Super 8 by Wyndham Whitecourt

We were tired on the road and stopped at Super 8 by Wyndham Whitecourt. We usually book ahead through Expedia, but this time we got a room in person without any trouble. Reception was smooth, and the friendly staff made check-in and checkout easy. The room was clean and in good order. It was comfortable, and the location was easy to get to. Everything went fine.

The room was freezing when we arrived with the kids because the heat was off. It took about two hours on high to get it up to 17°C. There was also a strong secondhand smoke smell as soon as we opened the door. By checkout, I was wondering if we’d somehow started smoking ourselves. Our eyes and throats burned, and we lay awake for hours hearing the neighbors sneeze, talk, jump around, and use the bathroom. We thought about showering in the morning, then turned on the bathroom light and saw the tub and streaks of grime on the walls. We switched the lights back off and decided to shower at home. Breakfast apparently ends at 8am now, cleaning seems optional, and the WiFi wasn’t consistent either. We arrived late in bad weather and needed somewhere safe to rest, otherwise we probably would have left. We picked this place because of the Wyndham name, and that may have been a mistake.

We never got the receipt for our stay, even though we were told it would be emailed the next morning for our business expense. A week later, it still hadn’t arrived. Trying to get one was absurd. Expedia sent us to a third party, who sent us to another party in another country, who told us to call Expedia again. Expedia then sent us back to the second third party. All that just for a basic receipt. Pure corporate ridiculousness.

The bed was very comfortable, and the front desk staff were friendly. But the bathroom wasn’t clean: there was hair left behind and shampoo dripped across the tub, which made it seem like the shower hadn’t been cleaned. My first room faced the highway and was extremely noisy. The window did nothing to keep out the road sounds. The front desk kindly moved me to a room facing the inner road, which was much quieter, but it had a connecting door and I could hear everything from the loud guest next door. I won’t stay here again.