At first glance and upon first arriving it appeared that we would enjoy our stay at the St Pete Beach Travelodge, but buyer beware... We arrived in St. Pete Beach with plans to stay at another motel, but it was so nasty we had to leave (see my report under the St Petersburg Days Inn).
So we picked up a coupon book and started calling around. We found two rooms on the beach at St Pete Travelodge for $63.00 a night. I personally double checked that the room would be that amount. The add was for 1-2 people in double beds and yes they would accept one coupon for both rooms. (which saved us the trouble of running around and finding more coupon books - which two other motels made us do in the same trip).
When we finally got to the motel it was almost 1 AM. We asked the desk clerk if they were really picky about checkout times as getting in so late we wanted to get a good nights sleep the first night. If she had said yes we would have gone elsewhere, but, She was cheerful and reassured us that of course not, they were not like that, no one would expect us to be out before 1 or 2.
The hotel is old, but the outside and common areas are neat. The rooms are fair, but in both our rooms there was dirt in all the corners, cracks, and there was a bunch of trash under the bed including old liquor bottles and a condom wrapper.
In room number one, the bathroom was not what I would call clean. The sink had something sticky all over it and the tub had grime in all the grout. It was ancient, the toilet didn't flush right and ran for five minutes every time you flushed it. The shower an tub both dripped constantly and the shower head was coming off the wall.
The other room was better though still not really clean. The bathroom was cleaner and appeared to be in good repair. There was no trash under the bed. The alarm clock didn't work and the air conditioner made a real racket.
So we showered and finally got to sleep around 3AM. At 9AM the maids started knocking on the doors despite the Do Not Disturb Signs. I got up, told them we were staying late and not to disturb us for a couple hours. It didn't stop them. They continued to knock every 30 minutes until I got really fed up and screamed at them.
About 10AM we decided to go for a walk around the motel and find some decent coffee. There was only one packet of decaf in the room and only plastic cups to drink it with. We tried the motel coffee, but it was absolutely awful so we walked across the street to 7-11 and found some great cappucino.
We wandered around a bit and it was probably about 11:30 when we got back to our rooms. But our keys did not work. Because the "oh we wouldn't do that people" had locked us out of our rooms. We went to the front desk. The man behind the desk was horribly rude and made us pay for a second day before he would let us back in our rooms.
So, although we intended to leave we were forced to spend a second night there or forfeit the money. We tried calling the local police, but they said it was not a criminal matter and that we would have to sue to get our money back if we did not stay. (Not really helpful, but I guess I understand that).
So we finally got back into our rooms around 12:30 or 1PM and guess what. NO MAID SERVICE from those wonderful, non-english speaking people who had been so VERY anxious to clean our rooms at 9AM. Well, no big deal. We're here so lets go to the beach. They will surely clean it and bring fresh towels while we are gone.
We went out and ate lunch and walked down to the beach. It is right out front and it is pretty, though not as well maintained near the travelodge as the motels on either side was. The advertised "beach bar" was a falling down hut and the "rental cabanas" were just old rotting splintery chairs with some thin pads you could put over them to keep from getting splinters.in addition, they wanted 18 dollars a day for the privledge of sitting in the stupid things. Never mind, I like sand. We walked on the beach until about 5, had a great time then went back to our rooms to shower and go find dinner.
When we got back we were once again locked out of our rooms, which required another trip to the front desk to get it straigtened out. But at least the bad mouthed man from the morning was gone and the lady was sweet and apologetic. So sorry for the mix up.
We got back in our rooms once again and found to our dismay that the maids had still not shown. We called the front desk to ask for maid service and were told that the maids had left for the day. So we asked if they could at least bring us some towels. They said no, they didn't have time, but we could walk back to the front desk again if we wanted to and get some. So we did, but they refused to give us any soap or shampoo, stating that we should have left over from the day before. What?
The next morning was a repeat of the first morning except that they turned off our room keys a full hour earlier and the maids only bothered me once. I went to the door naked, opened it and screamed. They didn't come back.
We left - good riddance and we'll never go back we said. But yesterday I happened to go online to make sure a bill had cleared my bank account and lo and behold I find that instead of charging the agreed upon $63.00 a night ($126.00 total) I was charged $147.00 for the first day and $157 for the second. Now I'm furious.
I called them, but they put me on hold the first time and then the phone went mysteriously dead. The second time I was told to call back in the morning as the manager had left for the day and finally reaching the manager I was told there was nothing he could do about it. I should have complained when I paid the bill.
E's right about that, but having just discussed the price with the clerk I didn't even look at the receipts. My bad. Doesn't excuse the overcharges in the first place. I told him I wanted the number to corporate complaints and he hung up on me. Don't worry jerk - everything is available on line.
I have sent a letter to the company complaining as well as to the coupon company telling them that one of their advertisers is committing fraud. I don't really expect a response.
I recommend you steer as far away from this hotel as possible. It's so nice to go on vacation and be treated like you are being done some kind of favor instead of paying good money for good service, polite employees and clean, well maintained rooms. I will never stay at another travelodge!!!
Oh, avoid the restaurant there too. The food is awful, way overpriced and they charge you for everything. First time I ever bought a steak dinner and got charged almost two bucks extra just to have a dinner salad. (Less than a cup's worth of lettuce and carrots). The steak was tough and the only choice of sides was &Mashed potatos& Yuck!
Carl
Atlanta, Georgia
U.S.A.
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