Best Western Plus Finger Lakes Inn & Suites

The room was disgusting, and the bathtub was broken, so I had to drain it myself. When I asked for a partial refund because of that, the owner yelled at me. Now the owner is blowing up my phone and yelling because I left a bad review. I would never do business here again. The new ownership has ruined what this place was in previous years. I would’ve had better results at a damn motel. It’s been the biggest disappointment, and I feel bad for the employees who tried to help but were let down by their boss/Owner.

The room was reasonably clean and everything worked, though the AC needed dusting, the shower was just OK, and the TV remote was difficult to use. The elevators were painfully slow, as other reviews have mentioned. For one night, it was manageable. My girlfriend and I came to the Cortland area for a baby shower in Freeville. We live near Schenectady, almost 3 hours away, so an overnight stay made sense rather than driving nearly 200 miles each way. I booked one night at the Best Western Plus Finger Lakes hotel through hotels.com. At check-in, the clerk was nice but didn’t explain much about the hotel or point out the elevators. He was wearing a SUNY Cortland T shirt and a durag, and didn’t come across as very hospitable or obviously as hotel staff. I’d expected company-branded clothes and a warmer welcome at a BW. Checkout was worse. A man wearing a cap and glasses barely greeted us, took our key cards, didn’t ask about our stay, and pushed the receipt toward me without thanking me. My girlfriend said, “boy he was peachy.” I told him I’d never stay there again and left. It’s clean and works for a night in passing, maybe two, but I wouldn’t stay longer. Don’t expect much help from the staff. Pass.

The room was decent, but the pillows were too small and the TV had few choices. Outside, the lobby garbage bin was overflowing, flower pots were being used as cigarette ashtrays, and snow removal wasn’t great. This could be a good hotel with better staff training and management that cares, but I wouldn’t recommend staying here until things improve. I don’t enjoy leaving bad reviews, and I’m sure management will respond with comments. Train your team and take care of the hotel. I called ahead to reserve a first floor room. The new employee repeated everything I said, including my credit card information. I asked if he was new, and he said yes. I told him he shouldn’t repeat people’s personal information. When we arrived the next day, the check-in employee was rude. He didn’t welcome us or explain anything about the pool or breakfast. He handed me a key for the third floor, even though I’d requested the first floor on the phone. He said it wasn’t in my notes and the computer just assigned a room number. I explained why I’d called, and he seemed inconvenienced, though I did get a first floor room. We also had to return to the desk four times to get a second key working. Each time he activated one card, the other stopped working. He said they don’t give out a second key unless someone asks.

For close to $200 a night, I expected more than this. The service was so-so, though the rooms were nice and the beds comfortable. I travel a lot and usually look for breakfast to be included, but when I went down around 7:31am, during the 7am-9am breakfast hours, there weren’t many options left. I asked staff if they could make more. They said they were limited to one bag of sausage and one batch of eggs per day. I was shocked and disappointed that Best Western Plus had that policy while charging such a high price. I’d recently stayed at a Best Western that beat my expectations, so coming to this so-called “Plus Version” and running into hotel policies like this was a letdown.