Best Western Florida City, Florida City

I have previously stayed at this location 10+ times and had beenhappy with it. It was a good value; the people were friendly -- it was just a good basic hotel, nothing more and nothing less. Then, in late August I checked in (having driven several hundred miles) only to go up to my room and find it hot and humid and smelling of mold. When I called down to the front desk, I was informed that the hotel had "gone green" and that it was not keeping the AC on in its rooms and that the guest was supposed to turn on the AC upon arrival. Well, the outside ambient temperature in south Florida this particular August night was in the low to mid-80s and the humidity was extremely high. Not surprisingly, the hotel room was even hotter and more humid than it was outside. When I requested to be moved to another room, I was told in that classic "sing-song" customer service voice that the attendant was sorry, there was nothing she could do, and that all rooms were that way. When I asked to speak to a manager, I was advised that he would be unavailable until the following Monday (this was a Friday night). Long story short, I sat there and sweated for 30 minutes or so waiting to see how quickly the AC would cool the room and then finally left and checked out in frustration. I was exhausted and needed to sleep and that room would not have cooled off (or dehumidified) for at least 2-3 hours at the rate it was going. The most ridiculous aspect of the approach being taken by the ownership/management of this property is that leaving an AC totally off in a stated effort to be "green" is counter to reality. It actually takes more energy to re-cool the surfaces and ambient air in a closed environment after letting it heat up than it does to simply keep the ambient temperature moderately cool. The bottom line is that the ownership/management of this property doesnt care at all about going green unless its trying to grow mold, which is a real risk when leaving ACs turned off for significant periods of time. The truth is that the property ownership/management is trying to save on utlity bills at the expense of the comfort and health of the guest. And you have to wonder: if they are so cheap that they are cutting back on running the AC in a room prior to a guest arriving, what else are they cutting back on? Thankfully, I found a nice, new Holiday Inn Express immediately adjacent to this property that had a clean, cold room awaiting me upon my arrival. The Holiday Inn Express not only proved to be a substantial upgrade over the Best Western (even when it was well run), the existence of the Holiday Inn Express may explain why the ownership/management of the Best Western is desperately trying to save on expenses. It is very possible that the Holiday Inn Express is putting the Best Western out of business. When I requested a refund from Best Western, I was told to take a hike. So there you have it. I, for one, wont go back.

To shorten the story... At around 10 PM after calls and visits to the front desk and asking for the Manager's voice mail to complain, I couldn't get the alarm clock in the room next to mine turned off. (The front desk wouldn't connect me to Management's voice mail to complain about it.) After I told them I was calling Corporate to complain the alarm was turned off. I called Best Western Corporate regarding my problem, they contacted the hotel then called me back and....the hotel said it didn't happen! Funny part, I had to have them turn off the alarm the night before!

The hotel advertises Internet access. It is not wireless and, in my case, the port was BEHIND the dresser, across the room from the table (no desk). The room was clean, but very musty. I could not use the dresser drawers because they smelled so badly. The kicker was at checkout. They informed us that the rate had changed during our stay and they would not honor our booking rate. When we discussed the confirmed rate, we were told without any apologies, 'that's just what it is...' I'll be calling Best Western to lodge a formal complaint.