Quality Inn & Suites Matthews - Charlotte — Hotel in Stallings

This place is really deserving of a 0 Star, but the I think the staff (minus the Manager Steve) gave it the 1 star.

I would like to start off by stating that I do not expect 5-Star service from this place, but I was a single adult traveling with a toddler and a 3 month old on the run of Hurricane Florence. When I made my reservation, I had asked 1) if there would be someone around to assist me with my luggage and 2) if there was a freezer that I use for my breast milk. The lady on the phone told me yes and she could probably ask one of the maintenance guy to help out.

Check in day arrived and I was less than impressed with everything. First off, the hotel was kind of hidden, so I had to make a U-Turn off the highway to get to it. We arrived and was greeted by the "manager" Steve. Let me tell you about Steve. He has to be one of the most unprofessional manager that I have ever encountered, which is kind of strange to me... because his staff are professional and helpful. After I checked in and paid for my stay, I asked if I could get some help with my luggage and Steve's response was GOLDEN! "We don't have bell hop, this is the Quality Inn". I explained to Steve that I had spoken to someone when I made the reservations that they would find someone to help me. He responds with "oh yes, I was standing behind her when you called and heard the conversation. We don't do that, I have since pulled her back and explain that we don't that". Ok fine, I went to ask him about my need for a freezer for my milk. He says I can borrow the freezer but ONLY during breakfast time because that's when I can get help with that. He finally gives me my keys (after over 15 mins... he was doing other things while checking me in). I guess he felt sorry for me because I was chasing my 2 year old while wearing my 4 month old. He made sure I knew that he was doing me a favor by saying "oh, I will walk you to your room. Just know that we don't usually do this, we are always so busy. We always need someone at the desk, we don't EVER get a break". But seriously... what kind of manager rambles on and on about how they can't and won't accommodate their guest? Sounds like the manager didn't do their job when the staff was hired. Anyways, what I thought was the manager going to my car to help with my luggage or at least hold the door for me (no automatic doors) was simply a "show me to my room" situation. After he opens my door, he says "enjoy your stay. Our housekeepers keeps these room CLEAN" and walks off. After he leaves, I go to my car to pack the cart for my stay... funny thing... I see the super busy manager outside doing NOTHING! We made eye contact (I am sure he saw me struggling), but instead of helping... he walks back inside. Despite the negative manager, I have enjoyed all of the staff. One of the housekeeper actually assisted with opening the door for me while I rolled the cart inside.

The Hotel It's part motel and part hotel. From what the manager explains, the "hotel" is newer. We walked into the room and immediately i can smell mildew and my allergies went into hyper mode. At night, there were a lot of noises (highway, people talking, cars) and getting a good night's rest was hard. The carpet was disgusting.... my daughter took her socks off and her feet was BLACK from walking around (i would not recommend you walking barefoot). The headboard was not clean (I had to use a wet wipe to clean it), the top of the headboard had caked on dust (indicating that it was probably never cleaned).

Issues with the hotel room: DIRTY, smells, dirty (sticky, caked up dirt on the headboard), telephone didn't work, dresser broke when I pulled it out, outlets didn't work and half of the lights doesn't turn on.

Initially I was planning to stay at this hotel for the duration of the Hurricane evacuation, but after 1 night I could not imagine staying any longer. We checked out and would NOT recommend this place to anyone. Our rate was $75 a night and honestly was OVERCHARGED...

This 6 day stay was meant to be a relaxing combination of work and relaxation with my adult children and grandchild. It turned into one of the worst weeks I've ever had at any Quality Inn to date.

In all fairness it wasn't "all" due to the accommodations at this location. But the staff could have made the situation tolerable had they been more courteous and professional. Upon arrival the area had a really bad series of storms that night. There were 2 (two) room phones and neither worked so I couldn't get a wake up call the whole time I was staying there. There were 2 (two) TV's and both worked sporadically either due to service provider or poor installation (not sure which). The breakfast that was served all week was awful. Not up to other Quality Inn standards at all!! The eggs were cold and had standing water in bottom of chaffing tray (it looked like leftovers had been halfway warmed up). No bacon (although bacon remnants were visible in dish) and the sausage was grossly cold. The breakfast attendants (various days but same attitude) seemed too busy with their phones to bother with refilling anything. Two of the front desk staff made rude comments. When I asked about when my phones were going to be working again a front desk staff member by the name of Tory said, "that isn't our problem it is Time Warner Cable's and we can't do anything about it". And when I confronted this desk clerk trying to view her name tag-which she didn't have on she looked shocked that I would even ask her name, but reluctantly gave it to me.

So after a day I told a different front desk person-named Brandy- if the phones couldn't be repaired I would have to cancel the rest of my stay and find other accommodations. Her eply to me was, "Looks like your just going to have to check out then." She then turned her back to me as if I wasn't her problem.

Now, to be fair there were some awesomely kind and professional people who I wish had been available more. Two staff member's named Jackie and Brittany tried hard to help me with the phone and TV problems both Saturday and Sunday (July 9-10). They both showed courtesy and seemed to genuinely care I was inconvenienced by these issues. Also, one of the best front desk people I have ever encountered named Kenyetta actually remembered me when I checked in as a returning guest. Each time I encountered her working she was kind and professional. Very good work Kenyetta!! Thank you!

In addition I finally was able to catch the General Manager, Michelle Reed on Wednesday (maybe it was Tuesday can't remember as the week was a blur). We sat down in the breakfast area and I explained all my bad experiences. She began by trying to make excuses but after I was able to provide some detail and names she began to apologize for my experiences. She offered to put some additional points on my Choice Privileges card and I accepted but the points offered was not enough to compensate me for the days of terrible experiences.

Also, the elevator in the second building had problems with the second floor button sticking which caused the elevator to be slow to respond and many times the door got stuck. Which was more than a little disconcerting. And the WIFI-internet was so slow I could not get work done while I was there.

I will seriously reconsider staying at another location for...

I normally do no do reviews on hotels because I feel that a lot of reviews are overblown. But my experience with this particular hotel was very much less than stellar so I decided to leave some feedback so that hopefully the hotel will improve. The first issue: I pre-paid for my room online but when I arrived, they told me they wanted to charge me an extra $50 refundable charge for incidentals which they state is in case something gets broken. They say that’s normal but I have stayed that two hotels this year so far which were also choice hotels and I was not charged anything for incidentals. The money is not a big deal but to me it feels like there is another underlying reason for them charging me for those incidentals. Maybe it was a racial thing or some other reason. Either way, I thought it was very unprofessional. But that was just to start. Issue number two: when I entered my room, the room was lacking several things. There was no iron in my room. There was no shower curtain in the shower. My room had double beds and one of the beds was not completely made and one of the pillows was missing a pillowcase. Third issue: My stay was for two nights and both of the mornings that I woke up, I went to go take a shower and there was a roach in the bathroom/shower area. I am not scared of bugs but to me I don’t expect to see critters in hotels that I pay for. Fourth issue: I reported all of these issues to the staff and hoped that they would be corrected the next day. I left the hotel early in the morning and came back and there was still no iron in my room. Also, the staff had replenished my towels but did not leave any washcloths in the room. So I had to call and request washcloths be put in my room. All in all, I want to admit that the room was nice and comfortable and had it not been for most of those issues it would’ve been a decent stay. The purpose behind this is not to say that this is a terrible hotel or not to stay here. I think you should absolutely stay at this hotel. But to the hotel staff, I think you need to be more attentive to quality and I think the practice of charging people for incidentals needs to stop. And I definitely think you should call a pest control service to address the critters. And I think you should train your staff to be more friendly because they really did not come across to me as People persons. They seem like they really could care less in my opinion. I would stay this hotel again but I expect better. Again, I wanted to give an objective but fair critique...