Best Western Pocatello Inn — Hotel in Pocatello

Being a handicapped individual (an above knee amputation), my wife and I stayed with our puppies at the Best Western Hotel in Pocatello Idaho a few days ago.

We've stayed here virtually every year (twice) for the past 7 years. We've had issues with some things at this particular hotel and made my frustrations and comments known. I've had the opportunity to speak with the Manager of the Hotel, Heather, a few times. Heather was been very cooperative and understanding of my situation and of the frustration I had made. She has made changes and helped with my situation, which has resulted in enjoyable stays.

Being from Canada and having driven a long ways (13 hours), those being in this situation (tiredness, pets and an understanding wife being cooped up in a vehicle) understand that all you want to do is quickly check in, find your room, have the amenities you need and get unpacked can appreciate what I go through. Being a handicapped individual has it's limitations (recent amputee).

Everything at the Pocatello Best Western had been what we needed! Quick check-in, room with the amenities that I needed was excellent. Having to use my wheel chair in the room as my leg was very sore from the trip, was good. There was plenty of room to maneuver, both in the main area and getting to the bathroom and using all facilities!!! This was great!

The sleep we got was great! Excellent bed!! Being near the one entrance, I thought might be challenging (hearing people coming and going), but I was mistaken. It was a quiet night. Although we did hear some 'heavy' running in the upstairs hallway, that was only once in the early evening hours. Taking our pups outside to do their business was easy and again greatly appreciated. There was plenty of room for them to do their business and come back inside. One thing, now that I think of it, might be for the hotel to put some small garbage cans outside the entrances so that one does not have to a way to dispose of it.

Check in was quick and easy .... everything before hand was on file and all I had to do was provide ID, CC and sign a few forms. Check out was again easy and quick. The front counter staff were polite and asked about our stay and if there were any issues, which there were not. This hotel offers a HOT breakfeast BUFFET!!! It is well stocked, HOT and cold items are offered. It is a great way to start your day and leave shortly thereafter.

Parking for a handicapped individual was good. There are a number of handicapped stalls close to the entrances. I would also point out that if you are handicapped and park on the S end of hotel (if in front of main entrance, I would believe it would be facing W), there is a handicapped stall on the back side by the street. Like I indicated, I am an above knee amputee who was wearing his prosthetic leg. When I got out, after parking, as this stall was right by our room, it was very dark on this side and as an amputee, you have to be EXTREMELY CAREFUL in stepping around the area. There are a few pavement 'bumps' that pose a serious concern for someone who has an average prosthetic leg and have to keep that back pressure on your joint. If you are not careful, your foot may not make it over any 'bumps' which would result in you not being able to get that full extension and locking of your leg. One just has to be careful when in this one spot. We've been here a number of times and I know about this issue, so I adjust... just thought you would appreciate knowing.

Having access to the hotel's wireless internet was great! Easy to link up and speed good!. They even have a couple of computers in the main lobby.

I would definitely stay here again and we plan on doing so. Price is good, quality of sleep excellent, breakfast buffet excellent, staff friendly and accommodating, quick check in & out ... why not stay here! Especially being a 'PET...

I did not check in myself, my experience started after entering the "Executive Suites" building, which by the way, was a separate building down the street from the main part of the hotel. We did not find this out until we had unpacked ALL of our luggage from the car.

As we entered the "Executive" building, the first thing we noticed was what can only be described as a strong musky odor, along with the lesser, yet lingering scent of whatever type of floral cover scent they were trying to use to keep the horrible scent down. It was NOT working.

As we proceeded into the building, noticing the clearly unkempt and dated carpeting, and the run down look of the place, we heard a member of the staff loudly making the comment, "about time to get the f*@! out of here" or something of the sort. The two staff members continued to banter loudly as we walked down the hall to our room, apparently oblivious to us or not knowing any better, and we could still hear them even after closing the door. No big wonder since the door had at least a 3/4" gap at the bottom, allowing sounds outside to easily be heard from within. I certainly found the profanity and the attitude displayed by the staff to be unprofessional at best.

Our room had an even stronger musky odor than the hallway. It was not very clean; there was a sticky spot on the floor in front of the mini fridge, crumbs on the chair at the desk. The remote was sticky.

Aside from the granite counter top on the tiny bathroom sink area, everything was pretty run down. NO carpet, the flooring seemed to be linoleum covered concrete throughout, save the runner carpet between the beds.

The bathroom had paint chipping from the door frame onto the floor. For a pet safe place, this bothered me greatly as pets and small children tend to ingest such things. I was glad we didn't have our two little Shih Tzu with us, let alone a small child.

Overall, the room strongly resembled an older college dorm room at a cheap community college, that had been recently inhabited by a couple of roommates who had made a pact not to outdo themselves cleaning.

But the worst part of our stay was the state of the beds. They did not appear to be clean, and side from that, they had older, simple spring mattresses with spare padding that were so hard it was impossible for us to get to sleep.

People were slamming doors, coming and going until all hours of the night and we could hear people talking in rooms all around us... it was pretty much noisy all night long.

Had all the other rooms in town not been booked solid, we would have left immediately for cleaner, quieter, more comfortable accommodations. But alas, with no other options, we were forced to do our best to try to get some sleep. We did not succeed. We only managed a few fitful hours.

When we got up the next morning, our backs were all miserably hurting, we were wiped out. The NOISE continued with doors slamming, and dogs now awake and barking, as my fiance did his best to manage a smile and go off to his appointment, while my daughter and I attempted to get some work done on our online business. We decided to give up and just have coffee, only to find that the coffee maker would only brew 1/3 of a cup of coffee.

We were booked at the hotel for a second night, however, we chose to drive on to Utah for clean, comfortable accommodations at a Holiday Inn there instead.

Despite the fact that there was at least an hour left to check in time when my fiance requested to forgo our second night and check out, he was only comped 1/2 the 2cnd nights fee!

Shortly thereafter, checking online we noticed that the room had been re-booked for the night, so the hotel got the full fee for that night anyway, plus the 1/2 fee they charged us.

We will not be staying at the Best Western Pocatello Inn again, and will avoid Best Western all together if possible...

Pros: It's marginally better than a non-chain motel. ie Not a total roadside dump. Front desk staff were courteous but also useless in resolving issues. Check-in was reasonably quick. The lobby looks nice...

That sums up anything nice i have to say.

Cons: Just about everything else. Here's how I ended up paying $218 for one night and what it gets you at this "hotel":

I spend vastly more time at hotels than at home and stay all over the country. Generally I'm thick skinned but really this was setting a new low for a Best Western and I will never stay here again. The room/beds were so bad we modified our travel plans and left a day early rather than sleep here again.

After unloading the car, I checked us in. We were then directed to a separate building. The so called "Executive suites". More than a little misleading. The "Executive suites" are located off another street which required repacking everything into the car and driving around the corner. Mild inconvenience, sure, but not a huge deal.

Heading into the "Executive outhouse" the first thing we all noticed was the odd smell. Musky funk that they are trying to cover with excessive amounts of air freshener and heavily scented cleaner. Dirt and grim were visible along the hallway carpets. Everything looked dated.

Cleaning staff were in the hallway, joking loudly with each other and swearing. "Almost time to get the F* out!" one of them exclaimed loudly while we were a few feet past them. Their continued antics were still clearly audible to the point of distraction when we got into the room. The room on the other hand looked like it hadn't seen a renovation since the 60's aside from a few layers of cheap mismatched latex paint.

The room had an even odder smell than the hallway.. Burnt caramel and more of the musty musky smell. Floor in the room was sticky in front of the TV. Desk surface felt greasy and left a shiny residue on the bottom of my laptop and mouse. One of the mattresses had a dried piss odor. Dust and grime along the walls. The "sanitary" remote was sticky. Still, we kept trying to make the best of things. We cleaned things up a bit. Threw some towels over the piss bed. I knew from booking the room that this was the last room available. Tired from a long day of travel we didn't want to deal with the hassle of going to another hotel. I wish we had.

We could hear people in adjoining rooms well enough to follow their conversations, the shows they were watching and everything else. The door to the outside slams shut loudly enough it might as well have been the door to our room.

Old terrible uneven spring mattresses. Joking with each other after failing to get any sleep through the night, we referred to the beds in our room as Weapons of Back Destruction. Less than ideal before a critical work day.

I got back from my job and went to the front desk to cancel the rest of the stay, I'd rather sleep in my car than suffer through another night on that bed. I was told I would be charged half a day even though the cleaning folks hadn't finished the rooms on the floor we were on and hadn't yet gotten around to cleaning the room we were in according to my guests. This was also well before check-in time at the hotel.

The very pleasant lady at the front desk, tried to get her manager to not charge us but was shot down. My complaints about the state of the room had no effect. She also tried to find us an alternate room but none were available.

They went ahead and booked the room to someone else if room availability on the Best Western website is accurate. So they made a killing by double billing for the time frame.

I've had significantly better rooms in new hotels in the Bay area, New York, Boston; you name it, for less. Feel ripped off and this has given me a seriously negative impression of Best Western hotels. I'll stick to IHG, staying here...