I’m a seasoned traveler, used to both high end and low end lodging. I don't expect high end service for a low end price. Two years ago I stayed in the quaint, funky, idiosyncratic “Real Spanish Castle” known as the Hotel Seville in downtown Harrison, Arkansas. The price was right at $65 for a suite, which was really a made over apartment, with hilarious 1960s furnishings. Clean room, working AC, comfy bed, good, friendly service from the proprietress and her staff. The “continental breakfast” was a hilarious joke, but I skip it most mornings anyway, and besides, there’s a small town café right around the corner with atmosphere and good food. I got more than I expected for my $65.
What a change this stay (May, 2007) was. The whole hotel had a downhearted look to it. The lobby was dusty, the floor dirty, the stairs even worse, the suite this time was about the size of a Comfort Suites, but with peeling paint and wallpaper, stained carpeting, a bed that must have been 20 years old, a thundering window AC that blew air, but did not condition it, a bedside lamp literally too dim to read by. A big disappointment, especially since the price had jumped to $90 a night. But, hey, I was there, I had good memories of my first stay, and besides, all the other lodging in town was full. I checked after checking in. I resolved to make the best of it, had a fitful night on the trampoline bed, made coffee in the suite and went around the corner for breakfast, then off to do my deal for the day. I stopped by the desk and told the new owner, that the AC didn’t work right and he said he’d check it out. When I came back to the room after breakfast, he said there was nothing he could do about it until Monday, this was Saturday, and I was leaving Sunday morning anyway. Again, I resolved to make the best of it and took off for the day; the weather was lovely, and the room didn’t heat up. I was really disappointed upon my return after 8:30 pm to find my bed unmade, the coffee pot still in the sink, fresh towels in a dirty bathroom…you get the picture.
I marched down the dingy stairs with the paint peeling off the walls from water damage to the desk and barked at the manager, suggesting in strong terms that I would like one night’s room refund for the inconvenience and for the far-below-$90 standards of the hotel, and service condition. He said he needed to talk to the maid, called me after awhile and said she did do my room. I barked quite a bit louder, asking him to come see for himself. He showed up, chip firmly on his shoulder, and saw the clean towels, and claimed the maid had in fact done my room, despite the disheveled bed, and the stinking coffeepot and…again, you get the picture. He offered me a $15 refund, saying the maid must have gotten ‘tied up’. I told him to keep his fifteen bucks, I’d get online and let folks know about all the big changes at the Hotel Seville.
The man in the next room, by the way, was unlocking his door as I returned from my barking session, and I asked him if his room had been tended to, and he looked and said it hadn’t. The maid must have really been tied up in a tough knot.
This place is $30 a night quality, period. If I’d paid $45 a night, I would not have complained, but for $90 a night I want to come in and find the coffee maker ready for the next morning, my bed made, etc…I don’t think that’s remotely too much to ask. Harrison is a small town in northern Arkansas, $90 is pretty much the very top end price wise, but any of the 'moderate' chains will be less, and offer much more.
The lagniappe to the whole experience is that the hotel lounge is apparently a local hangout for very, very loud drunk people, who apparently believe it is a state jail felony to smoke less than two cigarettes at a time…the smoke filtering into the hotel [in the new owners’ defense, this situation existed two years ago] who are allowed to scream at each other in the on the street, before revving their muffler-free motorcycles over and over (I travel on a motorcycle, a quiet one).
Stay at one of the chains on the highway, get a good night’s sleep, get your money’s worth, skip the funky atmosphere that is gone, gone, gone, from the Hotel Seville anyway.
The owner, along with the generous $15 offer, also offered to move me to another room, which I gathered he thought was a reasonable compromise. It was almost 10:00 pm, I had stuff strewn all over the suite, was literally exhausted from the strenuous labors of my 14 hour day, and declined…but at least he offered…but my thought was that I’d just have to lug my stuff to another filthy room with a worn out bed.