Best Western Tallahassee-Downtown Inn & Suites

The friendly desk clerk moved us to a suite, but Best Western let us down this time. In the first room, the toilet wouldn’t flush. Maintenance said the tank needed about 30 minutes to refill before it would work. The suite had its own problems: the thermostat swung between freezing and hot, the sink water stayed warm whichever way you turned the valve, and the carpet had big lumps. There was no scald guard in the shower, so controlling the temperature was difficult. It looks like a bargain, but you get what you pay for. This motel isn’t up to Best Western’s usual standards, and they shouldn’t attach their name to it.

The pictures online gave me the wrong idea about what awaited at this place. The room was shocking: dated, filthy, and marked with stains on the carpet and other soft surfaces. The bathroom looked sepia-toned, though that was just how it appeared in person. They weren’t clear about smoking versus nonsmoking rooms, and I doubt there’s much difference. I canceled and chose to sleep on an office’s concrete floor instead. I actually slept better there. Checkout was quick, which is the only thing I can praise, but their strict cancellation policy still made me pay for one night plus tax. I found that rather predatory.

We checked in late in the afternoon and had no time to find another hotel, so the next two days we spent most of our time on the road to avoid being there. The online photos were misleading, and the place needs a complete renovation. We skipped the complimentary breakfast because everything felt unsanitary. This was my worst hotel stay, and I’m very disappointed. I wouldn’t recommend it. There were dead roaches around the property, and the carpet and bed had stains. Our first ground-floor room smelled moldy, and the bathroom lights didn’t work. I told reception the place was unsanitary and asked for a refund, but they refused. They moved us upstairs, but that room had the same moldy odor, no hot water, and stained floors and bedding. The stay was deeply uncomfortable. It’s more of a motel.

I couldn’t regulate the shower temperature. The dial jumped between scalding and freezing, with hardly anything in between, so I kept adjusting it to avoid getting burned or hit with cold water. Then I pulled back the covers and found visible stains all over the sheets. It was unsettling and made me question the cleanliness of the whole room, so I asked to be moved. Clean sheets and working plumbing are basic expectations for a hotel, and this stay didn’t meet them.