Clarion Suites Vidalia Riverfront — Hotel in Vidalia

We had originally looked at staying in Natchez close to the casino and other various bars and restaurants but found this hotel. While it was not close to the casino, we decided on this hotel for our grown family primarily due to the onsite restaurant and bar. That way we would not need an Uber that evening. On first arrival I would have given the hotel a solid 9. The lobby was clean but slightly warm and had a musty smell. We were really early and our rooms were of course not ready yet. We went to walk out on the Riverwalk and the automatic door was broken. Slightly inconvenient but no big deal to manually open and close. Went down the walk a little and went to use the other doors to get back in and those were out of order and locked so had to walk back to the original doors. I noticed the black sign near the breakfast area saying the Bar & Restaurant were open from 5pm to (I believe) 10pm. I asked the lady at the desk what the restaurant served and was told stuff like burgers and poboys which was perfect. We left to grab lunch at the casino and shop a little and made plans to come back for drinks and dinner later and play some pool. When we got back later and checked in, the restaurant wasn't open so my wife inquired and was told the restaurant and bar were no longer open on the weekends. :((( This put us into a scramble not only trying to figure out where to go for dinner but also getting an Uber there and back after having a few drinks. Very disappointing. When I asked at the front desk why this was not disclosed, I was told this was decided a couple of weeks ago because of lack of business in the restaurant and bar on weekends. When our grown kids went to their room (314) they couldn't see outside because of the heavy film on the window. For the most part, our room was good. The bed was not as comfortable as we had hoped (very bouncy) but the AC worked very well. The TV remote in our room only controlled the volume and mute. It couldn't even turn the tv on or off. I was asked to bring the remote down to the desk because she was the only person on duty. I was given another remote which looked the same but controlled nothing. I then noticed the remotes were RCA but the TV was LG. Another exchange for an LG remote and it worked. The next morning our children were wanting to get breakfast but had seen the signs posted around the breakfast area saying you had to have a breakfast coupon, which we were not given. They thought it had to be paid for separately and left without eating. When they told my wife and I, we inquired and were told no coupon is needed. It's very rare for me to write such a bad review or give a less than 7 out of 10 score. The restaurant/bar closing was a very big and, with proper communication, a completely avoidable issue. The website still says there is a restaurant and bar onsite. In actuality, the only thing that kept me from giving a 5 is the staff. Everyone was friendly and as helpful and empathetic as they could be. We spent about $400 for two rooms for one night in Vidalia, LA... I don't feel we got what we paid for especially given the other options we originally...

My recent experience at this hotel was disappointing to say the least. I accepted the fact the hotel is a bit outdated and was not exactly up to my usual standards for a hotel. We dealt with the stained and sticky carpet in our room, the filthy curtains and so forth. However, in a pinch, it would work for my family of 5.||||The thing that really upset me was that we (paying customers) were harassed about "breakfast tickets". Upon check in, we received these 10 little strips of paper that read "Breakfast tickets". I realized that these were our tickets for the free breakfast each morning. Cool. No problem.||||The first morning we went to breakfast, I ran into 2 different workers, neither of whom instructed me on what to do with the tickets but I had them with me just in case. We ate our breakfast and went on our merry way.||||The next day, we went to breakfast again and got our food and started eating. All of a sudden, Joanne, an older Caucasian lady, walks in the breakfast room, picks up a little woven basket from the mantle and walks over to us and asks had we put our breakfast tickets in the basket. "Oh no, I wasn't sure what to do with them but here they are", I replied. I handed her our tickets. She then proceeded to approach 2 other tables with African American families and request their tickets. The problem with this was that she skipped over the table that had a Caucasian guest sitting at it. Once she realized how this might appear she mumbled under her breath "Oh I know her, that's So and So." But then she decided to walk over to the guest's table and ask for the tickets. The guest replied " I don't have any." The worker then said "Oh Mary, is that you?" speaking to the guest loudly and making it clear to us all that she knew this guest so it was no trouble that she didn't have her ticket. She carried on small talk with "Mary" and left without a ticket or any fuss. As we sat there for another 10 mins, other Caucasian guests came in, none of whom were asked to provide any breakfast tickets.||||We decided then to speak with the manager. When requested, an older Caucasian gentleman named Ronny said that the manager was out due to a personal matter. He was the acting manager and when told about our experience, he offered no solace but said that the worker who took these actions (Joanne) was his wife and proclaimed that she's not prejudice. We told him that our goal was not to declare anyone a racist but was simply to make it known that there was clearly a bias and we were on the receiving end of that. As he walked away saying that his wife wasn't prejudiced.||||To those who may read this: This isn't a hit piece labeling The MissLou, Clarion, or even Ronny and Joanne as prejudice. Whether we admit it or not, we ALL have some type of unconscious bias. This is what makes us human. The problem is when we try to excuse how our biases make other feel and then attempt to make you feel like you're wrong for bringing it up. We need to stop this; that's the only way we can both heal from our...

This Comfort Suites has one of the greatest locations possible on the banks of the Mississippi just across from Natchez, Miss. It could easily be a great hotel, but sloppy maintenance keeps it from the top of the list. Dirty stairwells, dirty walls, missing drain stopper cover in the sink, missing cover on the bathroom fan and the lights and fan not working, damaged furniture. The great views from the terrace can't make up for lack of basic attention to detail.

We arrived to find the air conditioner running and the temperature in the room at 59 degrees F. After unsuccessfully trying to operated the thermostat and adjusting the heating/cooling unit, I finally turned the whole thing off. The room finally returned to a comfortable temperature on the second day of our stay. I did not try to get help from the hotel because I didn't want to deal with it while we were staying.The hotel was packed so I knew there was no possibility of changing rooms. But how could housekeeping not have noticed an ice cold room. No guest should check into a room with these kinds of issues.

On the plus side, we ate the Friday night steak special. It was a delicious meal and the views while we ate were great.

Unfortunately, breakfast in the morning was another story. They had a great selection of food, but were not ready to handle the large crowd. I appreciate the use of non-disposable dishes and utensils, but the staff couldn't keep up with guest demand for plates and utensils. The way the food was set up caused traffic jams i.e. people wanting a cup of coffee had to wade through the crowd in line for food. Opening the cooler for yogurt or hard-boiled eggs could result in hitting people at the cereal dispenser with the door. I've seen hotels with a much smaller breakfast space handle the food service better. The positive at breakfast was taking the food to the terrace and enjoying the fresh air and views.

The down side of the terrace was that smoking was allowed throughout and not limited to a designated area. Having chosen a non-smoking property, it was disappointing to have smokers all over a common area. Seemed to defeat the purpose of being non-smoking property.

Someone needs to care enough about this property to make it great. All it would take is a thorough top-to-bottom clean up, some basic maintenance and daily...