I manage a Hilton property. I have been involved with the hospitality industry for about 5 years. The family management at the Super 8 in Streator, IL have a lot to learn about what it means to be a hotelier. We were treated with the most unwelcome staff I have ever experienced. It takes a lot to get me me upset.
We arrived late at the hotel. The rooms were already showing wear and tear, as the soft and hard goods were purchased as cheaply as possible, even though the hotel is only a year old. Blankets pilling, pillows flat as pancakes, carpet, thin and hard.
We woke up, and discovered breakfast was over. The proprietor walked us to the laundry room, where he had some old bagels and donuts sitting on the folding table...insisting we have some. We went to Mc Donalds. The next morning for breakfast, we woke early enough to see the breakfast bar. It looked almost like it did from the day before, after they had put everything away, there wasn't hardly anything to eat!. I was 2 months pregnant at the time, and was looking for some sort of decaf hot beverage, coffee or tea. I asked about it, and they informed me they don't carry it. A small investment in non perishable tea bags wouldn't be too much to ask. Old bananas, generic cereal, and small sweet rolls. We went to McDonalds again.
My husband went swimming that night, and I wouldn't set foot in the water. The entire pool room smelled musty and moldy. I know how delicate the balance of pool chemicals can be, and I do not believe the hotel was maintaining their pool chemicals properly.
I received a fax from my company during my stay. I didn't receive it until I got a call from the person who sent it, asking about it. When I went to the front desk to get it, the attendant looked around, and said, I don't see it, sorry. I pointed to the tray on the fax machine, where 2 pieces of paper were laying face down. I asked if that could be it.....sure enough....
To add insult to injury, the son of the proprietor had to point out that there were 2 of us staying in the room, and that we had booked the 1 person rate. I explained that his reservationist knowly booked it to get the reservation, and that the proprietor had stubbornly agreed upon it at checkin, and that I didn't understand why he was bringing it up again at check out. I guess this was his way of saying thanks for staying with us, have a nice trip.
I paid $55 a night to stay in this quickly turning dive. If the staff had been even the slightest bit more accommodating, and made some slight changes to their operation, their guests might be more forgiving of their limited service hotel, after all, it is a Super 8, not the Bellagio. Instead, we felt like we were a nuisance every time we called for a wake up, or came to the desk and rang a bell. Someone would appear from the living space behind the front desk, or answer as if we disturbed their evening news on TV with our wake up call.
We initially chose the hotel over the internet because it was the newest, closest hotel to where we were conducting business. I reccommend to all that if they have to visit Streator, that they stay at the Hampton Inn, just 17 miles north. Believe me, it would be worth the drive.
