I have just returned from a business trip (The NBS Show) in Fort Worth, Texas. I have been traveling all across the United States for many years, but have never had an experience like the one I have just completed. I am writing this to warn others so that they do not make the same mistake I did.
With hotel accommodations scarce, I made reservations here. I decided to stay there for a few reasons:
1) they advertise a hotel shuttle that runs within a 2 mile radius. This would be ideal because the Fort Worth Convention Center is less than 2 miles away
2) they advertise a home-cooking restaurant. It sure is good to have a home-cooked meal when you are out on the road.
What follows is a “true” testimonial to what happened during my stay. I have no other reason to write this than as a warning to others:
Day 1 – When I checked in they asked for a credit card and billed me immediately for my scheduled 6 day stay. The usual procedure is being charged when you check-out. This should have raised a red-flag for me. I went up to the 4th floor and walked into my room. It was obvious that these rooms have been used many times. The wallpaper in the bathroom was peeled and hung down from the wall. The bathroom floor was dirty with past-guests hair visible. The tub was surrounded by a ring of mildew that someone tried to hide by gluing a strip of plastic along the edge of the tub. I unpacked and wanted to iron my wrinkled clothes for the next day. I looked but could find no iron. I walked down to the front desk and they told me they would locate an iron for me. I guess every room does not have an iron.
While I was down there I decided to have dinner. I was surprised to find that the restaurant closes at 2:00 in the afternoon? So I asked if there were any restaurants within walking distance. The only one was a Taco Bell about 1 mile. So I asked if the hotel shuttle could take me to get some food. I was told that the shuttle no longer runs. It seems that the vehicle couldn’t pass the emissions inspection so it was taken out of service a while back. I then asked how I was going to get to the Convention Center for the next 6 days? The woman at the front desk said, “No problem. You can catch a bus on the corner for $1.25.
I dejectedly went back to my room (hungry) and decided that I could skip dinner for one night. I turned on the TV only to find I could only receive 3 Spanish speaking stations. (I have no idea what kind of cable they were using) So I decided to hook up my laptop to their advertised wireless internet. I was fine for 5 minutes and then, voila, it disappeared for the rest of the night. With nothing else left to do, I went to bed.
At 1:20 am, I was shaken out of bed by someone pounding on my door. I ran over and looked out the peep-hole and saw a man standing there for whom I was not going to open the door. I immediately called the front desk to make them aware that someone was banging on my door. They told me it was someone from the hotel. I went back over to the door and asked what he wanted. He told me, “A woman from this room called earlier to borrow the hotel plunger”. I guess the plungers are limited like the irons? I told him, “Number one, there is no woman in this room and number two; there is no plunger in this room”. He responded, “Don’t be getting an attitude with me”. He then walked away. I went back to bed since I had to be up early for the show.
Day 2 - When I woke up a few hours later, I went into the bathroom to take a shower. When I turned on the hot water, all I could muster was an occasional drip. It was too hot to bear, but too few to add any cold water. I was running late and had to head to the bus stop to get to the show.
When the show was finished on day 1, I found the bus that would take me back to the hotel. Even though I was the only one on the bus, the driver somehow forgot about my request to drop me off as close as possible. I ended up walking ¾ of a mile back to the hotel after being left off halfway across some bridge in Fort Worth.
When I got back to the hotel I went to the front desk and asked why I had no hot water. They sent a man with me to my room to look at the plumbing problem. When I opened the door, I found that housekeeping forgot to clean my room. While the ‘plumber’ tried to get more that drips from my shower, I called the front desk to let them know my room needed cleaned. A few minutes later, a woman showed up and told me to move to another room. I packed my bags and carried my belongings to my new room. I took the iron with me just in case! When I went in, I saw a repeat of my first room. This time the ceiling panels in the bathroom were drooping and ready to fall out. The bathroom was just as dirty. I was able to get a few English speaking channels in this room, but still no internet.
Day 3 – It really made me happy that I was able to get hot water to take a shower. By this time I didn’t care that the bathroom was filthy. I headed out to catch my bus. Later that morning I was talking to one of the show coordinators and told her about my hotel. She was appalled and said she would find me another place to stay. She called the Care-A-Lot and told them I wanted to checkout. She was told that I had 2 minutes (It was 11:58 am) to get here or I was going to be charged for the day. Her reason was that the room was scheduled for housekeeping. Needless to say I did not get there quick enough. I went to my room to pack to find that the room hadn’t been cleaned anyway. I went down to the front desk and handed my credit card to the hotel manager. She never said a word. I was charged for 3 days, even though I only used it for two. I was tempted to ask since I was being charged for today because of the scheduled housekeeping; shouldn’t I receive a credit for yesterday since my room wasn’t cleaned? I walked out, happy to be heading to the Marriot
It’s time that the Care-A-Lot quits advertising amenities that they really don’t offer. I can’t see how the city of Fort Worth would even consider recommending this hotel to anyone with the hope of having that person revisit. I am not sure of what, if any, regulations exist in regards to cleanliness in a public hotel. If there is such a list of regulations, the Care-A-Lot doesn’t conform to many of them. Please heed this warning and do not make the mistake of staying in this hotel.