We booked a non-smoking room. The room was definitely non-smoking. As soon as we walked in it smelt pretty awful. I had to go downstairs to ask for air freshener, and to clarify whether or not it was a non-smoking room. The receptionist assured me it was. However, the smell, the ash tray, cigarette burns on the bedding, and the lack of "non-smoking room" sign on the front door said otherwise. It was bad, the smell just kept coming back.
Not knowing how staff were going to let guests back into their room, I locked my window to secure my laptops and other belongings when I left my room the evening of 11/4. When I returned to gain reentry from the desk clerk, the look on his face when I told him I locked the window was nothing short of alarmed!
Slept on top of the covers, fully clothed. Also wore socks or shoes the whole time.
Worse Econo Lodge I have ever stayed at. The guy at front desk was extremely rude at check in. Repeatedly saying we didn't have a reservation. When he finally typed in the confirmation number that he originally ignored, he saw the reservation. No apology for the over site, just more rudeness. Immediately after entering the room I saw the king size bed only had 2 small pillows and the room was in extreme need of maintenance and repairs. Then I noticed that one of the pillow cases had what looked to be a blood stain, then I saw the pillow itself was also stained. I took the pillow down to front desk to ask for a replacement. I was told there were no more. I noticed several empty rooms on the way to ours, and since we were checking in a little after 3 a.m., I felt those rooms were not likely booked. So I asked if we couldn't just have a replacement from an empty room. The answer was no. When I insisted I was not sleeping on a dirty pillow the solution was for us to change rooms. In order to get a key to another room we first had to go back up and around back to remove our stuff from the room and then come back down to the front to return the key in order to trade for another key that opened the room next door to the original room. Ridiculous!
Our shower pressure was nothing more than a drool because most of it was coming out of the spout instead of the shower head.
Place looks pretty run down. I have never seen in any other hotel the reception desk is behind thick bullet proof glass. The clerk told me that the area was not safe. The beds were okay, but air conditioning didn't work in the midst of summer. Breakfast was really basic, not many choices. I would not recommend this place for more than just a quick stop.
This experience has definitely been a negative one, and booking future budget accommodations through Choice Hotels will be weighed carefully.
I can't believe there is no manual override to en electronic key card lock, whereby hotel staff can enter the room safely--without pry bars!
Budget accommodation where the front desk is locked behind bullet proof glass. Complimentary breakfast included donuts, cereal, coffee and not much else.
We (he and I) then proceeded to try to break into my room by disengaging or breaking the window lock with a series of pry bars and heavy duty screw drivers.
About my recent "unsafe" stay at the Econo Lodge in New Haven, CT on 11/4:
I use the word "unsafe" because when I arrived to check in I was informed that the keyless door lock system was inoperable and that entry to the rooms would be handled by housekeeping or the desk clerk. What I did not know was that this meant the room windows would need to remain unlocked and hotel staff would pry open or slide windows open to unlock the self-locking doors like a burglar.
"Why did you lock your window?" He asked. I replied, "For security -- I have laptops and other things I'd prefer not get stolen." I was never informed to leave the window unlocked, and I probably would not have stayed had that been the case.
This was not the sort of "Bada Book Bada Boom" experience I was expecting. I wasn't even expecting the room or it's amenities to be all that fantastic. But what I did expect was for the room to be secure and safe--regardless of a property-wide electronic lock malfunction--especially since it was right off the Interstate. And having to help a desk clerk break into my room only diminished my experience that much more.
Econo Lodge is a US Lodging based in West Haven, Connecticut. Econo Lodge is located at 370 Highland St, West Haven, CT 06516, USA.
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