As a former nationwide property inspector, I have stayed at many hotels nationwide via reservations made by my agency’s travel department. Now retired and full-time motorhome dweller hotel stays are not required often. However, because my motorhome needed body repair and a paint job, I made reservations via Extended Stay American Reservationist for a 30-day stay from (18 Feb to19 Mar) for these services. Further as a first-time guest to this hotel and not knowing what to expect. I had a detailed conversation with an extended stay reservationist regarding my need for a first-floor hotel room due to osteoporosis issues. As well as easy access to take my one-year-old dog out to a potty. I also asked if the hotel had a large parking lot because I was driving a 30-foot motorhome with an attached tow vehicle. At this time, the reservationist assured me she could accommodate my need for a first-floor hotel room but didn’t know anything about the hotel’s parking lot; recommending I call the hotel’s phone number provided on the booking confirmation letter sent to my email address which I did.

I spoke with a male receptionist at the hotel, who felt I could access the back lot because he had seen motorhomes parked there before but didn’t know anything about motorhome lengths. Neither did he share I might need to use the apartment’s complex next-door driveway to access the hotel’s back parking lot, which I only discovered after not being able to access either hotel entranceway from Isabella Street or Dobson Road from either angle because both were too small. My last-ditch effort was to use the apartment’s driveway next-door to determine if it provided access to the hotel next door and discovered it did upon arriving on the back parking lot of the hotel. However, I couldn’t make a left turn due to vehicles parked on both sides of the driveway. As a result, I continued straight bearing left around a building. Upon seeing an open row of parking spaces on the right leading towards a trash dumper, I swung to the right covering all seven parking spaces leaving space for me to exit this area on Monday morning.

I waited in my motorhome until 3:35pm then walked from the back parking lot to the hotel’s check-in office located on Isabella Ave. Where I discovered employees were still cleaning rooms, so check-in was delayed. Further, upon asking for a luggage cart to begin loading personal belongings for transport from the back parking lot to my room whenever it is ready. The check-in clerk said, “We don’t have luggage carts because homeless people kept taking them. But we no longer have a place to store them since our office is smaller after remodeling.” However, you can park on Isabella Street in front of the office which will put you closer to your room. Buses and tracks park there all the time, she said.

I must say, I had never in my life encountered a facility claiming to be a hotel but doesn’t provide traditional hotel luggage carts to help hotel guests safely/quickly transport personal belongings to his/her room neither provide bellhop or employee guest assistance is baffling to me. And employees use ludicrous explanations to justify the continues mistreatment of unsuspecting guests and not provide any type of alternative transport equipment as simple as collapsible wagons/carts which requires little to no space to store is of greater concern, because of my personal experience as a first-time guest at this hotel.

I wasn’t aware places like this even exited in the hotel industry. Once I determined this facility did not have transport equipment and made no offer for any employees to assist with my move-in needs. I asked if I could cancel my reservation and make reservations at a hotel, I knew could meet my needs. Well, yes you can cancel your reservations, but since you are on a 30-day contract, you will be charged over a thousand-dollar cancellation fees. But if you stay the entire 30-days. Weekly rent taxes you paid plus senior discount will be credited to your credit card, she said.

As a result, I was forced to remain at this low-grade hotel and move personal belongings from my motorhome without the use of transport equipment or assistance from hotel employees (male/female), who stood and watched me carry items in my arms requiring 18-trips from my motorhome, across a public walkway, up an incline to access a walkway beside the laundry room and behind office exit door to the opposite end of the walkway where my hotel room was located. Resulting in persisted joint pains during my 30-day stay at a hotel that functions as an apartment complex. Furthermore, after 14-days and no one from housekeeping knocked on my door to offer cleaning services or determine if I needed towels etc. I contacted the manager and requested my room be cleaned, which was done on this day. Further, two-weeks prior to the end of my hotel room rental contract, I purchased a collapsible wagon to exit this unfriendly dump on March 20, 2024.