Baymont by Wyndham Houston La Porte

I travel for work a lot and have tried plenty of hotels and motels. This one is good value, with fair prices, a clean and comfortable room, cold A.C., a warm shower, and lots of TV channels. Food and stores are within walking distance. The manager and staff were nice and hospitable. I’d recommend it and would definitely stay again.

There were dead bugs in the room, the pool was closed with green water, and there was no breakfast. The guests seemed shady. Ten minutes before check-in, the desk called to say the pool was closed and offered to let us cancel, but it was too last minute. I said I’d cancel the following night and was told I could do that with the manager by 11am the next day. At checkout, I told the manager I needed to cancel that night. He said he’d spoken to me and had already checked me in, though I’d never spoken with him. I kept telling him I wasn’t staying another night, and he said I’d need to contact Priceline to cancel. We went across the street to Comfort Suites and paid $15 more for a room with a great pool, good service, no bugs, and a buffet breakfast.

I booked expecting free food and a pool because that’s what the listing said. On arrival, I was told it only meant coffee, and even that wasn’t really offered. My room had more than 20 gnats flying around, so I asked to move. The employee said there shouldn’t be any because they’d cleaned and prepared the room before I arrived. In the new room, I saw the pool was marked “under maintenance,” with green mold in it, so it wasn’t available. When I asked to cancel, they said I’d be charged for one night because so many people cancel and they don’t really make money. It felt like a scam. This was supposed to be a great vacation.

The walkways and stairs felt so wobbly I thought I could fall. Staff were very rude, and there was no breakfast, pool, or even coffee. The shower knobs were backwards, and there were lots of gnats and flies. They don’t provide what they advertise. Find another hotel, don’t walk, run!