Rodeway Inn

We only ended up here because everything else in town was booked for the holiday weekend and local events. The grounds looked rundown, with old abandoned vehicles outside. We had to clean the sink and bathtub before using them, and the water swung between ice cold and painfully hot. The AC didn’t work, so my husband took it apart just to cool the room enough for us to rest. For a four-person room, we got only two towels. We ran out of toilet paper, and when we asked the next morning, staff gave us one towel and said they were completely out of toilet paper. The staff were nice enough, but acted like they’d just left a local drug rehab center. One even joked, “strictly no smoking in your room unless its weed and I'm invited...hahaha”. Seriously, don’t stay here. Worst hotel I’ve ever been in. I would’ve gone somewhere else if the town hadn’t been full.

We paid $88 for a room that felt unsafe and unsanitary. The night before, we’d stayed about 10 miles away at Super 8 in Eldon MO for $73, and it was fabulous. They had only one night available, or we’d have booked there again. Our stay here was at 6412 Osage Beach Pkwy in Osage Beach MO on September 1st. I’ve traveled for 10 years and never complained about a hotel before, but this experience infuriated me. We work hard to travel, and being charged for that room felt like being robbed at gunpoint. I want my $88 back to put toward my doctor bill, because a rash developed on my leg the morning we left. I wish I’d paid by card so I could dispute the charge. We were told we couldn’t get a refund because it was Labor Day weekend and they were booked. I complained by phone and email and sent photos. I’m willing to call whoever I need to in order to get the place inspected. There were so many health concerns, and I have photos of everything, date- and time-stamped within 10 minutes of arriving, before we left for our ziplining reservation. There was still wet urine on the back of the toilet. The fridge didn’t work and spoiled our food: we plugged it in, put food inside, left for the reservation, and came back five hours later to find it spoiled. The pillowcases were dirty, the shower curtain had short little hairs and orange rust-like stains along the edges, and two of the various white and off-white towels looked dirty, with stuff on them. The lampshades were splattered with stains, and the wall-mounted ones were coming loose from the wood. The nightstand drawer with the Bible had food crumbs and cigarette ashes. The showerhead was so low that I, at 5'5, had to squat under it, and my 5'7 husband had to crouch to rinse shampoo off his head. It wasn’t a handicap-accessible shower. My husband builds hospitals, hotels, restaurants, and industrial facilities and has done so for 15 years; he knows this stuff, and there are a lot of problems with the building. Breakfast was supposedly available until 10:30, but when we went down at 9:20, nothing looked touched or even set out.

We’ve been here eight months and are finally going to be able to afford to move somewhere better. For three days, I tried to talk to the man running the place, but he hid from us. Then his young cousin told us he wasn’t there because he’d gone to Lowe’s, even though both his vehicles were on the property. He owes us for painting and fixing the sloppy work the professional painters left. Four rooms are down with bed bugs. There are no amenities except continental breakfast, if they decide to put it out. The front desk person runs around the parking lot yelling about all the meth heads here. The pool and hot tub aren’t open; they say the inspector hasn’t come, but that isn’t true. The inspector came and it didn’t pass because of health issues. Drug deals happen in rooms staff are cleaning. I reported it to the owner, and he ignored it. I wonder who it was for. Bring your own extermination spray if you stay.

The beds were clean and the air worked. That’s about all I can say for the room. The bathroom had mold stains, the headboard was falling down, the pool was closed, and the microwave didn’t work. The ice machine was way up by the front office, about a block away. Breakfast was a joke: little prewrapped powdered-sugar and chocolate donuts from Wal-Mart, plus cereal. The brunette woman at the front desk on the day shift was rude. She yelled at us to get out of the way while she got “breakfast” ready, instead of politely asking us to step aside. She kept yelling and blaming the night-shift guy for it not being ready, and wasn’t apologetic at all.