Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, Dayton South, OH

We drove 6.5 hours to meet friends, then had to turn around and go home after I found a bed bug crawling beside me on the bed. The sheets and mattress didn’t show the usual signs, so I might not have known if I hadn’t woken up and seen it. I didn’t find any bites, and because it looked very flat, I don’t think it had eaten in a while. I can only hope it was a single adult that somehow got into the bedding. I’ve been shaken by this and am still dealing with the consequences. I cleaned everything that could be cleaned and threw out what couldn’t. I’m quarantining my car and certain items, and expect to be doing this for months. I don’t wish this on anyone. I’m warning people because I want the problem fixed so it doesn’t affect others, not because I want to harm the business or get a free stay. I know some people make fake reviews or demand refunds, and I understand why the hotel might have a knee jerk reaction and think this is fake, or see me as a crazy Karen. But this really happened, and being called a liar while I deal with it is mind boggling. I didn’t post lightly. I cared about the hotel’s reputation and wrestled with whether to write this because I knew it could hurt the business. I took photos on the hotel’s bedding, in the hotel room, and have the date and time stamps in my camera roll. The pictures might not look like the bedding, but zooming in should show a perfect match. I zoomed for a clear shot and used another phone to shine a light in some photos. I was flustered and focused on photographing the bug, which I wasn’t sure was a bed bug at the time. I didn’t think to take a wider picture proving which room it was, and regret not going straight to the front desk for a Ziplock bag to keep the pest as proof. I wasn’t expecting to be called a liar. We had initially booked two nights, then realized we only needed one. We told both the hotel and hotels.com on the day of check-in, hours before arriving, not the next morning. This was a last-minute booking I’d made the day before, and our plans changed with little time. We asked for a refund for the second night since we were checking out after one, and both the hotel and hotels.com approved it. We only went downstairs once we were ready to leave, because we all needed to shower before heading out, which we hadn’t planned the night before. I regret that this change somehow gave the hotel reason to say we were untrustworthy. When we showed the woman at the front desk the pictures and asked what could be done, she told us to contact the third party site to escalate the issue, so we did. I hope this was isolated, for everyone’s sake.

The pillows were tiny and hard, and breakfast was a letdown with very few choices, mostly just make your own waffles. The shower only ran lukewarm. On the first day our air conditioner stopped working, and when we returned the next day the room smelled like chemicals or something burning. I wasn’t impressed with the room.

The room was just okay, though the shower was clean, the bed comfortable, and the staff nice. Breakfast wasn’t very good. The waffles were good, but I’d stick to yogurt or cereal.

I waited to write this because I wanted to think through the whole stay. I did like the rooms when I first saw them, and they were clean for the most part. The beds were good, and all the housekeepers made them nicely. I noticed small things others might not: a gummy bear by the door was still there when we got the same room again, the bathroom floor wasn’t mopped very well one time, and the front of the AC units would sometimes be half off. The bigger issue was the third-floor cleaners coming to our room around 9:30 to 10:30 in the morning, before checkout. I’ve stayed at plenty of hotels for business from Dayton to Cincinnati and hadn’t had this happen. One cleaner came close to checkout with a rude tone, asking if I was checking out and demanding I go pay if I wasn’t, while pointing at the front desk like I was a child. I was upset and told one of the owners, whom I saw getting into an elevator with another customer. He said the cleaner probably meant no harm and that he’d talk to him. I’ve worked in customer service for more than 20 years, own a business, and studied psychology, so I know when someone is being disrespectful. After that, cleaners kept showing up around 9:30 to 10:30 to ask if we were leaving or staying, apparently to get their rooms done earlier. I clean my room top to bottom and leave the trash and dirty towels by the door, so they’re only in there about 20 seconds. Once a cleaner noticed that, he asked me to help put trash into the big bags because my family had a fair bit every morning. It started to feel expected, even though I was already doing most of the work for them. I told the front desk about a day when a cleaner knocked and woke my kids early, and asked them not to do that on a particular day because I needed to sleep until 11. That was one of the few times it worked, thanks to one of the new front desk guys. He said the third-floor cleaners like to stay on top of the rooms they’re assigned. I respect their effort, but it shouldn’t start before 11 unless a guest asks. I liked four of the front desk staff, and never had an issue with the first- or second-floor cleaners, apart from one time we were given a room where a cleaner was sitting on the bed, wasting time on the phone with a family member. There are some good employees, but others didn’t provide good service, do the job properly during the hours they should, or even show up, from what I saw. What finally put us off was being told I needed to book through the hotel. From day one I’d gotten a discounted rate online and never paid full price. On our last day, one owner gave me a speech about having to leave and come back at 3 p.m. if I renewed the room, even though I’d spent around $1,500 on third-party bookings for the company during my stay. I understand the hotel didn’t get much of that money, but that’s something to sort out with the booking site, not with me.