Best Western Plus Wine Country Inn & Suites — Hotel in Santa Rosa

UPDATE DUE TO 'NO LOCALS' POLICY: On October 22, weather forecasts predicted high winds for Saturday night as well as all day Sunday in our area, along with extreme mounts of rain. Due to very scary past experiences during such storms, my partner and I chose to stay at this hotel until these storm pass, for our own safety and peace of mind. We’ve been doing this since before this hotel was a Best Western property. During all that time we’ve never been any trouble at all. We check in, go out and get dinner, watch TV, and otherwise quietly occupy the room. The rooms themselves are clean and comfortable, and the location works very well for us.

My partner and I made reservations the Friday before, using the app for Android. The following day, as we were preparing to come to the hotel, we received a call from the desk clerk, who said he had to cancel our reservation because it violates policy for us to rent a room, because we live within 50 miles of the hotel. I was utterly shocked to hear this. My partner was able to persuade the desk clerk to make an exception for us due to our circumstances. I am very thankful to him, and for that matter all the staff we interacted with in person, for their service; all of them embody the best of Best Western: courtesy, professionalism, customer service.

While it’s true the current policy is now more-prominently displayed on their website; “The hotel has fairly & rationally determined that renting rooms to individuals who reside locally (w/i 50 miles of hotel) poses a reasonably avoidable increased risk to the health, well being & safety of hotel staff so will not rent to locals.,” I have to say it was still a shock to not have been alerted sooner. Also, such a policy is overly broad in its application, and is hostile to local residents. The desk clerk explained it was enacted in response to loud, disruptive parties that had happened there. While preventing such activities is a reasonable and desirable goal of any hotel, this policy really is using a cleaver where a scalpel is more appropriate.

For the first time in decades of staying at Best Westerns all over the western US, I felt unwelcome. Again, I do NOT want this to reflect in any negative way on the front-line staff. They were, without exception, great; they are why I would feel comfortable staying at another Best Western in the future, assuming this does not become policy chain-wide. But again, whoever came up with this policy, made it overly broad. I would suggest, exempt from such a ban, those who are Best Western Rewards members in good standing, or those who have previously stayed at that location, with no problem.

We will not be back until there is...

The front desk staff was extremely helpful any time day or night. The breakfast was the most extensive breakfast buffet I have ever seen. However, the ADA rooms are horrible. I am in a wheelchair and other than the bathroom (which had plenty of problems) the room was nearly inaccessible. The king size bed stands over a foot taller than the seat of a wheelchair, making it very difficult to get up into. One side doesn't even have enough room between the bed and the wall to fit a wheelchair. The side that is "wheelchair accessible" does not allow for any maneuverability. Once I got the wheelchair to that side of the bed, I couldn't get it back out, unless I put the fifty pound ottoman outside, not an easy feat when wheelchair bound. Even once I put the ottoman out of the way, there was no room to turn the wheelchair around, forcing me to have to go backwards to get to the bathroom or out the front door. In going backwards, there is barely enough room between the bed and the desk / chair to not run into it, causing me to have to move back and forth until I could barely squeeze between them. The carpet is slick, causing the wheels to constantly spin freely. Once in the bathroom, the tile does not afford any traction when trying to get from the chair to the toilet, so the chair moves away from me as I'm trying to get to and from the toilet. The mirror is set at a standard height so all I could see was my forehead and eyes, making shaving very difficult. Though a very nice and luxurious room for anyone without disabilities, to label this an ADA room is a farce. I would not suggest staying here if you have disabilities. On top of all of this, they only offer standard cable that is mostly Spanish, Korean, or local channels. For the price point of the rooms, you would think the television they offered would be a little higher grade. But, if you like breakfast or swimming pools, this is the...

We stayed 4 nights at this location. We stay at Best Western a lot. Some are good and some are not so good. This one was the worst for us. We were placed in a smoking room. We never choose a smoking room because we have a toddler and because of my wife's health, she is sensitive to her environment. The smell was truly terrible. I could tell the cleaning staff knew about this because they had left the balcony door open to try and air it out. It didn't work. We had to leave the balcony door open and the room door open for a couple of days. It was cold and we had to wear coats and hats in our room. I tried to switch rooms but they said that none were available. Why would they put a family with small children in a room in that condition? As I saw other guests checking in during I time there, it seemed to be they did have rooms we could have been switched to, they just didn't want to. Breakfast was also lacking some morning because they didn't have a protein like sausage or bacon. They also didn't have any milk sometimes, which isn't a good thing when you have a toddler. Location is close to the main highways, so that is what it has going for it. I noticed the response from the owner to this review so I thought I'd leave a response. In customer service, regardless of industry, it is best to not try to shift the blame to the customer. I am a business owner and before that, I managed a store for global retail chain for 15 years. I understand customer service. I would not have chosen a smoking room. I travel a lot across this country. I often stay at Best Western. I have never booked a smoking room. I believe the system is set up where if there are no other rooms available, then a smoking room is offered and not indicated on the page itself. When you shift blame to the customer, it reads as a back handed apology and doesn't come off as...