Royal Oak Inn — Hotel in Mount Ida

I was very disappointed in the quality of the room we had. For the price we paid I expect at least a standard room with the normal amenities. What we got was very sub par. The beds were basically two metal cots and were not comfortable at all. The blanket was extremely thin and not enough for how cold the night was. The heater/AC made it either extremely hot or extremely cold. There was no middle ground to the temperature. There was no microwave or mini fridge. The shower was the worst. No plug for a bath missing nobs, and the icing on the cake was a large hole in the ceiling above the shower. They had stuffed a towel into the hole to try and fill in the gap but it was still very obvious and concerning. My wife even made me shine a light up in there to make sure there wasn't any cameras watching the shower. People outside our door smoking all night was not appreciated. The walls are so thin we could hear people talking on both sides of our room. One of them watched TV until 3 in the morning keeping us up all night despite us knocking on their door at midnight asking them to turn down the volume. They told us that they "lived there" and that they don't care because we will be gone in the morning.

The staff was friendly. The crystal cleaning tables were appreciated. We will probably stay somewhere else when...

This is one of those cases where we went looking for a place to stay in an area where the largest towns are around 1,000 people. We searched in towns near Norman, Arkansas--Mt. Ida, Norman, Glenwood, and Caddo Gap. Royal Oak Inn had the best rating of all hotels in the area, so that is where we stayed. No, this is not 5 star as in Elite hotels. It's 5 star because they did a great job considering where they are located. The room was about 1/3 the price that we normally pay for hotel rooms. It was on the small side but big enough to be comfortable. It was very clean, something that is super important to us. The bed was very comfortable and we had plenty of TV channels to watch. It had a small sink and a tub shower. There was a nice, clean swimming pool outside. Bottom line--it worked well for us and we believe it is the best in this area. They got our car license number and my driver's license number--I haven't had these written down in more than 20 years. But we had to laugh when we found a small sign on the door of our room that said they had my car and driver's license numbers and they would turn you me in if I stole anything! Makes you wonder about some of the clientele they may have...

BED BUGS! The manager Jessica Barnett put us in a room she KNEW there were bed bugs in! She has a very apathetic attitude about it all. We got in around 1 am after an 8 hour drive, took all of our belongings in, settled to sleep and found one on my pillow. We took the room apart and found more. We saw evidence of Diatomaceous Earth having been sprinkled between the mattress and box spring and a tiny pile of it beneath the bed. Ridiculously inept attempt to rid them. She explained that it was "breeding time" for them and it's common in the motel trade. Her response to knowingly putting us in a room with bed bugs was "We're trying." Instead of being apologetic she was argumentative. They are either ignorant or callous about bed bugs. We have to throw away/burn/wash EVERYTHING we brought with us now. It was then 4 am, we had to find another hotel for our family of 5, put all of our belongings in plastic bags and leave it in the back of the truck and shower. Our weekend trip crystal digging was completely RUINED, as well as our return home. What a horrible experience. I have called the hotel office and the owners. They will not answer nor return my calls. Frustrating and...