Comfort Inn & Suites Atlanta/Smyrna — Hotel in Smyrna

The place was just filthy. There was trash in the elevator on the floor, plus a yellow "Wet Floor" warning card hanging on one of the metal bars inside the elevator the whole three days I was there even though there was no noticeable wetness anywhere....this sign appeared to just live there permanently,

The carpet was dingy and smelly. The dingy moldy smell was especially more pronounced in the common-area carpets, e.g. hallways.

the carpet was also badly stained everywhere including the guestrooms.

*The carpet, for the very least, could have been better vacuumed as they were visibly dusty throughout, but especially the corners near the baseboards.

The rooms and hallways smelled like cigarettes everywhere even though most guestroom doors had 'No Smoking' signs on the doors.

The room they first assigned me had a toilet that was not flushing AT ALL!!!

*Additionally, the toilet handle was on, but it was facing the opposite direction (upside-down). This could have been why it was not flushing, but either way, shouldn't the rooms be checked before a guest is checked in? How can I be checked into a room with no working toilet? It was an eyesore!

STAFFING ISSUES The staff grossly lacked customer relations skills! Extremely rude! I would fire every single one of them.

(a). When I first called the front desk to report the toilet issue (as soon as I put my bags down and did a walk-through), the lady was not apologetic at all. She said curtly "well, there is nothing I can do Maam, except put you in a different room!". I said "Okay, no problem". She hung up. I thought she would find a room and call me to inform me of which room I was going to be put in. After waiting 30 minutes without hearing from her (this is 11:25 PM, I am exhausted after driving nearly 7 hours to get there, and just wanted to go to sleep), I called the front desk back. She said "I said I'll give you a new room". I told her I was waiting to hear from her with further instructions, she said I needed to go downstairs...which she had neglected to tell me in the first place. She sounded irritated when I pointed out that a phone call would have been nice, she sighed with frustration as she finally told me which room I was being transferred to. *The next room was just as dirty but at least the toilet worked and the bed was comfortable

(b) The next day as I was leaving to go attend to my business, I told the lady at the front desk that I needed housekeeping. She curtly said "sorry Maam, we do not clean the rooms until on the third day of your stay. Not my rule, I just work here, it's the hotel policy!". For one, she did not need to add all that.....she could have simply stated the policy and left it at that. The rest of her statement was unnecessary. She was argumentative and unpleasant to talk to. She rolled her eyers and walked away, leaving me standing there without telling me how she was resolving my issue. She was apparently calling her supervisor. When the supervisor arrived, she told me about the same 3-day policy. When I pointed out the print-out they had given me at check-in that said 'guest rooms are cleaned on the third day unless the guest requests the team', and stated that I am now requesting the team as the policy states. She asked me my room number, I told her. She went into the elevator to go to my room as I walked out to go to town (my son's college tour at Georgia State University). When I came back, the room was not cleaned, my son and I had no towels to use.

(c) We had bought some food (dinner) on our way back to the hotel. Upon arrival to the hotel(day 2), I asked for silverware...just two forks with a promise to bring them back down when we finished eating. The lady at the front desk curtly said "sorry, we have no silverware!". I said I could just use two of the plastic folks that they have in the breakfast area. The lady said "Maam, I am telling you we have no forks to give you! The owner does not want us to send forks to the rooms because they are for breakfast only!". I thought she meant the restrictions were on actual silverware. So I tried to clarify that I just needed the plastic ones, would be sufficient. She sighed, rolled back her eyes and said, this time with what I could politely call 'elaborate hand gestures' with a raised tone, Maam, maam, maam (three times), I CANNOT GIVE YOU FOLKS TO TAKE UPSTAIRS, PEROIOD! IT'S THE OWNERS POLICY. HE (I don't know if the owner is male or female, but she said 'he') SAYS WE ARE GIVING AWAY TOO MANY PLASTIC FORKS!!!". At this point, the whole thing was becoming just nonsensical, stupid and ridiculous! So I walked away from it and opted to go upstairs and eat with my bare hands instead of having a heated argument over two plastic forks.

I understand policy. But approach, tone and delivery are very important especially when dealing with guests in the hospitality business and in any business for that matter. It is not what you say, it is the way you say it.

It was insane to me how they treated me, and if is how the front-facing staff deal with guests in this hotel, the owner needs to pay more attention to who they hire.

FULL DISCLAIMER: I am not saying this is race-related. I AM A BLACK WOMAN. All the employees I interacted with at the Smyrna Comfort Inn & Suites were all black. I do have to say that this is the second time I stayed in a hotel in Georgia and each time I was treated very poorly by my fellow black people, and I am so disappointed. I have stayed in hotels run by Caucasian attendants many times and they have always been prompt, accommodating, polite, and respectful. None of them have ever sighed and rolled back their eyes when talking to me, or walked away from me when I am in mid-sentence. I am sure not all black personnel in the hospitality business in Georgia are like this, but it is the few bad apples that make others stereotype us as 'angry black women'. If you seek a job in HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT, then please...

April 8-10th, 2016 stay,

This was the worst hotel experience i've encountered period. 4/8/16 check in 344pm. First off ROACHES. Right when we checked in I killed one live one on the wall and picked up a dead one that was on the floor along with all the other dirt and crumbs that wasnt vacuumed up. I proceeded to go to the desk and explain what i found and my issue with the dirty room. Well he "Emailed" the owner or whatever he did but room never got vacuumed still. That night at 1130pm i had two more roaches come out from under the counter where the fridge and microwave are. I went down stairs and the desk person (who was very nice) had no idea and didnt see anything about the room listed as dirty or roaches. Asked him if our room could be sprayed where the roaches were the next day. Still nobody came to our room. He noted and emailed or whatever he did. Next morning i mentioned to the cleaning lady outside our room (room 325) that all we needed was fresh towels and our room vacuumed. Thats it. No making beds or anything. Her paper even said our room was dirty ( i saw it ). She said oh no problem. Well we got towels, but still not vacuumed when we got back early evening. I lost it and had words with the front desk. Same kid that was there when i first checked in and came down. All he kept saying was i sent an email and havent heard anything back. Well how about he should have sent someone to vacuum our room???? He said he'd get ahold of the owner and call me within an hour. Well yeah, no phone call at all. shortly after i went to the desk i came down because we all went swimming. Well there were no towels in the pool area. very nicely i asked for towels and we got major attitude when he brought them into the pool. Everyone in there was like wow... That night (4/9/16) i went down again to ask and there was another girl at the desk and i asked her what the status was (which still not vacuuming of our room or spaying for roaches) and she said oh i dont know, i guess they're going to do something with the account. I wasnt looking for money back, i wanted a CLEAN ROOM!!!! Later that night i caught one of the roaches and put in a cup and brought down to the desk. Tried to hand it to the kid (from checkout and the one with attitude) and he said , i no thanks. I dont want the roach. I said neither do we in our room we are paying for....next morning got the bill slid under the door (full charge or course) so nothing was done. Went back to the front desk and the desk manager lady was there and was like oh is $34 credit for the 2 nights ok? First off what an insult and second, the whole point is all i wanted was a vacuum and quick spray for the roaches!!! never asked for a credit. She ended up issuing a credit for $51 ....lol . Sorry but that is a joke. Not to mention my two kids were freaked out by the roaches and i didnt want to bring any home. End of the day, all we wanted was a spray and vacuum and they couldnt even accommodate us with any of this. I am requesting a full refund for the 2 days of my stay. I'm beyond furious on how we got treated with our filthy roach...

We booked two nights at this hotel to take advantage of a 10% off promotion. We arrived at the hotel and were assigned a king suite on the third (top) floor. Even though it was a non-smoking room and hotel, the room smelled of smoke. After unpacking our stuff, we discovered that there was a network connection, but no internet available. We had planned to watch movies on our laptop in the evenings after visiting local attractions. I went to the desk to ask about the internet and the clerk said "oh yeah, the internet is spotty up on the third floor." When I asked about a solution, he give us a room on the second floor. That room not only still did not have internet access, but was also not as clean as other Choice Hotels we have stayed at in the past. There were chunks of debris on the floor, as if the vacuum had not been run recently, the floor in the bathroom under the counter had not been mopped and the room smelled "old." ||||I went back to the desk about the internet and was told that the manager would be left a note about the problem. I asked for the manager the following morning, only to be told he would not be in due to a family emergency. The clerk told me that the manager was aware of the internet problem and that "someone should be here sometime today to fix it." I advised the clerk that it was unacceptable, I would be checking out early and expected that I would not be charged the full mount for the room. She told me that she had no control over the cost, only the manager did, and that I would lose my 10% discount for the night that I stayed. ||||I did check out, and sent an email to the manager explaining all of this. I did not receive any response, and rather, received a folio that not only took off the 10%, but also added an "early departure surcharge." I then sent an email to Choice Hotels asking for resolution. It was responded to very quickly, but unfortunately the answer was basically that they cannot adjust charges and that I should contact the manager. After some more back and forth, they asked for more detail said "Rest assured that this concern was properly escalated at the hotel's management."||||It has now been 8 days since that last email and I have not heard back from either customer support nor the manager of the hotel.||||I am surprised and disappointed that corporate does not seem to have any control over the local hotels and that nothing has been done in any way to resolve my issue.||||I will not be staying at Choice Hotels any longer, and suggest you...