Best and Worst--Notes from the Road

Worst Hotel Stay:

Holiday Inn , Florence, South Carolina

Noisy, noisy, and noisy. Kids were left unsupervised in rooms and were jumping on beds and wrestling at 2 a.m. Three calls to the front desk and no one did anything about it.

No towels available at the pool after we were told not to BRING towels to the pool, they'd be provided. The complimentary coffee in the lobby was out and when we brought this to the front desk's attention, nothing was done. We checked back 30 minutes later, still no coffee.

No napkins in the restaurant, and when we asked for one, we got a crumpled brown paper towel. We tried to order off the breakfast menu and they were "out of" pancakes, waffles, and french toast. One restaurant employee was trying to make the best of things--I appreciated her efforts.

Our room key failed and had to be replaced.

All of the above took place in an 18 hour period.

Best fast food:

We hit McDonald's, Chick Fil A, Wendy's, Arby's, Burger King, and other places.

Arby's Martha Vineyard Salad was the best entree. Fresh greens, toasted almonds, real chunks of turkey breast, dried cranberries, apple chunks, shredded cheddar cheese with a raspberry vinagariette dressing. Yum! Arby's also had the best fries. Their homestyle fries are chunky and include the potato peel.

Favorite Dessert:

A tie between Ruby Tuesday's chocolate cake and the Westmoreland Berry Farm's fresh fruit ice cream sundae.

Biggest dessert disappointment:

Cold Stone Creamery ice cream. Too expensive, more sweet than flavorful. Even the kids thought it was kind of gross. We threw most of it away.

Worst stretch of highway:

I-95 south of DC to Fredericksburg, Virginia, is constantly congested, backed up or shut down due to accidents. It's depressing.

Kids' favorite attractions:

Adventureland water park in Jacksonville, Florida, was not too big, not too small, and great fun. The wave pool was a blast. 

My kids (who are nearly 12 and 10), surprised us by thoroughly enjoying their tour of Fort Sumter in Charleston, SC, and Jamestown in Virginia. 

Not too exciting:

The aquarium in Charleston. We've been to a lot of aquariums, and this one left us yawning.

August 1, 2007

Comments

[Peter]

Sounds like (in general), you all had fun, visited great places while meeting up with close friends and family who were more than pleased to see you. And yes, I do recall that less than perfect day in Charleston ;-)

Let me add a comparable worst hotel stay:
Express by Holiday Inn, Antwerp City, Belgium, Europe: cheapest rate: EURO 129 (over $175) a night. Claims to have a "view on the harbor" (all you can see is a building site). No pool. Personnel won't even notice you. Noisy road in front. Post-modern building that reminds me of a prison.

And the I-95: well, I wonder how it compares to the Brussels ring-road, backed-up for miles at 60°F with poring rain in the heart of a soaking wet Belgian summer.

Guess you picked the perfect moment to go on vacation: Belgium feels cold, wet and deserted at present.
Most able bodied Belgians are currently enjoying the blazing sun in France, Spain, Turkey or Egypt.

When you get back in Brussels, expect perfect sunshine and great weather: we already had the rainy part :-)

[Ortizzle]

Wow. Sounds like the Hotel from Hell. I've stayed in a few of those, too. The worst part is when the staff is absent or totally ignore you, which amounts to the same thing. Makes you want to write a letter to the company CEO and sent it requesting a signature, even if it's the secretary at the desk who signs it.

[mamatulip]

The no towels at the hotel pool would have had me *frosted*. Reminds me of a story my MIL told me -- she recently went to a blues festival in Syracuse and when they got to the hotel they all wanted to go for a dip. So they went to the pool, without towels, because they were told towels would be provided at the pool area. As soon as they walked in the pool area (an outdoor area, btw), they saw this giant groundhog suntanning in the middle of the concrete. A groundhog. Suntanning. And when they went to the "towel hut" to get towels, they realized quickly that the hut was not a towel hut but in fact the groundhog's house.

[Shirl Grrrl]

That is an hysterical story, MT! Makes you wonder what the groundhog used the pool for! Still laughing...

[Nance]

V, you MUST write a letter detailing all the issues at that Holiday Inn and include the date and copy of your invoice/receipt(s). Send it to the headquarters. Make it clear that you expect remuneration for your stay. Be very clear that this was not the first Holiday Inn in which you have stayed and that it was not up to standard in any respect. Don't accept this.

I used to do this sort of "professional bitching" as a side career for others who simply didn't have the will or the time to do it. Believe me, it will be worth your while to take the time to pursue this complaint.

[TB]

And I hope you are thoroughly stocked up on ketchup and condiment packets to take back with you :o)

[Elisabeth]

I fully agree with Nance's comment. Each time I have sent a letter of complaint to a hotel chain, I have received back a voucher for one or more free hotel nights at any of the chain's hotels. Writing that letter should not take you more than 30 minutes, and it will be well worth it.

I loved that list. Great idea, V-Grrrl!

[Amber]

That hotel would have called up the inner bitch, if that had been me. I hate hate hate bad service. I think because when I worked in service jobs, I always tried so hard to give good service. And it is not that hard to do! Grr.

And you know, i don't care for Coldstone either. Not yummy.

The rest sounds like fun.

:)