Bad night at Super 8 Motel

My wife and I and another couple rented a couple rooms at the Super 8 In Spirit Lake, Iowa the night of 1/29/05. We have stayed there a few times before and never had any complaints.....this night was a bit different. We got to our rooms around 11:30. All was well. Around 12:00, a group of drunk kids ran through the halls...no big deal as they quieted down and went to their rooms. Around 12:30, more noise. This time the drunks were prank knocking on the doors. ( I later found out that our friends had called the night manager and complained..nothing was done )....they had their fun and went back to bed. 2:00 am....more prank knocking and my temper had just about blown through the roof. They knocked on my door..and kept knocking. I jumped out of bed...looked through the peep hole to see 5-6 young guys....I screamed at them to get away from my room..they moved to the room next to mine.....knocked on the door...where the occupant of that room proceed to kick the living crap out of one of them. Lamps flew, glass broke, girls screamed. I called the night manager and told him to call the cops ASAP...he didn't. He proceeded up the stairs with his cordless phone and attempted to talk to 7 angry, drunken fools. No luck. He tried to call the police from the hallway...one of the kids grabbed him and threatened to kill him. I called the police from my room. Cops showed up and chased the drunks away. Now it is 3:00am or later, and here is the bad part of the story. As my wife and I are getting situated to go back to sleep, my wife notices something on the blankets...this something wasn't from us because we hadn't done "it".....this something was ALL OVER...IT WAS SEMEN! Christ...looks like someone filmed a couple porn flicks the night before. I can't believe we were sleeping in there! SICK SICK SICK SICK. I promptly went to the night manager and made his night even worse. Heck , even the cops were there when I told the night manager about my disgust ( they got a laugh out of it...I didn't)....so the night manager gives me clean bedding and makes a note for the day manager. I spoke with the day manager this morning and she had given me a "partial" credit for my trouble. Sorry dear, but that just doesn't cut it. I have submitted a complaint to Super 8 via their website. Not only could the entire motel not sleep because the night manager wouldn't do anything about the complaints that were rolling in for hours, but I was lying in someone else's love pudding...that is soooo wrong. I even took photos of the soiled bedding... Since then, I have not gotten a response from Super 8, and I see that they have charged me for approximately 90% of the charges. 10% discount for all of this is nothing more than a slap in the face. I paid for a clean, quiet and safe evening. I basically received nothing for my money. CHECK YOUR BEDDING BEFORE YOU SLEEP!

 

ick...Im learned that lesson in some dive in Las Vegas...

We get in our room around 4 am to find that there is just bare mattress under the filthy bed cover and no one was around to get sheets or blankets......then the manager didn't give a shit in the morning. I flipped the asshole off as we were driving away and he ran after the car threatening to kill me.

 

No shit? Nice place. !

 

Good luck. I've been through that sort of thing with a motel before and got nothing through my complaints to the motel. Tell them you are going to report it to BBB, their local consumer affairs, and call your local news, who may have an advocate who does consumer watchdog stuff for others to enjoy watching your misery. If they don't give you your money back, follow up with these things and you still may have a chance. But like me, you may just end up with a lot of wasted time and no refund. Motel 8 doesn't care about a bad reputation, people will stay there anyway. Stick to campgrounds and national forest land, then splurge on a hotel that gives a crap every once and a while, and you'll be happier.

 

Theres the reason I refuse to sleep in a motel. Fucking disgusting. I'd rather sleep in my car. If I actually do go to one...I bring my own bedding and throw it on the floor and sleep there. Call me paranoid, but that is just nasty.

 

I had the same type of experience with the same company.

And always remember... hotels/motels only wash sheets and pillow cases. They wash the bed spreads and blankets only a couple times a year! The first thing I do in a hotel room is strip down the bed to the fitted sheet and dress it with my own stuff (which I shouldn't have to bring, but come on).

 

Even if you waste your time, I think you should still give them hell. (by takingBobbin bEcca's advice, repost it to the news and consumer affairs or whatever she was telling you)At least if nothing elese you will get your point across and maybe even some bad publicity for them. I'm glad to say I've never had aproblem with motels, except for one, but it was so ghetto looking form the outside that there was no doubt what kind of motel that was gonna be lol

 

I too hate staying in motels.. but i carry a hand-held UV light i picked up around halloween. I even show the manager before hand, to prove I'm looking. I also check the boxsprings for dead hookers (urban road story i've heard).

Mainly I camp.

 

I've never had a problem yet in a motel but I didn't stay in them that often. Usually I'll try to find one that doesn't look too crummy, I did drive on once or twice... This is really a disgusting story though, gross... It's been a few since the original post, MichaelBrainard, have you heard anything from them since?

 

You have my sympathies. I wish Motel chains would do the following : Have separate wings for quiet people, and offer rooms that are environmentally friendly. Old Motor courts used to have tiny cottages. I get sad when I think of how things used to be. They weren't perfect, but the old Motels, for the most part, made people behave. They had neon, and little iron chairs outside, and small playgrounds. When Holiday Inn came along, I hated them. The worst motels have so much bleach in the sheets, it can make you sick. The air conditioner filters are filthy, and some of the doors slam too easily. Many of the Motels of today have become whore houses. The night clerks have no manners, just dollar sign irise$. Flop houses, I call them, and from outward appearances, they seem respectable. It's a good idea to ask for a floor without many rooms filled. If you tell the clerk you are on anti psychotic medicine, and you "need quiet" he/she may just find you a floor all by yourself....hee hee. My favorite motel rooms do not have wall to wall carpet. They do not reek of air freshener, and they rent for under 30 dollars a nite. They are clean, even if old. The lighting is important, too. I hate to go into a bathroom, and look about 100 years old beneath a flourescent "in yer face" light. And the mother of all peeves: Noisy people. Some of the concrete walk ways will vibrate when some heavy heeled lunk goes thoomping past the window...and nothing worse than seeing the silhouette of his head as he stands there, chain smoking, and shooting the breeze with his bar buddies at 2 AM. That's when you need to put on a Halloween mask, and scare the bejeezus out of them. Anyway, there are still mom and pop motels to be found, but not all are quaint. Not all chain Motels are horrid,either. An expensive room is no guarantee of peace. That's why I bought a vintage Silver streak self contained 1965 travel trailer. Campgrounds can be hell, too. I don't like having to wear ear plugs in order to get some zzz's. Travelling is stressful, and when we think of all the different environmental things we are exposed to mile after mile, it's a wonder we arrive at all. I may seem peevish, and fussy, but peace = peace. Oh..and who wants to hear the couple next door having sex all night ? Or a screaming infant, or neurotic dog....or a loud car boom box..... PS Always carry your own water to drink.

 

That's so disturbing.
...Have you ever found one?
I too hate sleeping in motels. The thought of sleeping on a mattress that millions (hundreds) of strangers have had sex on just creeps me out. When my family travels from IL to NH my parents take turns driving and sometimes we just sleep in the car for a few hours because motels are so damned expensive. I mean, come on. You shouldn't have to pay upwards of 30 dollars a night to sleep in a safe place with a lock on the door as opposed to a random truck stop in Ohio hoping that some psycho with rats crawling all over him doesn't come over to your car and watch you as you sleep...

 

If this is all true and documentable, SUE THEM in small claims court.

You'll get your money, because they'll have to do either that, or send their lawyers out to answer the suit. They won't do that, because it would cost them far more than the small change you'll be suing for.

What the hell did you go to a Super 8 motel thinking you would get a quality stay, for? Around here, they have the reputation for hosting crack whores, dude. What were you thinking? I mean, "Super 8" was the kind of film they made the cheesy '70s porn flicks on, right?! :H

-Jeffrey

 

You get what you pay for, if you stay in the lower end places you will have bs like that, no one is holding a gun to your head to stay in these places.

If you cannot afford the better places to stay by all means sleep in your ride or pop a tent, but you cannot expect the bottom line places to be perfect or even close.

Im not sure where you people are staying but most places will give you the room key to check out the room prior to paying, I do it all the time, if its too fucked up I look at another if its fucked up too I find another place.

Ive traveled alot and before a rv I stayed almost every night in one plac or another and can honestly say ive never had one bad time, most the time in the smaller places you can find all the good hookups you want if your looking.

 

I'm kind of inclined to agree with Jeffrey on this one. Super 8 = crackwhores and drug dispensaries where I come from. Is it normally a more family oriented place in Iowa?

 

Super Eight is pretty much on my shit list too, but luckily not for some of the reasons Ive read about here. My rant is about the first super 8 in ashville NC if traveling east to west on I40.
there advertisments say free high speed internet so that applealed to me since i like to carry my lap top. I pulled in and saw on the marque, free high speed internet. I got a room, settled in and looked for the free internet since my network card was not locating any, but to no avail. I called the desk to ask for some advice and was told that yes they have free high speed internet, but only in their lobby area. Now who wants to sit in the lobby? It really rubbed me the wrong way because the desk clerk clearly did not give a shit if I was happy or not. I asked for and was refused a refund and got myself so pissed off that I could not sleep and ended up back on the road by 3 AM. I have never stayed at a super 8 since that night. I did file a complaint with their corperate office and was told that each unit handled their own complaints, but when calling the actual hotel, no one there cared at all.

 

Alright people. You do get what you pay for. I work at a HAmpton Inn In Alabama. I admit I am not ALWAYS the nicest person to the guest but for the most part if there is a problem I try to rectify it, if not it is our policy that if they are not 100% satisfied we do not expect them to pay.
Some complaints are bogus. People can be very demanding & if you are rude to me I am not going to go out of my way to help you. I get cussed out sometimes over the most ignorant things. Then again, it is the small things that matter. You would be suprised by how much a small gesture can turn the situation around. I myself have had issues with hotels.
Just because there has been no respose from the Super8, I would be one persistent littel shit.... Write letters, contact corporate by every way possible. For them to only offer like 10% of a discount is horrible.

 

Yep. I work in a Super 8 in Missouri, night shift. First, the night auditor has very little power. We are not managers, and tend to be leery about calling our bosses at three in the morning. I am allowed to call the police for a party, loud fights, and things like that, but I have to call the room first and give them a chance. The auditor in Iowa should have talked to the people, then gone downstairs, locked himself in the office (a safe spot), called the rooms to tell them to stay inside, and then called the police. Calling from the hall was just plain stupid.

As for the yuk on the sheets, yes. Yuk. The housekeeper should have gotten a note, and the manager. The clean bedding is the standard procedure, although I would personally prefer giving a clean room.

The manager can't do much in the way of a refund at Super 8. Believe it or not, company policy is not to refund over 10% of a room price, unless the guest goes up to the room and says "I'm not staying." When I was starting, I thought the manager could do full refunds, and I got chewed out for even saying the word "refund" to a guest. The manager can't do it, they'll get in trouble with the company.

If you call the complaint number, the manager will get a fax from the company telling him to fix it. See the problem in that scenario? I have watched my manager look at a complaint fax and shrug it off. Lots of hotels do that. By all means, call whoever you have to and harass them. I love hearing about this company getting snarled at. They're terrible to work for, and terrible to their guests. Sorry, but true.

If you stay at a hotel, I would suggest a Drury owned hotel. It's a family owned buisness based out of Cape Girardeau, MO, most of the hotels are on the east coast. Drury Inn will have a HOT breakfast buffet, not bagels and a toaster (Although they have those, too.). The rooms are pretty high, but well worth it. There's also Pear Tree Inn, by the same company. It's about the same level as Super 8 in price, but run to the same cleanliness standards as Drury. The Drury company has a 100% satisfaction guarantee, meaning if there is ANYTHING you dislike about the room, Chuck Drury doesn't want to charge you. At all. When I worked there, I saw the manager refund a room because there were nail clippings in the carpet. I miss working there, but there wasn't a Drury anywhere near Sedalia. *Sigh*

 

Sometimes, if you can, find little "mom and pop's" hotels, they can be better. They are often reasonably priced, and the people who own them tend to care a whole lot more about keeping them up, and keeping their customers happy. I've had more success when I have been able to find independently owned motels than the chains...and if I've had to go back there on a return trip, the owners usually remember me, and make extra sure that everything is right.

 

I would like to wholeheartedly recommend Drury as well. Not only do they have a giant breakfast, but also a "bedtime snack" that is something like soda, wine or simple mixed drinks (3 per adult, if you like it) pizza, and munchy popcorn & trail mix type "stuff." Once we went & the snack was a full baked potato bar! We ended up not going out for dinner that night & figured that between the breakfast & the unexpected dinner, we saved the cost of the hotel room that night in food.

No, I don't work for them nor do I get paid to advertise for them. But I travel twice a year and will drive quite a bit out of my way, to stay at a Drury. They're just that darn nice. Oh... and if you check gas stations for the hotel discount books, you can almost always find them in there for $40-45 per night!
love,
mom

 

It's a Super 8, what did you expect?