Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, Forest Lake, MN

The pillows were tiny, almost square, and the smoke detectors had black tape over them, which seemed unsafe. We woke early with a headache from the moldy smell and left as soon as we could. We skipped breakfast because we wanted out, and I couldn’t breathe through my nose anymore. We were only there because we were late for a wedding and didn’t have time to ask for a better room. It smelled unbelievably bad, like the damp basement of an abandoned building, and there was a dehumidifier running in the room. I don’t know what happened there. On top of that, they charged us twice, making this a very expensive mistake. We had booked through hotels.com and paid in full on the site, but at arrival the front desk insisted we’d only reserved and hadn’t paid, even though I had the receipt and the charge on my card. We needed to get moving, so I let her charge us again, and she put through another transaction. I planned to ask for the money back in the morning, though I figured I might have to dispute it with the credit card company. Really strange, since I thought this was a decent brand hotel chain.

Housekeeping did a great job midway through our three-night Fourth of July weekend stay, but the room was visibly dirty when we arrived. It smelled musty and a little smoky even though it was marked non-smoking. The bathroom door was crooked, squealed whenever we shut it, and wouldn’t close properly. There was also no towel bar for hand towels, so we had to put them on the shower rod or counter. The hotel seemed understaffed. On July 4 we asked for fresh towels, but they never came. When I checked with the front desk, the attendant said she was the only one there and couldn’t leave the desk. The rooms had clearly been renovated at some point, but the paint looked like a landlord special, with roller marks on the trim plates, light switches, and ceiling. The stay didn’t live up to what I expected from the Country Inn and Suites Brand.

The building was clean and the price was reasonable. Housekeeping staff were friendly, but the front desk service was limited. We stayed two nights and arrived to find only a little toilet paper. They said they couldn’t bring more up, so we had to go downstairs for it. The pool and hot tub were out of service, and the ice maker didn’t work either. They advertise cookies 24/7, but we only saw five once. Parking is tight if you have a trailer.

The pull-out couch in our two-bed room wasn’t comfortable. On our second morning, breakfast was a mess because the breakfast staff didn’t show up. The front desk staff tried to keep the area stocked and running, but they weren’t trained for it and struggled. The night staff seemed to dislike their jobs, while the day staff were friendly and accommodating.