THE ROOM HAD A PHONE!
Written: Apr 13 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: It didn't rain inside the room.
Cons: It's a Howard Johnson's
The Bottom Line: Never stay at a Howard Johnson and be very careful about any Cendant property with out reading a review.
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| jozaff's Full Review: Howard Johnson Riverfront Hotel |
I just returned from a trip to the Carolinas and a visit to the Cherry Blossom festival in DC. Spring is a beautiful time of the year in the Southeast and I had a wonderful trip. Except, that is, for my stay at the Howard Johnson Express motel in Walterboro, South Carolina. (I think I am doing this wrong, but this is the closest I could get to this motel only a short drive from Historic Charleston).
I had called central reservation in advance, explaining that I was traveling with a handicapped women and while I did not need a handicapped room, we could not be on the
second floor and that her walking ability was limited. After checking in and going to the room, rather than giving us one accessible from the parking lot we had gotten one in the interior corridor, it was on the ground floor at least, and it would have been more work for her to go back to the car while I got a different room so we kept it; but it wasn't great customer service by the chain or property.
The room itself was not very nice. It wasn't very clean, the bathroom door almost closed all the way, the toilet dripped, the towels were perhaps the most abrasive ones I have ever used (which is really something for motel towels)!
I didn't think other rooms at the property would be any better and I am very limited in what I can do when my companion cannot walk much more than 20 feet and can't really help carry luggage and stuff-once we are unpacked that is pretty much it or I have to move everything all over again with no help (and we discovered many of the bad things about the room as the evening progressed, for instance, it took the quiet of evening to hear the constant dripping of the toilet as we were going to sleep).
I drove around the motel to the restaurant since it was much too far for my friend to walk. It turned out to be the first day for the waitress and she had a fair amount of difficulty handling things, but we were in no hurry and she was very pleasant so that part was more amusing than anything else. The real problem was that she was the only
waitress in the entire restaurant, which had at least 8 filled tables in our room and there was a party of 12 or so in the restaurant's other room! It wasn't really a matter of her being new to the job as it was that the motel was so understaffed, that management was so bad or cheap that the experience was horrid. So we never had water glasses
refilled and we couldn't get a check, we didn't find out till we left that she was also working the other room. Patrons helped each other out by passing ketchup and things-which is sort of nice but not really what you are paying for at a restaurant.
Back in the room we now discovered that we were probably getting satellite TV, since as we were trying to get the weather forecast we found out that we could only watch a bunch of fuzz on the local channels. They did have an almost full HBO package but only about 5 other cable channels, something I had never seen on a cable system before.
The room had no hotel guide, so there was no way to figure out what phone calls cost, which TV stations were available, or the hours for breakfast or the restaurant. But the room did have a phone!
There were exactly 4 kleenex in the only box in our room, something discovered around midnight. And at night a bright orange light entered from the doorway and window which was strong enough to read by.
The next morning we went for our free hot breakfast. The restaurant was so understaffed that there was a line waiting for tables, many guests simply gave up and left, others cleared tables for themselves piling plates and glasses on other uncleared tables.
Well, after we were eventually seated a waitress came by and offered us pancakes, french toast or eggs and grits. Later she came by and said we could have orange juice or coffee. I got two pieces of bread that had definately been in the presence of an egg (but not for very long) as french toast. Unfortunately, it was not as warm as my orange juice was!
There was no water, no decaff, no anything but when people around the room asked for various items they were all $2.50 each. A glass of milk for a baby, coffee AND juice,
bacon etc., anything anyone asked for was $2.50. As free hot breakfasts go I have never had worse, even at other Howard Johnson properties.
You might wonder what I was doing staying at a Howard Johnson to begin with. The answer is that the Cooper River bridge run was going on in Charleston that morning so I
had to stay about 40 miles from the City. And I had a $25.00 Howard Johnson check from the last time I had stayed at one of their properties; given when I complained to
corporate headquarters about a few of that motels problems, like the ants in the room, the "free" USA Today that the owner was charging 25 cents each for, the two boxes of mini
donuts that were just sitting on a shelf with no serving utensils-just wipe your nose and reach into the generic free breakfast and things of that nature.
Anyway, based on my three experiences in the last year I would suggest sleeping in the car as a more sanitary and comfortable choice then Howard Johnson motels. Apparently this chain has no quality control at all and exists to bleed every single possible cent from those unfortunate enough to chose to stay at one.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
jozaff
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Member: Joe
Location: Southeastern Michigan
Reviews written: 36
Trusted by: 13 members
About Me:
Owned and employed by Thompson, the Samoyed.
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