La Quinta Inn by Wyndham North Myrtle Beach

The front desk gentleman was kind, and the lobby was nice. Breakfast was good, too, but the room experience was awful. When we checked in around 6 p.m., the room smelled of cleaning products in a cover-up way. At bedtime, we opened the sleeper sofa and found it soaked through with fresh urine. The cushion underneath was still wet, with droplets on it. The cover below the mattress looked like it might be mold, though it could have been dirt. I felt uncomfortable all night, like my kids and I were staying in filth. The man apologized, called management, and was told to move us to a room that had just been epoxyed. It only had one king bed, though, and there were six of us, so it wasn’t a workable option. My mother and daughter stayed in that room. Our choices were to pay $600 a night for the only nearby hotel or drive four hours home at 9 p.m. The staff member kindly removed the mattress and sprayed and wiped the sofa where there was pee, but it was clear the cleaning crew hadn’t properly cleaned or even checked the sleeper couch. At checkout, the manager knew what happened, apologized, then walked away. I won’t return, and I feel I should have received my money back. This was ridiculous and a health concern.

The front desk staff were wonderful whenever we needed something, and the beach and shopping were conveniently close. That was the good part of the stay. I’ve been to other La Quinta locations that met or exceeded expectations, but this one was outdated and below even the minimum I expected. Breakfast barely changed during our week: cereal and milk, microwaved egg patties, sausage and potatoes, plus waffles or toast you could make fresh, juice and coffee. At other locations the breakfast varied each day. The room and hallways smelled of stench and weed, and everything in our room seemed unwiped, with fingerprints and handprints everywhere. There was lipstick on the bathroom door, though I managed to remove it. The floors were so dirty our grandbabies’ slippers turned black. The beds on metal frames creaked whenever anyone moved. The tub was dirty, its stopper wouldn’t stay in place, and the shower leaked onto the floor, so we put down towels. We couldn’t bathe our grandbaby in the tub and had to shower her with us. The bathroom sink pressure was so low that we ended up using the shower to wash our hands. The ice machines never seemed to have ice, always displaying that they were making it. The elevator was dirty and made a loud noise going up and down. The hallways’ air conditioning was out much of the time, and staff said maintenance wasn’t taking care of it. We wanted our grandbaby to enjoy the pool, but its chairs and tables hadn’t been cleaned in a while; luckily I had Lysol wipes. Parking could also be a problem because workers staying there filled extra spaces with their trucks. The owners need to renovate and clean the place up.

We’ve made several short trips to Myrtle Beach over the years and usually enjoyed this location, with its nice rooms and atmosphere. This visit, though, we found dirty linen on our bed. Always check the sheets! Claudia sorted it out and made things right. Thank you, Claudia.

We stayed just one night. The bed was much more comfortable than many hotel beds, and the room looked clean apart from a dog smell. Since it’s pet friendly and we don’t have a dog, we noticed the odor and asked for air freshener. Both staff members we met at check-in and checkout were friendly. We’d stay again.