Red Roof Inn PLUS+ Tuscaloosa - University

We booked through a third-party app, and the listing seemed decent. Once we arrived, the place felt secluded, facing a Sleep Inn that looked a little creepy. The lobby smelled of cigarettes and mold. We were in town for a sports event, and the other hotels were sold out or didn't seem safe for a family with kids. Our room was humid, the bedding was dirty, and there were red and brown stains all over the shower curtain, bathroom walls, and door. There was hair in the bathroom corners and on the sink, the laminate floor was sticky, and the rug hadn't been cleaned. We asked to switch rooms, but the ones we were shown were no better. The receptionist said housekeeping would clean while we were out. They tried, I guess, bless her heart, but I ended up buying a shower curtain and cleaning the bathroom and floor myself. There was black mildew on the faucet. I also bought bedding for us and left theirs on the floor by the door until checkout. There were lots of truckers coming and going, with loud hallway noise for most of the night. We worried about the car, but nothing happened to compromise our safety.

The breakfast was pretty standard, but my stomach felt very upset afterward. The hard-boiled eggs had blue-green spots that concerned me, and the coffee was the worst I've tried. I drink a lot of gas station coffee, but this wasn't drinkable. A screaming baby nearby didn't help. The hotel does have some positives: it's relatively cheap, pet friendly, serves breakfast, and has a small fitness center. But the smell was awful, with smoke, chemical spray, and urine hitting me as soon as I walked in. The elevator smelled strongly of both fresh and old urine, and the rooms were musty. There were yellow stains on the sheets. My dog started itching, and I kept feeling like something was on me, maybe from whatever spray they use. The place next door smelled 100 times cleaner, and cost only $10 more. I wish we'd gone there. I had booked and paid for a premium room but didn't get one. The front desk and member services both said they couldn't help because the system showed it as premium and the manager was unreachable. I added a video of the doors, where stickers show which rooms are premium. The difference is supposed to be the beds, coffee, and free snacks.

We ended up getting a refund for one of the nights we had booked, and the night we did stay was comped. That's why I'm giving this rating, but I wouldn't recommend the place. The staff did try to make things right when we raised the issues. Our first room was unacceptable: dirty handprints on the shower wall and door, a tub that wouldn't drain, and stuff floating up from the drain when we ran the water. There was only one towel for four people, so we complained downstairs and got moved. The second room looked cleaner at first, but the kitchenette had open food in the cupboard. The stovetop and area around it were greasy and splattered, and the utensils looked regularly used but unwashed. There was also bed bug spray in the cabinet, which may be preparedness, but didn't look good. It felt like someone actually lived in the room, and I was very uncomfortable. I wasn't going to stay the two nights we'd booked.

This was a serious sanitation and health issue that management failed to address. Rats got into my groceries more than once during my stay at Red Roof PLUS+ Tuscaloosa - University, contaminating food that I had to throw away. I reported the rodents to the front desk several times, but each time they said there was nothing they could do and that I needed to speak with a manager. Nobody took responsibility or offered a solution, and the problem continued throughout my stay. Having rodents in a room and staff refusing to act is unacceptable. I'd strongly advise people to avoid the hotel until it's properly addressed.