Best Western Plus Springfield Airport Inn — Hotel in Springfield

UPD: THE LOCK WAS CHECKED THE DAY AFTER WE'D LEFT. WHILE THERE, I COULDN'T LOCK THE DOOR & GOT NO ASSISTANCE. Staff could have walked to the room, might have been able to lock the door, & resolve the issue. IT WAS A SAFETY CONCERN. THIS IS WHY WE REQUESTED A REFUND. IT IS REASONABLE TO EXPECT THAT ALL DOORS AND WINDOWS WHICH WOULD GRANT ACCESS TO A RENTED HOTEL ROOM SHOULD LOCK. Springfield, Missouri, ranks among the most dangerous cities in the nation, and I DID NOT FEEL SAFE STAYING IN A ROOM WITH MY TWO MINOR DAUGHTERS WHERE AN INGRESS DOOR COULD NOT BE LOCKED. WE OCUPIED THE ROOM LESS THAN ONE HOUR, I REPORTED THE PROBLEM, AND NO ASSISTANCE WAS OFFERED. THIS IS GROSS NEGLIGENCE. I believe a refund is in order - not a Rewards credit or Travel Card. I cannot understand how Best Western can claim their "hoteliers are united by their deep commitment to delivering exceptional experiences and exceeding guest expectations with each and every stay," and then show complete disregard for our safety by failing to offer me assistance upon reporting the problem. THAT THE HOTEL CAN SIMPLY DENY A REFUND FOR A ROOM OCCUPIED ANY LENGTH OF TIME REGARDLESS OF THE FACT THAT THE REASON WE CHOSE TO LEAVE WAS CONCERN FOR OUR SAFETY MAKES IT SEEM CLEAR THAT BEST WESTERN, AND THIS HOTEL IN PARTICULAR, IS MORE CONCERNED WITH MAKING MONEY THAN WITH THE SAFETY OF THEIR GUESTS.

Traveling with my two minor daughters. Room booked night of 2/18/23. Arrived at approximately 9:50 pm. After eating dinner and getting ready for bed, noticed the communicating door was unlocked. Unable to lock the door, reported the problem to Front Desk. Front Desk offered no assistance whatsoever; told me no other rooms available. I advised this was a safety issue, unacceptable, and that I would have to look for alternative lodging. 10:41 pm: Notified Front Desk that I had found alternative lodging, that we were leaving, and requested refund. Was told that a note would be left for the manager, who would be in the next morning. Left. Returned to this hotel morning of 2/19/23. I spoke to manager, Tonya Goddard, who advised that once we'd occupied the room for a period of time and because they had no staff to clean the room so that it could be re-sold, no refund could be issued. (Ms. Goddard and I did walk to the room; she was able to lock the communicating door, so I believe that if assistance had been offered when I reported the problem then the door might have been locked and we would have stayed in the room.) I contacted Best Western's corporate offices on 2/19/23. I was told that they were only able to "become involved" with certain issues - such as cleanliness - that a Customer Care Ticket would be sent to this hotel for response. Ten days later, I again contacted Best Western's corporate offices; was advised that this hotel's response was that no refund or partial refund could be offered. Representative said I would have to pursue other avenues (such as my credit card company); that corporate could not compensate on a safety issue. I disputed the charge with my credit card company, who advised that this hotel refused credit; I wrote to the Best Western Hotel Group's President & Chief Executive Officer, Larry Cuculic, and received a response from Customer Relations that the hotel advised a refund could not be honored, but did offer Reward Points. Customer Relations also offered a Best Western Travel Card for an amount approximating one-half the charges for my room at this hotel. (I declined these offers, as this experience has soured me on staying at any Best Western property in the future.); I submitted a complaint to the Missouri Health Department, with no response; and I submitted a complaint to Missouri Attorney General's Office, which received no response from this hotel, so have determined no further mediation is warranted.

This hotel failed to ensure the safety of their guests, and no one is going to hold them accountable - not Best Western's corporate offices, not even the Missouri Attorney...

I stayed here 2 ½ weeks in the fall of 2020. I’m afraid I can’t recommend this hotel. Customers are consistently being ripped off. My 3rd night there one of the employees tried to con me out of nearly $100. After looking through review after review of this hotel, on 3 different websites it’s clear what happened to me was not an isolated incident. A few examples: August 2020 a customer was charged “pet fees” only he didn’t have a pet. July 2020 a customer was double-charged, May, 2020 the same customer was overcharged twice. In November 2019 a customer was charged for 2 nights but only stayed one & still can’t get a refund. In August 2020 a customer states the staff lied, to keep from refunding her deposit. November 2019 a customer was charged $125 “to air out room.” Customer disputes claim that room needed to be “aired out.” Listening to them explain how they arrived at whatever amount they’re charging you feels like you’re playing 3 card Monte with a professional card sharp. The manager’s attitude toward customers is horrendous!! She talked to guests, including me, like a parent talking to a child. I’m probably old enough to be her mother. During the 18 days I was there, not once did I hear, “Thank you for your business.” I also wasn’t ever told I could earn Best Western points and only found out about it because I happened to see a flyer that explained the system. The day before I left somebody-I don’t know who-called the Springfield Police Department and falsely reported that my car was an abandoned vehicle. As a result SPD defaced my car by plastering a bright orange, adhesive sticker on it, threatening to tow it. I was livid! I’m STILL working on trying to remove all of the sticky adhesive. That’s already bad enough but this is a hotel that supposedly allows customers who stay there and fly out of the Springfield Airport to leave their vehicles parked at the hotel while they’re out of town. I don’t need that. Neither does anybody else. Springfield, Missouri has overabundance of hotels and motels including other Best Westerns.

Those things said, there are some very good employees who deserve recognition. The woman who checked me in on the evening of September 28, 2020 was especially kind and helpful. The housekeeping and maintenance employees do an amazing job. The building is squeaky clean-there’s not a speck of dirt to be found and the building and grounds are very well maintained. Clarence, the maintenance man is very friendly...

One employee, Katy was very rude to us on our check in. When we arrived quite early for check in, our room was not ready (totally understandable). However, she was accommodating and called the maid service to assign us a different room. We were told Room 209 was ready for us and were given a key and headed on up. When we got to the room, the door was already propped open, so we dropped off our bags and headed out. When we got back to the room a couple hours later, we discovered that our key did not open the door and in fact said a different room number on it (218). Confused, we headed back to reception to sort out the situation. At this point, we told Katy that there must have been a mistake because it appears we got the wrong key. Katy then proceeded to argue with us telling us she "didn't know how we could make such a mistake because she definitely told us room 218 and that's what all our paperwork said". When we explained that that may be true as it was our originally assigned room, she had most definitely reassigned us and that 4 people were there saying that she told us 209. She proceeded to give us attitude and deny she said it even though 4 people insisted she said otherwise saying, "Who doesn't read their receipt?" We finally gave up and said fine, but we need to get our bags from 209 so we can move. Katy then proceeded to hand us the MASTER KEY to the entire hotel!! This is extremely worrying! We could have gone into any room!!! Because of this we did not feel safe while staying at the hotel. The Master Key should NOT be given freely to guests!! In addition, we had no problem moving, and the whole situation could have been dealt with much smoother if Katy had just said there was a misunderstanding, no need to admit that anyone was right or wrong. When we went to return the master key, we also heard Katy talking badly about us to her coworker. Super unprofessional! Lastly, upon checkout, Katy and her coworker were complaining loudly and swearing about another one of their coworkers.

The hotel itself was nice and what you paid for. Conveniently located close to the airport, with comfortable beds and an amazing continental breakfast. However the service delivered to us by Katy was definitely not up to par. I am not usually one to write such a long review, but was definitely appalled by her complete lack of customer service and...