Red Roof Inn review: rooms/ management

Where do I even begin? This past June (2013) my daughter and I flew to Philly to check into some apts for her as she will be going to school there. This was our 1st time to the east coast, and I had no clue on where to stay, etc. I searched extensively on the web for hotels that were close to the airport (and yes, I know the airport area isn't gonna get me the BEST location, but I think I knew how to search for a facility that was affordable, yet decent). Found this location via Trip Advisor, and the price seemed reasonable as well as the reviews.

I booked 4 nights as we were arriving in Philly in the AM, just coming off a red eye flight, all I wanted to do was take a hot shower and relax before heading out apt hunting. This is why I booked the morning before I arrived rather than waiting till the 3pm check in on my arrival date.

When I first pulled up (11:30 am), the hotel seemed nice looking, Not shabby but rather quaint. I checked in, was handed my key. I booked a king suite / smoking w/ coffee maker, desk, fridge, etc.

My 1st impression was that the room was dirty. The floors looked like they hadn't been vacuumed could see visible crumbs/debris on the floor and along the floor boards there were massive amount of animal hair. Apparently this room can have pets. There was no ashtray, no coffee maker. The menu on the desk was sticky w/ residual food on it. In the wall a/c unit, you could visibly see rodent feces as if it hasn't never been vacuumed out. The door to my room had a missing piece of wood on the bottom, as to where the you could see sunlight coming through the bottom. I was appalled. I called the front desk to complain, and was told housekeeping would be there soon. Yeah, right.

While I was waiting, I sat in the chair in the desk and I didn't want to sit on the bed as I just felt everything was dirty/nasty. Thirty minutes pass and something overcame me to check for bed bugs. Well, this is when my horror truly began. I lifted up the mattress and to my disgust, there was a CRACK PIPE on a washcloth! It was underneath the mattress! WTF? I called front desk again and immediately asked to speak to manager (Christine). She came down in an instant. I showed her the crack pipe, as well as all the other nasty things in that room.

She apologized, and offered to look for me another facility, or set me up in a cleaner room inspected by herself personally. At this point I didn't want to stay in any Red Roof Inns. My daughter and I went to eat, and came back after 3PM to find out there are no other facilities around with vacancy as the PGA tour was in town. She showed me another room and it looked ok. She offered to knock 2 of my nights stay off, but I still ended up paying for 3 days which made no sense. That's another story. Point being, the GM there is a joke, and only responded to my emails once. I asked for my difference back in the room charges, but that got me no where. Her name is Julia Cole. I proceeded to contact the area manager, and he was a fail as well. His name is Mark Aston.

Back to my review: my second room was a little cleaner, I think the water rot in the bathroom, as well as bent towel rod, chipping paint made the room look dirtier, but at this point I just dealt with it as we were gone majority of the time.

All in all, this place is the dumps. Obviously junkies stay here, and the whole building needs to be knocked down and rebuilt along with new competent management. STAY HERE AT YOUR OWN RISK! You have been warned.

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