The Dalles Inn — Hotel in The Dalles

We were planning on staying at this particular hotel as the reviews all looked pretty good and it was close to the only local home depot. We were planning on staying for a minimum of 16 days with the possibility of staying up to 30 days. Were traveling construction guys. (3) days into our stay things turned bad! Our card was charged $2,997.00 from The Dalles Inn!

My wife called them to say hey why did you guys take almost 3k out of my account who authorized this charge.

They said that it wasn't them that it was probably Expedia(we booked initial 4 days with Expedia) so my wife called Expedia and they explained that if it was them it would say Expedia on the charge.

So my wife called back The Dalles Inn to explain that the charge didn't say Expedia but said The Dalles Inn.

She was met with attitude and no offers or suggestions on how The Dalles Inn was going to right this wrong.

My wife was hung up on and told she was very rude and aggressive just because she was trying to figure out why we were charged the almost 3k.

My wife called the bank to dispute the charge and the bank said that if the Dalles Inn sent over the actual charge $65.00 per night times 4 days then they would go ahead and release the other almost 3k that was still pending from The Dalles Inn. Seemed simple enough and an easy remedy right? Wrong! After my wife called back to The Dalles Inn and spoke with the so called manager explaining to her that the bank would clear everything up if she would simply provide the actual charges on a paper or reciept and email it to our bank(super simple) right? Wrong! The Manager said that she was extremely busy with check ins and would see if she could find some time later to send over the paper the bank needed. Craaaaazy right! She should've prioritized our issue being that it was extremely sensitive especially because it could bring up legal matters against the hotel.. I believe this is the incident that really showcased that this so called manager was either involved in this fraudulent charge and or she knew who was. Why wouldn't she prioritize the issue and handle it asap.

So that whole day the manager/staff didn't send anything to the bank! This of course made it seem to the bank as though we were lieing about the whole incident becsuse if it was true why wouldn't the Hotel Manager/Staff send over the actual charges right?

So day 5 I left the hotel because the hotel cleaners didn't clean our room that morning probably because they were told not to clean the room by the so called manager.

Upon leaving I was hooking up my trailer to my truck when I noticed a women who was wondering around the property going in and out of different rooms. She had no shoes on her hair was all over the place and she appeared to be under the influence of some type of heavy drug.

I told my co workers im glad to be leaving this place!

I got a few miles down the highway when my wife called me and said "hey did you get the receipt after checking out"? I told her no I just ran out of there and forgot to.

So I ended up going back to the hotel to get the receipt and check out.

This turned out to be a mistake!

The lady at the front desk was extremely rude and said she could not provide me with a receipt! Craaaaazy! I said why not! I never for the record ever had a hotel refuse to give me a receipt after checking out! In fact its standard practice for them to at least ask you if you want a copy of the receipt showing room charges.

Aftet that I became upset because it made perfect sense now that it wasn't an accident on the almost 3k bogus charge for 4 nights stay because what Hotel would deni a receipt? Answer) A guilty one!

I found out later that the strange looking women walking around the property was the manager! Wow!

I hope the owner or someone higher up reads this and reaches out to me to right this wrong!

Don't stay...

I’m kind of a low end/high-end girl when it comes to lodgings. My preference is for independently owned businesses of either kind. I’m all up for splurging on destination lodging on occasion, but because I tend to arrive late at night, the amenities are often wasted on me. 

If you’re looking for reliable and reasonably priced lodging in The Dalles, Oregon, I highly recommend you consider The Dalles Inn. It’s an independently owned and older property that is well-maintained and has loyal staff. it is centrally located on the west end of the main street that goes through town. The best rooms are in the four-story hotel but there are also two stories of rooms outside of the hotel that have stairs leading up to them from the outside, similar to a motel. I’ve stayed in both the hotel and the separate building several times. I would be happy with either. There is safe parking.

Pre-pandemic, they had a lovely breakfast that rivals that of any I’ve had in hotels closer to twice the price. Due to the shortage of staff, the breakfast room isn’t open right now but they prepare a lovely bag of breakfast goodies for you to take with you as you leave, or bring back up to your room.

My most recent stay was on 9/14/22. I had contemplated traveling to see my father in Washington via Walla, Walla, WA, in part because I wanted to stay at the boutique property, The Finch. Online, they were advertising rooms for $157 per night. But when I called, they wanted to sell me a room for $220 plus per night because they were hidden fees and the room advertised online only had a bunkbed. I told them I wanted to look around and we call back if I was interested. I started doing a little research and thank goodness I did, because one of the things that came up repeatedly was customers complaining about the paperthin walls. I got the sense that this remodeled property might have formally been a Motel 6, which I avoid at all costs. I don’t care how bougie a place is, I’m not paying a premium for paperthin walls. That’s part of the reason why I prefer older properties. I quickly decided to travel via my normal route and called to get a room at The Dalles Inn.

One of the nice things about independently owned businesses that are well-maintained is they usually provide a high level of customer service, which I have always found to be the case at The Dalles Inn. They generally don’t have hidden fees either. When I called, the room that were available were outside of the hotel, which I was OK with, but the woman taking my reservation said she would make a note that if there was a cancellation of a similar room inside the hotel prior to my arrival, they would give me that room instead. As it turned out, I was able to get a room on the fourth floor.

With my AARP discount, my room cost $81 as quoted. There were no hidden fees. The room was worth every penny. I can’t remember the last time I got such a good nights sleep in a hotel room. Usually when I stay at hotels/motels, I need to use ear plugs. Not here. I love that the rooms at The Dalles are large and have bathtub/shower combos. Most newly built properties do not. Everyone seems to be going towards a design that looks similar to what I would consider a fancy Motel 6, including even the new Best Westerns. I had everything I needed in my room, including a well concealed mini fridge.

I’ve been told of the owners of this property also have one or more in Albany, Oregon. I don’t ever have a reason to go through Albany, but if I did, I would certainly be researching which properties they own.

Highly...

The staff was friendly but this wasn't exactly what we were expecting. There is a building under construction and another one right next to it. We missed this at first because "the Rayland" is larger but I guess they are "related" hotels. The construction building is where you check in and where they offer breakfast. The Dalles is an older building with somewhat updated rooms but showing some wear and tear. I was alone with another couple in my group staying next door. Since this is a motel with the doors accessing the parking lot, I felt a little vulnerable. There are locks on the door but I sill moved the the heavy chair in front of the door. ||The bathroom was very small but clean. Everything was clean. There are plenty of outlets for charging and a one cup coffee maker. The internet was sketchy. I had to call the front desk in order to connect and my companion said her's kept going in and out. The AC was on cold when I entered but if I turned it up too much, there was a musty smell. The AC was on all night so I didn't notice much outside noise. The only time I heard noise from another room was in the morning, in the bathroom, when the room behind me used the shower. So not an issue at all.||The area where the hotel is located is hard to read. I wanted to go for a walk but my companion was hesitant based on "looks". So, we walked around a couple of residential blocks and we were fine. The architecture of the homes is mostly Victorian/Queen Anne style and beautiful, most of them are well maintained. We did not venture down to the river as it was getting dark and we would have had to cross some busier streets.||The included breakfast, offered in the main lobby of the Rayland so you had to go outside to get to it, was coffee, prepackaged breads and danishes, yogurt, some beverages, some cereals. Not a lot, but enough. ||There is a burger chain restaurant across the street that is consistently patronized. We were not in town long or at the right town to check out the winery or other areas of town. All in all, this is an okay place to stay with what we would guess were mostly travelers checking in. Another smaller place a few blocks away looked very good but we thought mostly traveling workers...