Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Vacation: Room 204

Welcome to Room 204 at the Super 8/Ramada Wheat Ridge (Denver).  we hope you enjoy your stay.  This sign will be the nicest experience of your stay.  You say you book sight unseen based on a Booking recommendation and a pool for your daughter?  Non-refundable, so make the best of it.



Smart guy - you checked for bed bugs, unlike one of the travels at Trip Advisor.  Sure, the toilet overflowed on the last day and you had to go tell the front desk staffer who seemed clueless about what to do even though you assured them you'd turned the water off so it wouldn't flood the room below.


It's a bad sign when even the vents are bent.  I wonder what someone was hiding up there.  Maybe this reviewer has an idea? (via Google)

"HOLY CRAP. YOU BETTER PROMISE ME KNOW ONE EVER GOES TO THIS PLACE YOU MIGHT GET PIMPED OUT SERIOUSLY. it was like watching cock roaches scatter in the night outside the window. ME and my friends took turns watching car and people go in and out after getting with what we assumed was prostitutes. There was plenty of Drug dealers and THE ROOMS WERE DISGUSTING AND SMELLED, the doors trimming were you shut and locked it looked as if it was kicked in a lot so they kept replacing the trimming. It felt unsafe even with the doors locked being there. If you're a family traveling looking for a decent price for a night this ain't worth it, spend the extra money and go somewhere nice this place is GHETTO. I live in Detroit and I wouldn't even stay here or wish this place of living on my worst enemy."



This hole isn't so bad - maybe it's just for a very big cable/satellite wire.  And maybe the ants coming out of it were laying the cable.  Then again, maybe it was a hidey hole.  What do you think reviewer #2?

"There was a group of young individuals in the lobby talking about a party they were having at the hotel. One individual was talking on his cell phone in the lobby, explaining how he could get any drug they wanted. We were apprehensive to stay as we did not want a loud party to interrupt our sleep."



Ah, the pool.  Looks nice from here.  But from here you can't see the health department sign on the gate declaring it closed down that last day.  Or the disappointed look on my daughter's face.  Other reviews seem to state that's almost always the case, and Eryn found a review describing homeless people bathing in it.  I suspect they weren't really homeless.  There seemed to be a bungalow full of migrant workers right next to the pool.  If their shower/bath facilities worked as well as ours, they were probably making due.  Albeit in a way the health department did not approve of.  Hey, other reviewer, didn't you want a place with a pool?

"Wanted a place with a pool. They advertised a pool but after I checked in we went to find the pool and they didn't have one. They used to but said it was in bad shape. I told them that is why I picked them to stay in and said I wanted a refund so I can find a place with a pool. The front desk lady acted like she couldn't do that and had to get special permission from someone on the phone. We just checked in.... I was serious and stood there with my kids and our luggage until I received a refund. She finally got a hold of someone and they offered to let me drive to another one of their locations that had a pool. I thought that was just so nice of them (sarcastic), but decided to go ahead since I was going to have to go find another hotel anyway with a pool (they offered me absolutely nothing for my inconvenience and acted like I was asking for a lot). I drove to the new location. The original location had a free full breakfast. This new location was in a bad neighborhood, did not have the same breakfast facility, and wasn't clean. But I was there and we were going to make the best of it. It did have a pool. We went into the room and it was so thick with cigarette smoke (and something else I'm not sure of) my sons and I couldn't breath (it was a non smoking room). The room was extremely dirty. The sheets had black spots and the cover to the bed had something hard and crusty on it. I felt like crying. We were in Denver because my uncle died and I wanted to have a relaxing night with some fun with my boys. The whole afternoon and going into night was the most frustrating I have had to ever deal with during travel. I'm not very picky, but this was bad. I decided to call the super 8 headquarters because I was hoping they would be able to refund my money because where I was at was not where I originally paid. The second location was comping my room since I already paid at the other place."



The nicest, cleanest light switch.  If you weren't willing to touch them, then you couldn't really see them.  At least at night.  Bonus.  That hair dryer doesn't do anything.  It's for show.  How clean was it other reviewer?

"I wouldn't even give this place one star. I'm here with my kids and fiance and let me just say ew. We asked for a non smoking room it smells like a bar the door doesn't look like it's secure and did I mention the twakers downstairs. Never again this is f***ING disgusting."



The shower/tub referred to above.  We didn't try it until morning when I realized the shower didn't work at all.  So I tried to take a bath, but there was no plug.  So I used a washcloth to stop it up.  But I was concerned it would overflow into that hole in the tub.  The sunglass-ed woman I saw bringing her breakfast back to her room despite admonitions not to (who was trying hard not to look at me) seemed to have it all worked out.  I'm pretty sure she hadn't taken a shower in an extremely long time.  She didn't look like she'd even been in the sun in a long time.


The door.  The frame had been pried up in several places with a crowbar and the chain was attached to this loose piece of framing.  I put several large items in front of the door before we went to bed so there would be some warning.  I was more worried about my father in law's car, but it remained unmolested.  The only shady characters I saw in the lot were the two janitors who spent an hour picking dirt out of cracks (literally about a handful) rather than picking up the obvious fast food trash in their lot.


Here's the plaster hitting the floor from the frame.  They sunk the frame an inch deep into the wall, so when it started to pull out it was pulling half the wall with it.  Fortunately, it was a relatively rain free and stranger free night unlike for this reviewer:

"The girl at the desk at no idea what to do when the tornado warning said to seek shelter. She also did not believe my husband when he said there was someone in the room we were assigned. We had to embarrass the people and ourselves!"



Did I forget anything?  The awful breakfast with the grease all over every surface and the two guys (one older, one younger with a family) arguing about who was more religious and what appropriately speaking tongues sounded like?  The people sort of sitting in chairs staring at people in the dark?  The customers showing up only to sit in the entry for 30-60 minutes despite their being no other customers?  The food on the walls in the other building?  The amazingly dirty carpets?  The smell of musty smoke everywhere?  If you're in the Denver area, buck up, spend some extra cash, and follow this international advice:

"Schmutzig, musste 30 Minuten auf das Personal warten um das Zimmer zu bekommen. Pool geschlossen. Einrichtung völlig veraltetet."


1 comment:

Unknown said...

Ick, ick, ick. Our room doesn't hold quite as much quaint charm as this one. So far, only the carpet has been frightening.