Days Inn West-Eau Claire

The bed was decent, but the room door looked badly damaged from the inside, and the faucet dripped. Our key card failed after the first try, and replacements didn’t work either. We booked a handicap room months ahead for three people, but there were only two towels. It wasn’t clear that the room was accessible at all: there was no shower chair or bathroom handrail, and my mom had to use the door to get up. We also had to ask for more cups. The shower had conditioner and body wash, but no shampoo. My mom loves coffee, and there wasn’t a coffee machine in the room. The buffet fell short. There was no hot food or coffee cups, and the juice cups weren’t suitable for holding coffee without burning your hands. The cereal bowls ran out almost immediately. There was a little fruit and cereal, but not much variety, and no boiled eggs. Toast was only wheat bread, with sweets and Goldfish crackers filling the rest of the bucket. Juice had to be requested.

I’ve had to stay here long term for personal reasons, and I’m looking around for somewhere better. Here’s what I’ve run into: There are no discounts for long stays. Breakfast is just a gallon of milk, Raisin Bran, Froot Loops, yogurt, fruit, slices of white bread handled without gloves, and a waffle maker that needs to run twice or the waffles are raw inside. The pool is closed at least a few days to a week every couple of weeks because they use laundry detergent in it. You can literally smell the Tide soap. The manager/owner will lie to your face to save face, and there’s zero customer service from the owner. The only “workers” are his family, split across this hotel and his two other hotels, a Super 8 in Menomonie and the Super 8 across the street. Room doors don’t close unless you pull them shut, and the key card needs fixing and reactivating at least every four days. The TV is an LG from around 2001 that won’t connect to the hotel Wi-Fi. If you connect an external DVD player, it randomly switches to TV mode. I suspect the walls are so thin that’s why. Don’t use the ice machine. I let a cup of ice melt and all kinds of disgusting stuff was floating in it. The walls’ paint chips from their own hangers. The fridge has no freezer, and even as a long-term guest you’re threatened with being kicked out if you try to cook in the room. I microwaved popcorn from their vending machine, the generic bag exploded and burned, and I was threatened with being kicked out. The hand sink was so clogged that I got a plunger myself, since they said it was normal, and pulled out a hairball I was surprised came through the opening. The shower only has about a half-inch of hot-water adjustment because it’s installed backwards, so don’t expect a hot shower. It also doesn’t drain. I tried a plunger and Drano, but neither worked, and I’m not going to snake a hotel bathroom drain. There are “dressers” that are just three drawers and two tiny nightstands.

We arrived a day early and managed to change the reservation for just a few more bucks, which was nice. The room had been recently redone, and it was clean and cozy, though it was missing the cable box and still needed some finishing work. The hot tub was relaxing; a few jets were wonky, but most worked. The place did what we needed, giving us somewhere to sleep and shower. We tried the free breakfast, but I’m pretty sure the waffle batter was spoiled. My waffles tasted sour instead of normally sweet and were slimy inside. I booked thinking this was where we stayed last year, so we may or may not come back next year.

The place was gross, with cigarette smells and stains all over the rooms. Maintenance seems neglected. The staff were rude, and check-in took forever.