Howard Johnson by Wyndham Merrillville

I was actually scared staying here. The hotel is completely run down, and my room had broken furniture, a fridge that didn't work, just one working lamp, and no outlets by the bed. I didn't even want to sleep under the covers. It was so late that I would've taken the loss and gone somewhere else if I could.

The hotel looked abandoned from the moment I pulled up, with broken windows, and it didn't resemble the online photos. I was told breakfast wasn't free or available as advertised, and the amenities listed online were false. The pool was small and disgusting, with dirty tables and chairs, including old broken ones. The place felt unclean and unsafe. My room window was held with gray duct tape, the shower was broken, the linens and towels were dirty, the TV was broken and not connected to anything, and the restrooms in both my room and the lobby were out of service. There was no working water. My son broke out from bugs in the room. I raised these problems with the front desk staff member, who called me “ungrateful” and had an attitude each time I came back with an issue. I took pictures of everything. When I asked for the manager's contact details and the corporate number, he said he couldn't give them out or refund me for services that weren't provided and had been falsely advertised.

This place is a dump. My first room had the shower faucet taken apart and left on the counter, and there were lots of flies around the property. The advertised hot tub wasn't there. Breakfast was just cold bagels and a waffle maker, and the lobby was still dirty from the night before. Stay away.

David from maintenance and the front desk manager were kind and tried to help, but they seemed swamped by all the work. The room was freezing enough that they gave us a space heater, and it was far older than the Priceline photos suggested. My wife was bitten several times overnight, and we thought there might be bed bugs or something else in the bed. Breakfast was just cereal and bagels. The place looked condemned, and the renovations seemed like they could take a year or more. Howard Johnson should not have let it use their name or open before the work was done. Stay away. If I could, I’d give it 0 stars.