Howard Johnson by Wyndham Lakeland

Even at 6am, when I expected the person at the desk to be tired, the staff were full of energy and so sweet. They answered my questions and helped me understand how to extend my stay if I needed to. I especially appreciated that the woman giving me my room number didn’t say it aloud. She pointed it out on a map and explained how to get there, which helped me feel safe while traveling. I highly recommend the place and will definitely return.

This was my second stay, and both visits came with problems. During my first three day stay, my key stopped working each morning. The first time staff had “no idea” why. The second time, they said they were fully booked and couldn’t tell who was still checked in, so they wiped all the cards. I could see empty rooms through the windows, and I’d never heard of this happening. I was there with a friend and toddler, just having a normal stay, with no loud music or parties. On my latest visit, the headboard was old and coming apart. I didn’t take a picture, but my bigger concern was finding the door wide open after being away for about an hour and a half. Housekeeping had left it open, so our belongings were unsecured and anyone could have been in the room. Staff said a manager would call to make it right, but nobody did. When I called, the manager didn’t know what I was talking about. The night before, I’d needed a new key, and a staff member I hadn’t seen during my stay mentioned the open door while giving me a hard time about getting a key for a room I’d been in for three days. Nobody addressed the safety issue or did anything about the inconvenience. Breakfast is cereal and milk. The pool is the best thing about the place.

There were more cockroaches the next day, after my surgery, so my wife called the front office again. They said maintenance would come spray. My wife went to the store with my daughter and came back without knowing whether anyone had treated the room. She called again, and then they said they’d have to get an exterminator the following day. When she checked out, she handed in the keys, and nobody offered a discount or anything else. The trouble started when we arrived on December 28th and found the room dirty. We called the front desk, and someone came to mop the floor. After they left, my wife found old dog food under the bathroom sink. We called again, and someone came down to clean it and mop again. About an hour later, my wife and daughter went for fast food and found a live cockroach inside the refrigerator when they went to put away the leftovers. The response was that they’d have to get someone to spray. I filed a complaint with priceline.com and booking.com, where we booked. They said they’d contact the hotel, but the response we got was full of lies. It claimed they offered us a discount and another room, offered a discount a second time, and said my wife planned to stay a third night but decided not to. That was a straight up lie. I was getting out of the hospital Tuesday morning at 10:00, and my wife had no reason to stay in Lakeland. The hotel is dirty, dingy, and dark. At night there were a lot of undesirable people walking around the parking lot, homeless people going through garbage bags outside rooms, drugs, and people sleeping in chairs outside rooms. It was just a terrible place. I don’t recommend the Howard Johnson's by Wyndham in Lakeland for personal or business travel.

Mrs Jill was great. I waited a few mints at the desk, listening to some nice church music, but it was a nice stay. The bed was cozy, and thankfully I was on the bottom floor with only three little steps to go up. I have business meetings coming up and this is definitely my go to place. I’ll be back, thank you.