Best Western Waldo Inn & Suites — Hotel in Waldo

On September 13 of this month myself, my girlfriend, her two senior citizen parents, and my dog drove all the way from the border of Tennessee for 10 hours to your hotel in Waldo, Florida. We had initially fled South Florida due to Hurricane Irma and had made a reservation at this location to stay at as a resting point on our way back home. We arrived at around 7:00 p.m. exhausted.

When we arrived, the hotel was closed. Needless to say we were shocked as we had made reservations ahead of time and were never notified of this closure. It became dark and we were stranded in the middle of nowhere with no place to go during a state of emergency. This was more than frustrating – your company placed us in a dangerous situation. We were sitting on the sidewalk outside the hotel on the phone for over an hour, attempting to reach someone at Best Western who could help us.

While we sat on the sidewalk, some employees of the hotel walked outside and socialized, smoking cigarettes and laughing, completely ignoring us without any care that we were trapped outside sitting on the ground. When I called customer service, rather than attempting to help me I was advised that nothing could be done and was immediately transferred to the reservations department.

The reservations department advised that there were no rooms anywhere in Florida all the way to our destination. They only found one location that potentially had a room available in St. Augustine, but the front desk was not picking up the phone and nobody was even answering at the emergency phone line either – the gentleman on the phone therefore advised that it would be risky to drive all the way there, as there was no guarantee that the hotel was even open. He suggested that I attempt calling each Best Western location individually to see if there was anything that could be done at each location. I proceeded to follow these instructions, but no associate at any location would pick up their phones.

Meanwhile, my girlfriend Sarah called customer service again, where another associate parroted some script and advised her that nothing could be done, and attempted transferring her to reservations again. Fortunately Sarah was strong enough to refuse tolerating this second attempt by another one of your associates to avoid doing their jobs and communicating with us. The associate gallingly told Sarah that she was sorry that Best Western “didn’t contact us in time,” without acknowledging that by that time it was already dark, that Best Western most likely would never have contacted us at that point (and never did at any subsequent time), and that Best Western had in fact lost power the previous Sunday, a full four days prior to the reservation. Best Western should not have accepted our reservation when there was no power, and we would have made reservations elsewhere had we been informed that this was the case.

Sarah then demanded to speak with a manager and had to argue with the associate until she finally relented and permitted her to do so. For unknown reasons, even though nobody would pick up on the emergency line for the other department, only at this point was the manager or anyone else able to get through to the St. Augustine location and book the room.

We proceeded to drive for hours from the Waldo location to the St. Augustine location, exhausted and using up our gas during a statewide gas shortage. We were not only charged full price at the other location, but nickel and dimed for parking and pet fees. We felt taken advantage of at a time that Best Western should have been more accommodating. Neither myself nor anyone else on that trip has ever experienced anything quite like this with any hotel, motel, or any other type of business for that matter.

We were and are, to put it mildly, quite outraged by everything that transpired. If we were to make a reservation and not arrive without giving notice, we would be charged for the room. We expect Best Western to...

CALLING Website telephone number beWARE! I called the telephone number listed on their website and was not aware that I was getting a third party billing company. I reserved a one night stay 2 adults with 2 small dogs under 30 lbs and a cat. I was assured by Ernesto on the phone that this was a pet friendly hotel and that there would be no issues with multiple pets. Traveling from NC we arrived around 9:00 ish pm to get some sorely needed rest from a long day of travel. In front of me was another lady and her elderly mother who was also having an issue with their reservation...(they too called the number listed on their website and unknowingly got a third party biller who got their 3 night stay totally messed up and put a one night stay). Manager Kelly was able to finangle something. After waiting around for 10 min or so, it was finally my turn. I was then told that I could not be accommodated because #1) they only have 4 rooms avail for pets and they were fully booked. #2) they only take 2 pets under 30 lbs #) IF I WAS WILLING TO PAY ANOTHER $2OO.00 !!!!! I could get a 2nd floor non pet room. The extra $200.00 was for clean up fee for a non pet room. I called the 1800 number that I made the initial res. and got Mario .....had him on speaker and he said that because the hotel made the error he had to speak to his "team" to see about a refund. Kelly the Manager just about crawled through the phone and told the guy that they had better get their act together and she did not appreciate being thrown under the bus for THEIR mistake in not having all their policies listed. Look I get it, but I wanted resolution of some kind. They already took my money, It's 9:00 at night, Im friggin exhausted from driving since early morning its late and I just want to go get some rest. To the powers that be at Best Western! If you are going to have an 1800 number posted on your website and use third party billers MAKE SURE THEY HAVE ALL THE NECESSARY CORRECT INFORMATION or at the very least list the front desk number at the specific hotel your staying at!!!!!!!!!!

We drove another 45 mins or so and We stayed in Ocala at the RESIDENCE INN, off exit 350. CLEAN NEAT PROFESSIONAL and took ALL...

I have stayed here twice before and it was really good. In my opinion it's gone downhill in the past 2 years. At 2 am we were woken by screaming, banging, running around and yelling, it's 3:15 am and it's still continuing. Some of us have long drives in the morning. Now onto the rest of the issues with this location.

Strong urine smell main floor, throughout the first floor. Disgusting.

Don't bother getting a suite with the pullout 'bed' If you are actually needing to use it. Ours is a 1 inch worn out 'mattress' , if you can call it that. Bars of the pull out poking through. unusable 100%.

Vending machines on both floors but they don't work upstairs. Washer dryer doesn't work. No ice machine upstairs. So plan on going downstairs if you need anything at ALL.

Breakfast is subpar. 2 years ago it was wonderful.

Air conditioner needs... something, not sure what but takes many hours to cool the room. Make sure to immediately turn it to max and the lowest cooling setting when you check in. (upstairs seems more warm than downstairs.)

You pay a premium so that you can be assured of quality. None here and still no sleep.

Two stars given instead of one because, It's a room with a door, it would be a convenient location if not for all of the issues. There was someone at the desk to greet us.

Very disappointed, I was expecting a wonderful stay from past experience. This was a great location, great service, great breakfast and quiet... but things change. We will find a different motel/hotel for any future...