Red Roof Inn Meriden

After we found a cockroach crawling on our 5-month-old son’s bassinet, we packed up and left at midnight. There was another one in the bathroom. The room smelled awful from the moment we entered and was disgusting, and as parents traveling with an infant, we felt unsafe and uncomfortable. We’d also seen homeless people walking around our vehicle in the middle of the night, which added to our safety concerns. We left because of the unsanitary and unsafe conditions, but management refunded only $30, which was extremely disappointing. It was a stressful, upsetting stay, far below a reasonable standard for cleanliness and service. Families, especially those with young children, should think carefully before booking.

My husband and I have been doing these little nights away from the kids every couple of weeks, but after this stay I’m seriously reconsidering coming back to Red Roof in Meriden Connecticut. We’d paid the same price on Valentine’s Day for a nice room with a refrigerator and microwave. This past Saturday’s room had neither, and the woman at the desk was rude and unhelpful when we asked. We later found a broken lamp and called down. She told us to come downstairs and said she’d move us to another room. In the next room, the tub filled right up when I tried to shower because the drain was clogged, and there was hardly any hot water. We called again, and she said she’d send maintenance up. He unclogged it quickly, but all the hassles were really aggravating.

The curtains blocked the outside light, which was a plus, and the room smelled fine apart from tobacco odor downstairs by the elevator. The front desk was pleasant, and they tried to reset the TV while we were out. Still, the room needed to be cleaner. On a two-night stay, we got no fresh towels or bed service, and came back to the room just as we’d left it, including the used bath towels. The Roku TV only had streaming, with no local or regular channels. The towels were soft and white, but one washcloth had a dark mark like it had been used to wipe shoes. There was a small soap by the sink, soap and shampoo in the tub area, and a white bath mat. The sheet had something stuck to it, maybe a booger, and I found a piece of grass between the sheets. I wiped what looked like dried blood off the tile outside the bathroom with toilet paper, and it came away charcoal gray. There was a crusty soap or mold residue at the base of the tub grab bar.

The front desk clerk was friendly and dealt with the dirty room promptly, which was the one redeeming part of our stay. Road construction made getting to the hotel a bit of a hassle. The first room smelled terrible and had used underwear and dead roaches in it. We complained and were moved right away. By then we were exhausted, so we stayed in the second room despite what looked like bloodstains on the chair upholstery and a noisy air conditioner.