Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, Kalamazoo, MI

The pool is indoors, and there was a bug crawling near it. I was generous giving this place two stars. I’ve stayed in worse hotels, and it is quiet if silence is what you want. The room had lamps but no actual light switches. There were stains on the curtains, and they asked for a $150 deposit that hadn’t been mentioned when they let me book. The microwave and fridge were tucked away in cupboards, and the remote didn’t work. The front desk guy was kind of rude, and I had to ask him for literally everything I should’ve been told at check-in. They said they deliver to rooms, but kept me waiting about 20 minutes before cancelling my order.

At least there were no bed bugs, and the front desk people were mainly friendly. The motel gave an impression of long-term residents, and there seemed to be little concern about its condition. The microwave started running when I opened its door, and the refrigerator was set so cold that my fruit froze overnight. If you want ice cream, that part’s a plus. The mini coffee pot in the room wasn’t near an outlet, and several cords were lying on the floor by the desk. Housekeeping came every three days unless requested. I asked yesterday, but they didn’t come. The continental breakfast was barely worth mentioning. There must once have been more choices, judging by the ketchup and hot sauce in the condiment holder, but all they had was cereal, toast, and stale mini muffins. This morning’s orange was squishy, with rot on half the outside. The room had dust on every raised surface, including the headboard, pictures, and shower ledge. There was debris between the bed and nightstand, including a used bandage that wasn’t mine. The carpet was stained and had debris on it, so it didn’t look vacuumed. The bathtub had a long black hair, although my hair is short and blonde. There was no hot water, just lukewarm at best. Pieces of the strange pressed hay-looking ceiling were hanging loose. The bed linens were yellowed, and the duvet had only a flat sheet over it. The bathroom linens were stained too. There was even a mini coffee pot in the room, but no outlet nearby. No bed bugs so far, which feels like a big win after what I saw.

We only stopped because a storm, terrible traffic, and accidents afterward made it unsafe to keep driving on our Michigan to Illinois road trip. We’ve made the trip a few times before without needing to stay overnight. The night-shift woman at the desk was very nice and helpful. The hall walls had fresh paint, and the common areas seemed to have had some sprucing up. This place served its purpose by getting us off the road, but I wouldn’t recommend it for anything more. Our room was clean-ish. The bed was clean and fairly comfortable, and the bathroom was clean, but the carpet was old and stained, and the furniture was worn down and stained. The shower controls had a huge gap above them, with caulk around the lower half apparently the only thing holding them in place. Breakfast was a bust. There was no milk for cereal, only half a biscuit and no gravy, and no bread for toast. The bagel was hard and smelled awful, like it had sat in the sun in a plastic bag. I threw it away. There were no coffee cups either, only clear plastic juice cups, so we gave up and left.

Hyacinth, who manages and maintains the breakfast area, was the one good part of our stay. She was very friendly, and the food area was clean and stocked. The front desk, though, refused to print an invoice. They said they’d followed up with the third party we booked through to adjust the rate to match the cheaper room we actually stayed in. The third party had no idea what I was talking about and said the hotel hadn’t called or told them we didn’t get the room we booked. On top of a terrible hotel, it feels like they’re trying to steal my money. We booked locally because work at our house meant we had to spend the night away, with our cat. We chose this hotel because it allowed animals and had one-bedroom suites, so we could keep the cat separate from our infant daughter. At check-in, no one told us the room we booked wasn’t available. We lugged our things and baby to the room, found it wasn’t what we reserved, and then learned at the desk that our booked room wasn’t available. That was the only reason we chose the hotel. They said we could move the next day, so we had to find last-minute arrangements for the cat. The first room was dirty, dusty on the floor, stained on the walls, and incredibly humid, but we stayed. In the morning, we moved into the room we had actually booked. The AC didn’t work on a 90-degree day, and there was black mold all over the front of the unit. They had no other rooms of that size, so we had to return to the old room and find other arrangements for our cat again. Before checking out, we found more mold on the furniture in the room where we’d been staying with our infant. The hotel is very poorly maintained, and staff showed no concern about mold in either room. It’s unacceptable to put guests, especially an infant, in hazardous conditions. Stay somewhere else. I’ve never had a worse hotel stay. Management, if you read this, please note that we also tried to contact you and filled out the survey, but haven’t heard back.