Travelodge Columbia West

The place was very clean and the staff were polite. But there were three of us in the room and towels for only two. When we asked for another, we were told there weren't enough and we'd have to leave a used towel outside the room to swap it. The hotel wasn't busy, and we were just trying to have towels ready for the next morning's showers before a wedding.

We were stuck here for three days while traveling through Columbia because Dad needed emergency bypass surgery, and a college basketball game meant there were no other rooms nearby. The hotel was hot everywhere, including the lobby, elevator, hall, and room. We had to switch on the AC and leave to let the room cool. After we'd gone to the hospital to be with family, we came back to find housekeeping had cleaned the room and turned the AC off, so it was burning up again. There was a bad odor in the elevator and hall, and we killed four roaches in the room. The towels were small, old, and rough, and the curtains and bedspreads didn't match. When I asked the desk clerk about a laundromat, he handed me two plastic bags. We later found one through a Google search, only to discover afterward that the hotel had a coin washer and dryer. There was no sign to let guests know, and the staff's English wasn't good enough to communicate with guests. I wouldn't recommend this hotel.

The manager was extremely polite when an issue came up, so the service was great. The stay itself fell far short. The hotel is being renovated, and breakfast was the only service available. The hallways aren't air conditioned and felt stuffy coming in, while the room AC units were extremely loud. The water in my room smelled like fish. The pool was much smaller than the pictures made it look, and the floors under both beds were dirty. The sheets smelled odd and looked years old, and the beds were very uncomfortable and noisy. The list of problems goes on.

The one real plus was being close to several places to eat and shop. My nonsmoking room smelled like smoke, though. When I called for extra pillows and blankets, I was told to pick them up at the front desk. They gave me one pillow even though there were two of us, and the blanket was really ratty. There were scuff marks on the walls and wallpaper peeling in the bathroom.