Knights Inn New Florence — Hotel in New Florence

I stayed at the Knights Inn in New Florence, MO for LESS than an hour — and that was only because I was waiting on my husband, who was driving separately. I chose this place because it was pet-friendly and had trailer parking. How it has any positive reviews is beyond me.

The room reeked of cigarette smoke from the moment I walked in. It was so strong I opened a window immediately to try to air it out, but the smell lingered. As I started bringing in my things and my pets, I noticed how filthy everything was: crumbs and hair in every drawer, beard trimmings and dust on the sink, a sticky bathroom floor that smelled like urine. When I checked the bedding, a beetle literally fell out of the sheets — and there was human hair in them too.

I took everything back out to the car and went to the front desk to let them know I wouldn’t be staying. I was polite about it. But instead of apologizing, the lady argued with me. She told me the smell wasn’t cigarette smoke — it was “just because it’s a pet room.” As if pet-friendly means disgusting by default and I don’t know the smell of cigarettes. She insisted the condition of the room was normal and refused to acknowledge anything was wrong.

After I insisted that it was unacceptable, she said they’d return my money. Surprise — I never received my money back.

If you’re traveling with pets and just want somewhere clean and safe to rest — skip this place. It was nasty, and the staff clearly has no interest in accountability. I drove 15 miles further down the road, with respectful staff and clean rooms.

Edited in response to owner: The gaslighting in this response is the same as when I went to the front desk. I can prove that the money has been withdrawn from my account and was never returned. Additionally, I was not offered another room. Though, even if I was, why on Earth would I accept it when the quality of my initial room was utterly disgusting. Notice how there is STILL no apology for this… the...

It has been 4 weeks since my stay here - I have distraughtly pined over whether or not to provide a review of my stay at the Knights Inn, but after lengthy contemplation, I have made the decision that other travelers should have the opportunity to read the details of my experience.

Unfortunately this hotel has fallen prey to bed bugs, and anyone who has stayed here should take measures to ensure that these pests have not left the confines of the hotel and potentially come home with you.

As someone who does not have much experience with bed bugs, I was a bit horrified upon discovering them on the sheets, then in the mattresses, on the walls, etc. When confronted, a member of the custodial staff acknowledged that they were aware of this ongoing issue and have been trying to eradicate them. While they did indicate that they would fulfill any requests that I may make, I did not see much sense of urgency or elevated level of concern about the situation. Hours of additional time was spent steaming clothing, bagging possessions and taking all precaution to make sure no bugs travelled with me and beyond that point. The Owner or Manager of the facility did provide a refund in the full amount of the room rate, but only after I went to the front of the facility to discuss the issue with him.

I am only able to provide a one-star review due to the unfortunate circumstances surrounding the stay. The staff was kind and the rustic element to the facility is a nice touch as well. Bedbugs do not discriminate so this may or may not be a reflection of the cleaning program. For the sake of everyone involved from guest to staff, I do hope that the hotel has been able to get the problem...

Danger, danger, danger! Our room didn't have a working fire alarm. We only knew this after the microwave started to below out smoke so thick we couldn't breathe! Our bad because we should have left first thing after we got our room that had dirty sheets and dirty floors. However, we had been driving for over 12 hours and were in need of sleep. The office person who didn't speak or understand english was able to understand enough that our beds were dirty and gave us clean sheets to make our own beds. At that point and being worn out from our long drive, we just made our beds. I used the toilet only to find out there was no water because it was shut off,I tried to turn it on but couldn't budge it. We should have left then, "our bad"! I just filled up the toilet tank with water using the garbage can and then went to sleep. Early in the morning, I woke up and heated some leftover coffee I had from the day before because there was no coffee in the room. That's when I used the microwave. OMG! I opened the room window and noticed that it had a huge hole in the screen and no safety latch to prevent children from falling out of the 2nd story window. I got my daughter and dog out of the room and ran to the office to tell them about the smoke and near fire with no working fire alarm and all I got was them shrugging their shoulders because they didn't understand a word I said, and they walked back to their office and shut the door behind them. At this point, and by now, I did have a couple of hours of sleep. We just left the hotel. Please check out your hotel rooms, and no matter how sleepy you are, if things aren't what they should be, run, run for your life! Sleep...