Advertiser Disclosure: Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc., is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact how and where card products appear on the site. This site does not include all card companies or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Some of the links on this page are affiliate or referral links. We may receive a commission or referral bonus for purchases or successful applications made during shopping sessions or signups initiated from clicking those links.
I recently stayed at the Chicago Staybridge Suites in Oakbrook Terrace near O’Hare airport on a soon to expire free night cert from my Chase IHG card. Maybe not the best value for the cert but using a cert is always a better value than seeing them go away.
I stayed at the hotel, not for an amazing experience since this is after all a budget hotel, but for the location, the free parking, the free breakfast and near to a dinner meeting I had before a flight. In other words, a perfect use for my needs.
Well maybe.
Most of the Staybridge hotels I have stayed at over the years have been, overall, positive. For the cost and value they provide much more space than a standard “box” hotel. But this location was undergoing big renovations and the website had no indication I should expect this. Take a look:
The carpet was gone in the hallway outside our “suite”. That kinda was a good thing because the rest of the carpet in the hallways was disgusting. Oh and then the carpet in our room was…
Yeah, really not so good. The rest of the carpet in the room was not that bad but clearly dated and not very clean. On to the bathroom and shower.
The only way we could get the curtain to not slide completely towards the middle was to wrap towels at either end and “clamp” the curtain in place. Oh it gets worse.
There was no “affixed” hair dryer in our room. I went down to get one and a meant to be wall mounted unit was handed to me. Sorta weird but better than nothing right?
It did not work.
So back downstairs again and this time the rep tested the non-fixed type hair dryer and that one did work thankfully.
While I was down there the “chief engineer” was at the desk and I shared my disappointment about the shower situation. He said he has any number of rooms that have the same issue and he is trying to get to them.
Wonderful.
This was not the only thing run down at this hotel. It was a sunny lovely day so we chose to have our complimentary breakfast out on the patio of the property.
Nothing says class like broken umbrellas, duck tape and zip-ties to hold up your nighttime mood lighting. Beyond this the entire balcony was pulling away from the foundation of the hotel. Not saying it was unsafe but considering the rest of the repairs it gave me pause.
I guess the above in our room sums up the entire experience in one single photo. I do not expect “much” at a budget hotel but I do expect a clean room, working bits and a safe experience. This was one of the worst ever in decades of travels. I did not give this room the “black light” test because, frankly, I was so grossed out already I think had I done that we would have left the property! 🙁
What do you think. Should a hotel be forced to warn you, either on the web site or via e-mail, that they are undergoing renovations and your stay may be impacted? Should they offer a discount automatically in cash or points for such a substandard experience? You tell me! – Rene
Advertiser Disclosure: Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc., is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact how and where card products appear on the site. This site does not include all card companies or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Some of the links on this page are affiliate or referral links. We may receive a commission or referral bonus for purchases or successful applications made during shopping sessions or signups initiated from clicking those links.
Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
I stayed at the Hampton Inn at the MCI airport and although they did warn me that the property was being updated, this warning did not convey the extent to which this was happening. Front entrance closed, make-shift check in area in a side hall, complimentary breakfast in a guest room, no in-house guest computer/printer (for boarding passes), Lots of dust in the air inside the hotel and sleeping room, etc. etc. One of the work Hampton Inn experiences I have had. I told the manager that they should be honest with prospective guests about the extent of the renovation.
Yes they should inform you of anything that may have impact on your visit. That includes elevators out, pool down, breakfast not available, parking lot being paved, no shuttle service and of course building renovations.
I think properties should let you know that they are doing something unexpected with a property, such as construction, remodeling, or hosting a large event or have a large assembly of people. This should be forthcoming either via their website or when speaking to the hotel itself (especially the latter).
At the very least, once you book, you should get a notification of said events in case you change your mind.
I get why they don’t, because they don’t want to lose that room, but I would never book at that hotel again knowing I was deceived or not informed. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Yes they should. It is very noisy and often in the early morning with construction. I know unless a law is passed they wont do it. The rooms should be discounted as well during construction and you can choose if you want the lower price to offset the constructions impact.
Yes, they should. They should also be required to disclose services that will be unavailable during your stay. This could be something like a pool, elevator or parking lot being unavailable. But also less obvious services like electric vehicle chargers – which are increasingly placed at hotels, and depended on by EV owners.
Consumers make choices based on services advertised. When those services are not available – and it is too late, there isn’t always an alternative to rebook at.
Then there are issues like erosion of beaches. Advertising content isn’t always updated to show the new reality. Places continue to advertise something that essentially doesn’t exist anymore. You might think a place is a deal – like the Marriott Grand Cayman, but arrive amazed to see that the beach has been eroded away. The advertising material just doesn’t reflect it, and if you didn’t dig yourself – you’d never know you booked a hotel without a sandy beach (despite everything indicating it would have it).
Especially with covid and the recovery since then – staffing is hit or miss and places are routinely closing restaurants early or operating only on certain days. Valet might be unavailable. Spa might be closed.
It can feel like you never know what you are going to get. It is unfortunate that consumers have to perform a mini deep-dive on hotel properties to understand not only how the hotel generally is reviewed – but how its operating right now (or in the future during your stay).
Why did you not just leave this crap hotel?
@Winston – I really should have.