CLARION POINTE MORROW — Hotel in Morrow

If I could rate this place for zero stars, I would. Got pets? Please read below. The staff was really rude during my three day stay. The most memorable thing about my stay was about a poor sweethearted girl that was new there working for housekeeping. She was very friendly but you could tell she was over worked. You could see the stress as she was cleaning the place. She spent a good seven hours cleaning the top row of the building we stayed at that had a total of eight rooms from 10 am to 5 pm. We felt horrible for her. One of the managers that we talked to when we wanted to put in a good word for her was quite nice and sociable. The other two managers I dealt with were the most unpleasant human beings I had ever exchanged words with.

The last day of my stay I had to wake up and walk all the way to the office because they couldn't over-ride my payment over the phone after calling and waking me up, they needed a physical appearance. I've had other hotels be able to do that and automatically charge me for the room. I thought that was how that worked. I asked if I could stop by after I had gotten rest to sign the forms and they were rude saying I had to be there now if I wanted to have the room another day. I sent my partner down to sign the forms for me. They called back up and told me I had to be present. Why does it matter? They got their money anyway. Being tired and going without sleep for the last four days, I was barely half awake, walking through 88 degree weather to get to the office that wasn't anywhere near our hotel (a few buildings away) just to sign a form that they could have just waited on was a huge inconvenience and made my experience quite sour.

Now let's talk about this "pet friendly" hotel. If you have pets, find another hotel to stay at. It'll be more worth your money and the pet policy will be a lot friendlier. They make you sign a bunch of forms agreeing to be charged for any damages your pet could make (which is normal I assume for most pet friendly places, but there were an usual amount of signatures) and even behind your back, they will charge you for other things not outlined like the dog barking (at least what they threatened us with). We went somewhere for no more than 30 minutes and were greeted upon our return at our door by rude loud knocking no more than 3 minutes of being back. Now our dog barks when we first leave but quiets down and stops after the first five minutes. We opened up the door thinking it may have been housekeeping and we were threatened to shut our dog up or we would get kicked out and be charged for all the various noise complaints by one of the managers. She acted like a brute and wanted to get in my face and my dog did what he was supposed to and barked/growled at her when he was quiet even before we arrived back at our hotel. I shut the door in her face after saying don't worry, we'll be out tomorrow.

Not a pet friendly place at all. Go somewhere else, there are better options for your money and places that are OK with a dog barking for a few minutes while you leave. Not everyone can take their pets with them at all times especially when they need to run quick errands.

About the room/hotel, the room was clean but it smelled like smoke/pets which I had an asthmatic reaction to. Cockroaches were an issue outdoors, many of them scurrying across the floors or on the buildings. I didn't see any in my room but I wouldn't be surprised if they were inhabiting inside the hotel walls. Pool was clean, I only used it once while I was there but no one went to the pool at all with as many people that were staying there.

The breakfast wasn't very good. The eggs and sausages were cold; the juice and pastries were yucky; there was a line for the waffle maker; the bread was stale; & very generic cereal. They also closed it early one day at 8:50 am when it was supposed to stay open until 10 am before checkout at 11 am. I didn't really care about that but it's just the mere principle that they do what they want and their word...

This was one of the worst Best Westerns my husband and I have experienced. Several disappointing things happened during our recent stay here. When we first arrived, there were two front desk attendants on duty. They were not welcoming and they weren't friendly. They didn't greet us with a ”Hello, welcome to Bestern Western”. One attendant said very rudely, ”How can I help”. This really escalated my frustration because after driving for 9 long hours to get there, they property itself appeared to be in an unsafe location.

Once my husband and I checked in, we noticed several people walking constantly through the hotel parking to the hotel pool area. There are some rigid looking apartments across the street from the hotel. This made me very nervous. As my husband and I prepared to leave for a family reunion outting we notice someone had places a ”soiled, nasty” diaper by our vehicle. We don't have small children, our children are grown adults. We didn't bring any children on the trip with us either.

We saw one of the front desk attendants walking in the parking lot talking loud on her cellphone. We tried to get her attention regarding the dirty diaper but clearly she ignored us because she too busy chatting on her cellphone.

On Sunday, July 22nd, we left for an early morning church service in downtown Atlanta. When we arrived back at our hotel room later that afternoon, our bed was stripped of sheets but it wasn't made and our room wasn't cleaned. My husband walked to the office to complain. He was told a supervisor would send someone to clean our room.

Since I work from home, I bought my laptop on the trip with me and decided to go in the hotel lobby to do some work on my computer. The attendant on duty and I assumed the other person was the supervisor, looked at me strangely. I asked them am I allowed to sit in the lobby. One dryly said yes but made feel uncomfortable being in there. These two preceded to discuss among themselves very loudly (I heard every word of their conversation) why some unwanted guests hadn't checked out of their room. Said the unwant guests damaged the room, were constantly in the pool, and had eight people staying in the room. So, the front desk attendant and the supervisor called the police. Two police cars arrived and stopped the unwanted guest by the apartments across the street.

I asked the front office attendant was my husband and I in a safe area because people walked all night through the parking lot, gathered in the pool area, and police are on the scene. I told her I was nervous and I want the 1-800 number to their corporate office. The attendant told me the other lady that was in there was now out talking with the police is the supervisor. She would have her call me in the room in a few. I left the hotel lobby and went back to my room. A few minutes later the supervisor called in a tone as if I was disturbing her. I told her my husband and I didn't feel safe in the hotel. I told her about the trepassers who walk consistently through the parking lot and go to the pool. I told her I was the lady in the lobby when the incident happened with some unwanted guests and the police.

That supervisor told me there's nothing she can about people walking through the parking lot from those apartments. She told me the police patrol the area a lot there. She told me the hotel was a safe place to stay and the incident was an unfortunate one with some guest who wouldn't checkout. Basically, she tried to undermine me and act like I was overracting!!!!

The next day, we woke up to no electricity due to a thunderstorm during the night! I called the front desk and was told most of that entire area was out of power. My husband and I immediately checked out!!

We were at this hotel 3 nights. The Atlanta, GA area doesn't have any Best Westerns downtown. Our Family Reunion was downtown at the Georgian Terrace Hotel, we should have stayed here. But we always stay at best western when we travel. We're gold members. So, we booked our room to the closest Best Western in Morrow, GA....

I am unable to respond to the Management who responded to my review on TripAdvisor so I am going to post my review, and their subsequent response, so I may add some well-needed insight to the owner's reply. I would rather reach out to them individually but they did not return the message I left for David, the Manager. The owner, Mike Nelson, sent this obviously scripted response without researching who we spoke to initially or returning my phone calls.

Here was my initial review:

"I wish I could give zero stars. I booked this hotel for my college daughter to stay on her way home to Orlando for Greek Easter between her Spring and Summer semesters. I called ahead, gave my credit card, and specifically asked them if it would be okay if she could check in if she was only 19. They assured me she could check-in, as long as she had a valid credit card in her name (she does - with a very high credit limit). At approximately 11 PM on 04/27/21, she was turned away, despite our reservation and the assurance from the front desk agent. She was understandably distraught because I had assured her, based upon my conversation at booking, that her age wouldn’t be an issue. Tonight she was denied. The front desk refused to provide a last name for the Manager/Owner because they knew this was wrong. I was only given a first name. “David.” David, I hope this review finds you and I hope you realize what you have done. If you don’t want anyone under 21 to stay in your hotel, train your staff accordingly. Don’t turn away prepaid customers who were assured a safe place to stay. Shame on you, David, whoever you are."

Here is the owner's response:

"Dear Valued Guest, Thank you for your review. We do have a policy that you must be 21 to check-in and it is published on the Expedia Group web site where you booked the reservation. We are concerned for the safety and well being of teenagers, and this rule helps us keep them safe. I'm sure your daughter would have been a lovely guest but unfortunately by law, we must apply policies like this consistently to all and can't make exceptions. I apologize that Expedia did not inform you of this when you booked. Thank you again for your review."

My response to the Owner:

Mike, I totally understand your policy and, if it was clearly stated on Hotels.com (NOT Expedia like you mentioned in your response), we would have searched for another hotel that did not have this policy. With no obvious restrictions posted on the website, I did the best thing I could and contacted your hotel directly before booking it. I spoke with a woman at 10:54 AM on 04/26/21. It should be very easy to determine who we spoke with and even easier to acknowledge your mistake, apologize profusely, and address the problem by re-training your employee. A simple phone call would've put this situation to rest, but your manager didn't call me back and you chose to respond online instead of contacting me personally. Mike, you have my phone number.

The actions of your employee put my 19-year-old daughter, who was traveling home for a holiday, in distress and danger because one of your employees assured us she would be welcome and safe. Your policy is NOT A LAW but a choice. Luckily, a nearby hotel happily accepted her and a crisis was averted. But this mistake by YOUR employee could've been dangerous and catastrophic under different circumstances.

Because of your failure to respond, I will no longer book any Best Western Hotel until you call me personally to acknowledge your mistake. I know this will fall on deaf ears, but I will continue to correspond with Best Western Corporate via Twitter and Facebook to let them know about our experience and your failure to provide any semblance of concern, communication, resolution, or...