Ramada Inn Plaza Wickliffe, Wickliffe

Court shuts down Wickliffe's Ramada Inn Tuesday, January 5, 2010 By Jacob Lammers JLammers@News-Herald.com A Wickliffe hotel will remain closed after the Ohio Department of Commerce and the Wickliffe fire chief discovered 40 potentially life-threatening fire code violations. On Monday, Lake County Common Pleas Court Judge Joe Gibson signed a preliminary injunction, allowing the Ramada Inn, or Ramada Plaza Cleveland East, to be temporarily shut down until the violations are fixed. Local inspectors — which include the Division of State Fire Marshal, Wickliffe Fire Department and Wickliffe Building Department — will have to approve the corrections before it's opened, Assistant Lake County Prosecutor Michael DeLeone said. The hotel, located at 28600 Ridgehills Drive, has a final hearing scheduled for 10 a.m. Feb. 11, at which time they have to make the corrections or it will remain closed, DeLeone said. The hotel's attorney, Erik Walter, did not return a call seeking comment Monday afternoon. On Dec. 21, the Division of State Fire Marshal inspected the property and found the following violations, according to court documents: * nonfunctional emergency lighting in one room and the kitchen * dirty smoke detectors in main lobby and sixth-floor corridor * failure to have annual fire inspection by certified individuals * suspect power in fire alarm system, meaning no remote receipt of emergency signal * faulty smoke detector in the banquet wing * damaged ceiling with missing tiles because of past water damage in a sprinkled facility * past fire damage evident at fireplace in banquet lobby * damaged electric spotlights * excess snow accumulation in more than one area blocking an exit. According to court documents, the inspection results at the Ramada Inn demonstrate "conditions that are distinctly and seriously hazardous to the public, constitute violations of the Ohio Fire Code, and are such that a fire or explosion hazard exists which could reasonably be expected to cause death or serious physical harm." URL: http://www.news-herald.com/articles/2010/01/05/news/nh1904512.prt © 2010 news-herald.com, a Journal Register Property

I am appalled by the lack of guest service exhibited by the Ramada Plaza Cleveland East staff/ownership. During our stay on 2/13/09 thru 2/15/09, my roommate and I discovered shortly after check-in that the linens on one of our beds were severely SOILED with an unknown substance resembling human feces or blood and STAINED with a yellow-like substance. I immediately called the front desk to explain the situation and the best offer made was having a guest services representative with NO housekeeping experience to come and change the linens. In addition, our television service was interrupted the entire weekend. After hearing other guests complain and receive various discounts for the inconvenience, my roommate and I also voiced our concerns/complaints and received only a 15% discount. I requested a full refund but was advised to speak with the manager. I requested the manager on three occasions and was told he/she was only available during hours when I was not at the hotel and at a bowling tournament. I will NEVER stay or recommend anyone to stay at the Ramada Plaza Cleveland East Hotel ever again. You should be ashamed to have your brand name associated with that hotel.

I stayed here 3 or 4 times when it was a Holiday Inn and had a totally different experience. The staff who used to be friendly and helpful were gone. This current staff couldn't care less about guests and act as though they have better things to be doing than helping with anything. Soda machines on floor 2, 3, 4, & 5 were all "sold out." The hotel restaurant put me on hold for 10 minutes, I hung up and called back and got put on hold again for nearly another 10. When I finally went to get my food after the "half hour" they stated it would be for a club sandwich and fries, the fries were cold and the sandwich tasted a week old. On the bright side I saw why they had to put me on hold when I got there. There were 4 people in the bar and two of them were bartenders so they were severely understaffed and obviously very busy in the midst of what appeared to be very enthralling conversation. Not learning my lesson I ate there the following day and ended up with food poisoning (no I'm not joking). More than one floor (I noticed while hunting for a working soda machine) at the same time were full of noxious paint fumes from remodeling. I understand remodeling must be done but not in the whole building all at once. It was bad enough that if I smoked I would have been afraid to for fear of explosion. I think there was a huge difference from when it was previously a Holiday Inn to what it is now and next trip I take to Cleveland i'll be looking for a new place to stay.

Service; there was none. Rooms; smelled like smoke and you could hear the neighbors. Walls are very thin. Very disappointed with all aspect of my stay. In fact, I now stay away from all Holiday Inns. That is too bad.