Americas Best Value Inn La Crosse

I booked the whole weekend in La Crosse so I could take my 70-year-old mother to see the Harlem Globetrotters. The photos and reviews had looked nice, so I felt fine about staying there until we arrived. There were homeless people outside asking for money, and our room had holes in the walls. We didn't feel safe. The outside around the doors hadn't been cleaned, so we had to walk through bugs and webs. We cut the trip short and drove the four hours home exhausted, after barely sleeping the night before. This place was misrepresented and awful to stay in.

I stayed here for a previous Moses Conference and still regret it more than a year later. My room was reserved on my Visa credit card for me and a friend coming from another state, and we planned to split the cost. I arrived in the middle of the night after driving 200 miles, before my friend, but staff kept me from checking into my own room for hours and demanded cash up front. The reservation was on a real card and there were no problems with my excellent credit, but I had to pay cash to get in. The stress left me so tired that I missed the first workshop and some others while trying to sort things out with unhelpful managers. After the conference and checkout, I spoke to the owner, a certain Mr. Dragon. He didn't apologize for what had happened, acted annoyed, and accused me of being a thief even though I'd paid for the whole stay. The receipts had the wrong payments for each night, dates, and room, so I had staff handwrite and initial each receipt with the correct cash amounts. I filed a complaint with the parent company of Americas Best Value Inn, Red Lion, and asked for an investigation into the hotel's credit card practices, which I understand did happen, and an apology. When the owner called, he insulted me instead. Take your money elsewhere. There are much better places to stay in La Crosse. Don't let this place ruin the Moses Conference or another event. If they'd apologized and provided real customer service, I probably wouldn't still be angry or writing this. Zero stars.

We paid almost $150 for the night and had already found several other places with no vacancies, so we felt stuck here instead of sleeping in our car, which we considered. The room was filthy and buggy, with cockroaches, several large carpet stains, and a window screen torn nearly in half, its end pieces flapping. This clearly hadn't just happened. I would never return and would tell others to stay away. Horrible.

The room itself was exceptionally clean, and the bed seemed new and was comfortable. I'm very particular about cleanliness, so I appreciated that. But a $63 nightly rate became over $102 after all the added fees, which wasn't worth it. There were missing bulbs in lamps, trash piled five feet high in a hallway, no breakfast or coffee, and people openly using drugs in the parking lot. The atmosphere felt sketchy and unsafe. Some people apparently live there, and I wonder whether it's a place that houses convicted sex offenders.