The staff was downright rude, the lobby was unairconditioned and stank of curry, and the "continental breakfast" consisted of stale doughnut holes. The owner's family had the kids running around and the mother was yelling at them the whole time.

In the morning there was no one to check us out, so we dropped the key in the drop box. The woman then came out and we informed her that we dropped the key off she sneered, "Yeah, that's what it's there for," and walked away.

I've made the online reservation with hotelsvalued dot com online reservation system. They've probably made a mistake booking two rooms instead of one requested for 3 people (or they have buggy software, or maybe they just making money together?). But that was not known until we arrived at Howard Johnson Express Inn in Williams near midnight, tired after 8 hours of driving. I've signed the receipt almost blindly on check in. Only when the hotel owner (as he's introduced himself) gave me two keys, I've realized that something is wrong. I've asked him politely about that, explaining that we are just a small family with little child and showed him the printed online reservation confirmation page for a single room, that it's must be a mistake... He started yelling at me! Arguing that he is booked full, and that it's not his problem, but mine... He refused to refund me in the morning for not using the second room in very unfriendly manner. The hotelsvalued dot com online reservations is not answering my mails for two weeks either. Their Hotel Review page returns errors too...

This is a very clean hotel. Room was great. Has a big pool and a larger-than-usual hot tub.

I'm writing a review because when we checked in, I specifically asked if the hotel had a pool that was working. The front desk guy said yes. But when we got to the pool (I have four kids), it was freezing, unswimmable. And the hot tub was broken.

The manager told us to come back in about a half hour, which we did. The pool thermometer said the water was 85 degrees, but a quick touch of the hand proved that number to be waaaaaaay too high. Even the manager agreed. He told us to come back in the morning.

I told him we wouldn't have time to swim in the morning, that the sole reason we chose his hotel over the many others in the area is because it had an indoor pool. I told him I'd like some compensation for the problem since what we were getting was not what we were promised.

He said he'd give me 20% off the total, which came to about $30. I told him I'd be satisfied with $50. And while he clearly did not want to give me a refund of that size, we were renting 2 rooms (adjoining) from him, so he could afford to. And, without any further haggling, he gave me the refund. And five packs of chewing gum upon checkout!

So I promised I'd write this review. The problem was inconvenient, but the manager worked with me and the issue was resolved to my satisfaction. That isn't always the case.

The Howard Johnson, got my tour group out of a hole when the Holiday Inn, Williams resold our rooms. Other than the smell of Brinjal pickle, the hotel was conveniently located and was reasonably clean. Pool was small but the Jacuzzi was a nice touch. Lack of breakfast was a downer. OK overall.