded” me the new room was smaller then the last, in a different building, and you almost had to stand on the toilet to shut the door the bathroom was so small. They still charged me FULL price for my pool side room that I couldn’t even stay in and after the awful experience. The ONLY positive about this horrible experience was Stephanie the lady that helped us check out. She was joyful and very understanding. If I could guess I’d say she has more training then the manager. She should definitely get a raise or promotion cause it seem like she’s the only one who knows anything about...

Last night was granddaughters 9th birthday party. Weeks ago she sat down and made a list of all the places/things she wanted to do. She narrowed it down to a hotel/pool party with a sleepover. We had been to a number of birthday parties at Best Western Plus Longbranch Hotel & Convention Center and had a lot of fun so we decided to go there.

We arrived around 3pm and started to set up. Mind you, this wasn't a big party. Our setup consisted of one table, about 10 balloons, and enough plates for 9 people. The presents and other stuff was in the hotel room we had booked. Again, this was by no means a big party.

Around 4:15, before the kids had even fully arrived, staff approached us. They told us the owner saw us setting up on the security camera (from home) and that having a party was against the rules and handed us a highlighted print-out of what we signed. We told them we had been multiple parties at this location and there were 3 additional parties actually happening at the same time in the same room. None of them were being approached.

We said we could take the party favors down and just let the girls swim and play, they then told us only registered guests can even be in the hotel. They said unless people have paid for a room they can NOT be on the premises. I said "so people cannot have visitors at all in your hotel?" to which they confirmed.

Again I tried to work with them as Isla looked crushed that we had to stop her birthday. I again reminded them there were THREE other parties going on at that time and asked why we were the only ones being asked to leave. They had no answer.

We were trying to figure out what to do and 15 minutes later staff approached again and said that we had 10 minutes to disperse the party (8 little girls swimming) or we'd be escorted from the premises. Twice I went to the front desk and tried to speak with a manager or something to make this party happen. Twice I was told there was no wiggle room and our party could not happen and anyone not staying at the hotel was forbidden from being inside.

I was finally able to speak to a manager on the phone and asked if we could get a refund on the room because we had no reason to stay any longer. She was quite rude in her refusal saying we already checked in and us wanting to "break the rules" wasn't a valid reason for a refund.

Our "party", which was 9 little girls trying to celebrate Isla, was targeted by staff with absolutely no willingness to work with us. The irony of the whole evening is that Isla's birthday was Grinch themed.

The Longbranch Hotel, 2 weeks before Christmas, ended a 9-year-old's birthday before it got started while other parties (two of which were bigger, and louder) were allowed to rage on uninterrupted.

I never ask people to share my message(s) but this time I'm asking. This is one of the worst experiences I've ever had and I want everyone to know.

Thanks for...

Overall, a pleasant experience. The staff were all nice and friendly, with one minor exception, which I will get to.

I chose to stay here for a couple of reasons. We've been there before and had good experiences, a wonderful breakfast and so on. The other reason was I was trying to find a room with something unique or special. Well, they have a room with a sauna and hot tub in it. I thought that would be really cool (ha ha) so I booked it. Both of those extra luxuries were quite nice. The room was huge and the bed very comfortable. We stayed two nights and it was the best sleep I've had in a while.

The only real downer was the breakfast. We stayed Saturday through Monday. Breakfast on Sunday was subpar. There was nothing to spray on the waffle irons and, guess what, the waffles stuck to the iron! Just the way I like them. (not really) The hash browns were decent. The sausage was a bit iffy, being shriveled and dry, but it tasted okay. I had some grits, too. Instant. And you had to make them yourself with no way to measure the water. The only really good thing was the frosted flakes. I have memories of having a really good breakfast there in the past. Not this time. We went back over on Monday to see what they had, hoping it was improved - maybe someone had been filling in on Sunday and wasn't sure how to do the job - I dunno. We were being optimistic, I guess. On Monday, the "Gold Zone", which is what they call the breakfast nook, was closed. We found a long letter taped to the window in which it was explained, among other things, that if you want breakfast on a Monday you can get yogurt and microwaved sandwiches at the front desk. I'm pretty bitter over that, actually, as other than that we were having a great weekend. At the very least they could have told us at check in time that the Gold Zone is closed on Mondays.

We'll probably come back some day. The weekend was certainly not totally ruined. Just very disappointed by the lack of a decent breakfast. It turned out all right, in a way. We found a place a short drive away called Morning Story that does a fabulous breakfast.

I should mention, though, that this is a fairly quirky motel with a skywalk and decor in the game room right out of the seventies, complete with a spiral staircase. I love that!

I would recommend staying. Just, maybe, don't get your hopes up for breakfast. I get it. It's free. I'm not sure it's worth that...