There was just so much wrong with this hotel. I booked a stay for our anniversary and was immediately disappointed the minute I walked in. I'm not one to complain, but the two star hotel that I stayed at two miles away the same night was much better than this one that is somehow rated 2 1/2 stars. As soon as I walked in, I felt a bad vibe but wanted to give it a chance because I didn't know what else I was going to walk into. For starters, the lobby looked dark and dreary and the whole hotel smelled funny, like humid and musty. We were greeted by two staff members who just didn't look professional. We checked in and were given our keys and were told to make sure our jacuzzi worked correctly, which kind of worried us- why not make sure our jacuzzi worked before we came in? We went to see the game room that looked like it hadn't been updated since the early 2000s, and the business center was out in the open, which was kind of odd. The hallways were dark and creepy, and the hallways and stairwells needed vacuuming. The stairwells especially looked just simply pitiful, just not welcoming. We went up to our room and our room looked dreary and we found several things that could have been better, first of which was the smell. I first checked out the bathroom, which was small, and the sink and sink fixtures were filthy. The bottom of the toilet bowl was stained. The jacuzzi was very small and the faucet and handles of the faucet were also not clean. The whole area just looked cheaply made. Furniture had some wear and tear even though the hotel is apparently newly remodeled. Lamps needed dusted. The windows and window sill really needed cleaned. The king size bed looked okay at least but we didn't stay long enough to try it out. The remote to the TV was in a fabric bag that said 'fresh remote' but if the rest of the hotel was this dirty, why would the remote be 'fresh?' One of the worst parts was the really loud exhaust fan for the jacuzzi, that I turned on to check out. The timer for the jacuzzi had faded numbers. We then headed to the elevator to go to the basement, and noticed that a trash can was overflowing with bags of trash, the linen closet was open even though no one was there, and plants were in plastic planters that were just sat in ceramic planters- who does that? Take the time to actually plant the plant in the ceramic planter! Again, the area needed vacuumed. The elevator was weird too, you could see down the elevator shaft with the door closed and even the elevator needed vacuumed. When we got to the basement, it was just creepy. It was dark, especially humid and especially musty. The fitness center and pool area looked remodeled in the last 5 years or so but the basement was generally unfinished, and there were unfinished parts of the fitness center and pool area. The door of the pool area was full of rust from condensation and left rust on my hand! The basement just generally looked like it had been under construction and they just gave up. There was an area that looked like it could have been under construction but it wasn't properly blocked off. I didn't dare check out the bathrooms in the basement because they were simply unwelcoming. We agreed that this was not a hotel worth our money and asked for a refund, which I still have not received and will be talking to the company in a week if I still don't receive it by then, because we did book directly with the hotel, not by a third party. We took our business elsewhere to a hotel down the road by the turnpike and paid even LESS for that room and it was a breath of fresh air. Outside looks are deceiving! Do not book!
Note to staff who will inevitably reply with their gaslighting, manipulative replies that try to downplay bad reviews- don't even bother. less
ZPaulReynolds, Guest Relations Manager at Best Western Plus Sandusky Hotel & Suites, responded to this review
I'm not sure how to respond to that myriad of issues you had with our hotel. The hotel has been COMPLETELY refurbished with new furniture, carpet, equipment, etc. While we appreciate that there might be some issues that needed attention during your stay, it would be much more effective (and worth your time) to let a property know that WHILE you're on the property. Not giving us an opportunity to fix issues does no one any good--not you the customer nor we the business that are constantly trying to improve and grow.
My response is also not trying to downplay a bad review. It's just good business to respond to folks and let them know that we're interested in hearing feedback and knowing where we could improve. Doing otherwise or ignoring your feedback altogether would absolutely confirm that we don't care--and that's not the case. Additionally, our great reviews come from people who actually stayed with us--not people passing by judging the property on the outside looks. Our overall great reviews come as a result of our tireless staffs' attention to detail and our ability to deliver a great product at competitive rates.
We gladly let you out of your obligated reservation and were able to re-rent the room without issue. The release of funds used on debit cards are strictly between a bank and its customers--we have nothing to do with that.
At any rate, thanks for staying with us. We hope your next stay will be more akin to the hundreds of positive reviews that we've gotten for our beautiful and well-appointed property.