Country Hearth Inn & Suites Kenton

The only pleasant surprise was finding a mini fridge and microwave, neither of which had been mentioned in the listing. I stayed here back in 1999, when it was the Amerihost Inn, and remember it as a really nice hotel. This time was a very different experience. The beds were full size, not queen, and the pillows were flat and needed replacing. The hair dryer’s GFCI outlet was broken and looked that way for a long time, which seemed like a clear shock and fire risk. The mirror on the door appeared to be held on with 3M tape, its clips were broken loose, and the door looked like it came from a modular building from 1995. Several carpeted areas were well past time to be replaced. There was a ceiling hole in the hallway, a sagging trip hazard in front of room 206, and nearly all the windows seemed worn out and due for replacement. We were told there’d be no swimming because the pool pump and heater were broken. Still, the manager let a previously scheduled party use it, even though the water was 60 degrees. There was no continental breakfast, with “the bank card had expired” given as the reason. Despite the no-smoking and no-marijuana signs, those smells would sometimes hang around the property. I know Kenton doesn’t have many hotels or tourist attractions, but the cheapest, worst place I’ve stayed for work, even in Portland, Oregon, looked like the Ritz Carlton next to this one. If I wanted a slum, I’d rent an apartment at Scioto Village. I asked for a partial refund or discount because of all the problems. The manager wasn’t in on Sunday, which I understand, so we’ll see what Monday brings. In general, avoid this place. Lima, Bellefontaine, or the Inn at ONU are worth the extra drive.

Mama, the sweet black-and-white cat who hangs around outside, has bowls and a little house there. She’s adorable but traumatized, so be gentle if you meet her. The motel is about a ten-minute walk from McDonald's and other fast food places. The pool area was clean and had a few towels, though we only learned afterward that the washing machine was broken. The water was very cold when we went in at night, uncomfortably so. The ice machine worked, but the vending machines were mostly empty. I didn’t see them restocked during our stay, and there were no chips, so hope you like granola. The rooms felt dated and had the odd smell mentioned in another review, but they were somewhat charming and “rustic.” Ours had a Roku TV and a strange microwave-fridge combo, and I think the fridge may have broken at some point. We had to change rooms because the bathroom light in the first one didn’t work, and it had two beds instead of the one-bed room we’d booked. There were other broken things in the second room, but we made do. There was a live German Cockroach in our bathroom. I told the receptionist. My boyfriend didn’t even want the dead bug in the room, and I wanted management to see it as proof. I set it on a table by the front desk, wrapped in a tissue and facing away from the door. I know I could’ve handled that better, but I didn’t know where the receptionist was and was panicking too. We both hate roaches. She later talked down to us and made snide comments about us being two OCD, autistic adults who hadn’t handled it the way she wanted. She said, “What if a customer had seen that,” and hinted she’d “almost” kicked us out already for putting possibly roach-infested towels in the hallway. My boyfriend made some moderately insulting comments, not to her face, but she was with either a customer or her boyfriend, who overheard and didn’t like it. Things escalated. She told us to leave without a refund, we each had two panic attacks, and while my boyfriend was crying, she banged as hard as she could on the door and yelled that we had to hurry and leave right now. The POLICE??? were called on us. We did get the refund, directly from management, about a week later. There was also a frightening incident with a man who we later learned had been put in a mental ward for psychotic murderous threats. He walked through the front door and made more psychotic threats to the front desk, where his ex was working. The police could only take a statement. The nearest “safe” spot in the lobby is behind the L-shaped desk, inside a tiny locking restroom that might fit five people. There are cameras everywhere, but no security of any kind, unless you count the mostly female front desk staff. If you have any kind of neurodivergency or mental disorder, don’t go near this place. There are German cockroaches, or they live nearby, and if you have a breakdown or other issue, how it’s handled is a total crapshoot depending on who’s working the desk.

I booked a room for one night for a wedding, and it was the worst experience. The first room smelled awful and had a broken air conditioner, so they moved me. The next room smelled just as bad, and there were no towels or washcloths, only a hand towel. At checkout I was charged for the room again. The manager wasn’t there on Sunday, so I have to wait until tomorrow to try to get the charge refunded. I wouldn’t recommend this hotel at all.

The key cards don’t work. Once I had to carry pizza around the building in 40-degree weather to get to the lobby, and another time I was stuck making that trip with groceries in 40-50-degree weather. My time with my daughter was also eaten up by moving rooms and making trip after trip to switch, with nobody offering to help. The first room had a bed whose box-spring support was missing pieces, so the mattress rocked when I tried to climb in. That could’ve been dangerous for my daughter or another guest. I told the staff, and they offered a different room. But as soon as I reached its door, I could see it had clearly been broken into, possibly more than once. The latches were fully exposed with no barriers, so I had to move again to a room farther down. I was staying seven nights on a weekly rate. Other hotels I’ve stayed at, much nicer ones, have charged my card at checkout. The manager said she had to charge me day by day because they’d had guests not pay at checkout, saying, “people can easily lock their cards nowadays.” I said that was strange, since I’d never been charged daily, but I understood they needed to get paid. They charged my card each day, then charged all at once for the last four nights before the final three nights had even happened. My accounts went into overdraft and I got hit with a $20 fee. I’d written a much longer, more detailed review, but it wouldn’t let me post it.