I travel to Exeter/Visalia regularly. I stay at hotels there about two times a month because I own a company nearby and live outside the area. Besides the La Quinta, Visalia, I have stayed at Best Western hotels in Exeter and Visalia and Hampton Inn in Visalia,.

I have twice stayed at the La Quinta, Visalia. I find this hotel to be very poorly managed and understaffed.

For instance, the last time I stayed at La Quinta Visalia, I chose the two-room suite. When my wife and I arrived at our room there was a maintenance guy working in the bathroom. He finished after about ten minutes, but why was I sent to a room under maintenance? Next we noticed there was no toilet tissue, but we had to go out to a meeting so as we passed through the lobby we asked at the front desk if they could take some tissue to the room while we were gone. We were told to pick it up at the front desk when we returned (what poor service!). I told them we might forget so please send it up to the room.

Well, when we returned later that night, we did remember to check at the front desk if they had taken any tissue to the room. Of course not! We had to pick it up there and take it to the room ourselves.

Breakfast, both times I have stayed at this hotel is overcrowded and understaffed. Coffee and other items are often empty and waste baskets are full and messy/dirty. I feel sorry for the poor woman who tries to keep up, but has more work to do than can be done by one person. By the way, there is no oil spray to keep waffles from sticking as there is at all other local hotels. There is also no easy way to extract the sticking waffles from the waffle iron (all other hotels I have stayed in have a plastic tool for doing so, so one does not burn fingers).

The front desk is also often unstaffed. One has to ring a bell and wait until somebody shows up. This hotel is clearly all about the owner and not the guest. It is clean and somewhat quiet (construction going on on two sides of the hotel).

However, beware. . . Both times I have stayed here the fire alarm has gone off. The first time I stayed here the alarm went off at about 8:00 AM so it was not a big deal. The last time it was at 2:00 AM! It sotpped after a few seconds, scaring the daylights out of my wife and I. Needless to say, with the adrenaline pumping, it took quite some time to get back to sleep!

My wife enquired about the 2:00 AM fire alarm at the front desk in the morning. She was told it was a very sensitive system so if anybody smokes in any of the rooms, the whole hotel gets to be jarred awake! Everything at this hotel seems to be favoring the owners and not the guests. It is quite different from the total service Hampton Inn that I have now chosen to stay at for my future frequent visits to the area.