Ahh traveling..I love it! It is one of the things that gives me great joy. The feeling that you are going somewhere makes it hard to sleep the night before, and easy to wake up the morning of. Sometimes the journey is just as fun as the destination. Whether flying and looking at "Sky Mall" mag or enjoying the open road..it's just plain fun! However, when you have a bad experience during the trip, it makes you think about what you could have been doing instead (getting those reports done at work, getting your car detailed, cleaning your home, etc.) Nothing annoys me more than knowing that not only have I wasted my time on a trip, but I wasted my money too!
Because of the nature of my experience, I am writing this article a bit differently. I am showing recent events before I share the background of this story. Recently, my wonderful husband and I celebrated our third anniversary. We went to Atlantic City for a few days. I had this crazy idea to save a few dollars by cashing in on the "free" room that was owed to us by Holiday Inn (more on that later). However, I had been leaving messages for the guy who was supposed to set it up for us. I did not receive a call from him (in his defense, it was fairly short notice). I did receive a call from another manager at the site saying that he was trying to get in touch with the person who would set up our free stay. Needless to say, we did not hear from him in time so we ended up paying for the night. This was on a Saturday. Because of our experience, we decided that we could not do another night there.
What we found:
We stayed at the Absecon, NJ location (there are no Holiday Inns in Atlantic City itself and this was only a few minutes away). I have to say, I was thoroughly impressed with the modern decor and amenities that the main lobby-area had. The colors were well put together and it was relaxing overall.
Upon check-in, we met a nice man at the desk who checked us in. He seemed to enjoy his job (despite the poor standard of business that this company has). He told us that he was from PA (about 1 1/2 hours-2 hours away) and that he spends several nights there every week. He gave us great tips on how to bypass the AC expressway and we were appreciated not only the information, but the great conversation! We grabbed out room cards and headed to our car to grab our bags. We went upstairs to our room and I thought the overall design was quite nice. However, upon further examination and doing our usual room check (sheets, towels, wash cloths, tub, etc.) we found some nasty stuff. There were questionable stains on most of the towels, hand towels and washcloths. They were frayed and blood-stained..yes BLOOD stained! There was also something on the bottom of the bathroom wall underneath the counter area. Too me it looked like blood, to my husband, it looked like someone spilled something and they used a strong cleaner to get rid of it. I didn't buy it. I think he said that because he knew I was freaking out already and did not want to exacerbate the situation. Since the room was clean overall (most importantly the sheets), we decided to stay but got the towels and washcloths changed. However, we didn't unpack because we knew that we would not be staying another night.
The next morning, we woke up and decided to see what they had for the "free hot breakfast". What a joke! Most of it was continental (muffins, danishes, etc.)The few hot items included; "eggs". "ham", biscuits, pancakes, and gravy. Well, against our better judgment, we decided to try it. The "eggs" were cut into a flat circle. We bit into them and almost hurled! They had the consistency of wet fat and they were flavorless! They tasted like water. that is the best way I could describe it. The "ham" was flavorless and nasty as well. My husband tried the biscuits and gravy and hated that too. There was a cool device that they had that I never saw before. This device made pancakes automatically. The batter is preloaded and you touch a button. The pancakes come out hot..and unfortunately disgusting and hard (very cool idea though..sign me up for the improved model). After "breakfast"..we grabbed our bags and hurried to Atlantic City to get some real breakfast at our favorite spot (look for the review on "Country Kitchen" in an upcoming article).
You are probably wondering how we ended up at the Holiday Inn and why we were entitled to a free room. Well, here is the original email that I sent to their corporate office (after I got no response from the original letter I wrote to them via the form on their site):
"I am forwarding this email to my husband. I left all of the details on the form on your site. I will tell you that we were at your location in Hazlet, NJ and it was last winter and that my husband went to use the towel in our room and he ended up wiping someone's semen on his hands (after just washing his). Also, there was excrement on another towel. Obviously, this worker was disgruntled and nasty!! Also, in that room and the next, the rooms were FILTHY and there was blood on the sheets in the first room and hair on the next sheets as well as various stains!! It stank something awful.
I have seen cleaner motels!! When we told the lady at the reservation desk, she simply shrugged it off and gave us another room. This ruined our ENTIRE night!! Imagine a man rubbing his hands in another man's sperm!! He did not want to tell me but I knew that something was wrong, he just threw the towel down but I kept prodding until he told me. He was embarrassed, that is why he did not tell me at first!! You took so long to respond that I am even more disgusted! If he had caught hepatitis or some other disease, you would have a hell of a law suit on your hands..ESPECIALLY since it took you MONTHS to respond to our complaint!! I am completely insulted as a customer! Not to mention the fact that, after waiting all this time to contact us, you don't even call, you send us an email AND you ask us to recount the events that happened over a year ago?? You need to contact my husband [name omitted] at [number omitted].
He has been waiting to hear from you for a while. We will NEVER stay at another Holiday Inn, we would rather sleep in our car! We have stayed in other Holiday Inns and they are ALWAYS sub-par (generally unclean). However, we never had an experience nearly this bad! We had no choice but to stay there because it was all we could get on such short notice (we were stuck on the Jersey shore because of the weather). I am a successful blogger and the only reason I have not yet written about this is because I do not want to embarrass my husband any further! I take it will not take another year to hear from you?"
To my readers:
I apologize if I seem so out of character but I was so disgusted with this situation and would never suggest addressing a letter to any business in this manner. Besides, there is more than one way to skin a cat! We stayed the next few days at the Tropicana Casino and Hotel.
After our vacation, we still have yet to hear back from the original manager at the Hazlet, NJ location. If and when we do, they will offer us a stay at one of their disgusting locations (which they owe us) and we will refuse. I do not want their room..want their blood! I am going to bring light to this situation so that consumers do not fall prey to their substandard health practices. I was told by one of the managers that one of my reviews has turned away customers. GOOD..I plan on continuing until they have none left because they do not deserve what they do not care about..YOU!
So..I will tell you, DO NOT STAY at HOLIDAY INN! God forbid someone has some type of disease and you end up bathing in or sleeping in someone another person's fluids!!
Long live the power of the consumer!
No comments:
Post a Comment