On May 18, 2007, we had 2 rooms that cost us $250 USD a night (per room). Everything was screwed up from the moment we got there. First, they promised us connecting rooms at reservation, but that didn't happen. Our first set of rooms (we had to be moved because the first ones were terrible) was on the 5th floor. At first, we couldn't even get the door to close. Then, the elevator kept going to every floor other than what we wanted it to. After 30 minutes of being stuck in it, we stop on a floor where an employee was waiting to get on. He informed us that you have to hold the button in really hard for that floor, and then it might stop. He proceeded to tell us that we could just ride the elevator back down to the ground floor and go up the stairs (there was no way we could climb the stairs with all of the luggage we had).
We were told there would be someone to assist us with getting our luggage to the room. 3 or 4 employees saw us dragging all the suitcases, overnight bags, etc., but not one of them offered any help. But yet when we finally get the elevator to stop on our floor, we see the same workers helping 2 other people with their luggage. They left us in the elevator and did not call for assistance about it messing up. We then discovered they had another set of elevators in the hotel that they used to take those other ladies up to our floor. We asked the women how they got up there, and they said, 'these nice men brought us up in the elevators.' (and it wasn't the one we were stuck in, either). Well, one of my friends forgot something in the car, and she had to go back after it. She was at the elevator door, and started to have an asthma attack. A male employee walks by, looks at her, and smartly remarks, 'need to be in better shape, huh?' He didn't bother to ask her if she was ok.
We paid to have king-sized beds--- but got full instead. The pillows were a nasty yellow and lumpy (like when they're too old) and one even had a mildew spot on it. The beds were extremely lumpy as well. The TV was messed up (the volume was blaring on it, and you couldn't get it to go down). We also had a view that reminded me of something you'd see in the inner cities, it was awful. It kind of reminded me of the crack houses you see on TV like when you watch COPS or something. We had to look at an old, run-down building with busted windows (Some half-way boarded up). The rooms reeked of cigarette smoke (and the rooms were non-smoking). The corporate website said they had a jacuzzi, that doesn't exist, either.
The front desk attendant did not want to let us speak to the manager. When we threatened to call corporate at that moment, they changed their tune. The manager put us in what they call a 'suite' (it had 1 king bed and a sleeper sofa.). Some suite-- my bedroom at home is bigger than it was!
The manager acknowledged she was breaking fire code by putting 6 people in one room, but it was the best they had. We had already been charged and could not get our money back, if we could, we'd have gone to another hotel. The bad thing was that there was no other room in Memphis available except for a $500+ one at the Peabody, so we were pretty much stuck (it was the weekend of the Jermain Taylor fight).
I'd go sleep somewhere down on Beale Street before I stayed here again!
This was the absolute worst place I've ever been in my entire life!
We even came across 3 groups of people on Beale Street at Pat O'Brien's who said they were supposed to stay there, and had the same problems we had (with the condition of the rooms and the elevator issues). They were so disgusted that they checked out and went to West Memphis, even though it was much further than what they wanted to be.