My husband and I stayed at the Best Western on September 13th and 14thI was eager to see the town of Astoria, Oregon. Originally, we reserved a room at a government rate, but upon our arrival we opted to upgrade that to a king jacuzzi suite.
Right away, my husband found out that the toilet was clogged, and when he flushed it, it immediately overflowed. We tried calling the front desk, but there was only one person at the desk, and she had already been complaining that management wouldn't give them more staff on a Friday night... She went on that they were still experiencing the rush of the tourist season, and apologized for the wait.
I assumed that she was still busy with the line of people downstairs in the lobby - and as we were going to go out and get dinner and drinks, I figured we could mention the problem on the way out. We told the gal at the front desk, and went out as we had planned. It was quite late when we got back in, and the bathroom was still in the same condition... By this time we had used all of our towels to sop up the water on the bathroom floor... Making not only undesirable to take a bath in the jacuzzi tub that we paid extra for, but also impossible.
It was late and I tried the front desk, again no answer... Again, we figured it was late and didn't necessarily want to deal with having someone come in and disrupt us while they plunge the toilet. We used the bathroom down by the pool, which luckily was open 24 hours, as we paid many visits to it! The next morning we got up early to get started on our day, left the room, and reported to the front desk yet again that we were experiencing problems with the toilet. She said she would have housekeeping take care of it.
We were out nearly the entire day, and when we returned the bedspread had been shabbily thrown over the same sheets and pillows. The bathroom looked clean, thank God there were fresh towels, and the toilet looked fixed. It only took one use to discover that in fact the problem had not been resolved on the toilet, and it once again overflowed onto the bathroom floor. Of course, we were pretty upset by this point... So we complained again to the front desk, even offered to change rooms... But the girl told us that wouldn't be necessary they would have someone right up to fix it for us.
We went out for dinner... Came back late again... And lo and behold the toilet was in the same condition as when we left. Now I had 2 problems on my hand, the broken toilet, and my angry husband. The next morning when we checked out and they asked us how we enjoyed our stay, my husband proceeded to tell them that we really enjoyed Astoria, and then went on to tell the saga of the toilet. Her reply was thank you very much.
I have been following up on this for the last 2 solid weeks with the Best Western Customer Relations... However, my biggest shock came when I received the response from the hotel. They had the audacity to fabricate lies about us... Said we never complained... Said we smoked in the room (we are non-smokers)... Said we damaged one of the curtains with beer (completely untrue)... Said we had been compensated enough by them not charging us for these damages - these completely non-existant damages that were a last ditch effort to cover up the disaster they had caused... This was the last straw for me... Not only were we subjected to such poor service but to be slandered in that way made me furious.
Naturally, I replied, but there crack team of experts at their customer relations department said that the Best Western's were individually operated and any determination regarding compensation on the room would have to come from the management team at the particular Best Western we stayed with... This is the team that reported how they couldn't use the room for 2 days while it aired out from the smoke... The imaginary smoke as again, we don't smoke... This is the team that rather than apologize for their neglect of the problem and the conditions, opted to lie.
I think the likelihood on the room being availabe after we checked out, is it was a Sunday and there probably wasn't as much business on Sunday and Monday night... Thus the room remained available. I recommend never staying with Best Western... Even if you do report a serious problem to them they don't stand behind the consumer but rather concoct stories and lies... And never address the substandard, unsanitary, revolting conditions in which their guests had to stay in.
Please Beware!
Cortney
Bainbridge Island, Washington
U.S.A.
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