Horrible customer service, management and rooms. Stay away and watch your charges!
I stayed at this location this past weekend and I could not be more disgusted and surprised at the way these people handle their customers. When we got there we had asked for an upgrade for two double beds (we had booked the one king room). The gentleman that checked us in (Kenlen Martin) said there was not any upgrades but we could pay $20 for a bigger room (if there was no upgrades then I don't understand how there were any rooms available) however we paid it. I asked if we could pay that separately in cash so that it did not charge my card that I had paid for the room rate orginally. He said that would be no problem, we got out all of our cash and the girl that I was staying with paid the $20 with a twenty dollar bill. I did not get a reciept for that charge and now I'm regretting not asking for it because I wouldn't have to go through all this if I had in the first place. He gave us our room keys and we went up to our room. As I opened the door I was so disappointed. I expected a bigger room but only saw one bed and realized that the other bed was in the conjoining room, I could barely get my bags through the door it was so small! The sinks were next to the bed and away from the shower and the shower was so unbelievably small and not to mention dark and creepy feeling. I quickly went back to the front desk to see if they had a bigger room with two beds in the same room. Kenlen had stated that all their two bed rooms are conjoining and no room in the hotel has two beds in the same room (which doesn't make sense again, because reading these other reviews the manager had stated that they only have one or two rooms like that in response to another complaint on here!). I asked then if we could just cancel, get a refund and get the heck out of there as fast as we could. Unfortunately, since I booked through bookit.com a third party booking he could not. Kenlen said that if we booked it through the Ramada even though the manager doesn't allow it he would have cancelled it for us but bookit.com has a separate policy. I completely understand and said I would call bookit.com to see what they could do about making an exception. Bookit.com was completely understanding and said it would be no problem to move us to another hotel she would just have to speak with the front desk and placed me on hold. After 30 minutes on hold she said she spoke with the front desk and he said he couldn't cancel it (after he told us he would except bookit.com wouldn't let him. Now that bookit.com allowed it, all of the sudden he cant). I was not happy but thanked the bookit.com representative for trying. As claustrophobic as it was, we had to make it work. About a minute later we recieved a phone call on the hotel phone and it was Kenlen. He apologized that he couldn't cancel it and said he just spoke with bookit.com, he stated that although he could not cancel he knew we were not happy so he said he would not charge us for the $20 upgrade and our money would be refunded. I thanked him and although we did not want to stay there at least we did not have to be charged for something we were not satisfied with. On the day of check out I had requested a late check out and they stated "I am not authorized to give a late check out ma'am I am sorry".....on top of everything we've been through you think the least he could have done was let us stay one hour longer! When we went to check out I had asked how the $20 upgrade would be reimbursed if we paid cash would it go back on the credit card we had on file or would we get the cash back. This was a different guy and he said there was nothing on file about a $20 charge to upgrade the room and he would give Kenlen a call. He called him from his iPhone in front of us at the front desk and it sounded like he resolved it with Kenlen. When he got off the phone, apparently Kenlen said we never gave him the money!!!!!! I was beyond furious by this point. I asked to speak with a manager. An older white male came out and asked what was going on, I explained and he said "this is a simple fix, I'll check the security camera footage at the time you girls checked in." I was relieved and said thank you again because it would prove that he paid. He came back 20 minutes later and said that he did not see cash handed to him only the credit card to keep on file. I was so unbelievably shocked that he said he did not see anything because we both pulled out our cash to pay him! He said he just saw us standing there "talking." I asked to review the tape and he said he could not do that but he could burn us a copy of it and I said okay I would like a copy and he said he could not do that however, the general manager would have to. (I kept getting more and more shocked at how he was handling the situation and customer service). I asked why on earth would Kenlen call our room and state that we would not have to pay the $20 upgrade if we never gave him money, that does not make any sense?! I asked if the older white man (who was apparently the manager on duty that could not help me or authorize anything at that time), if he could speak with Kenlen again and ask him why he would call and tell me I would get the refund for the $20 if I never gave him money. He said he would and went into his office, he never did anything in front of me. I asked the younger white male who was working the front desk at the time if he could ask the manger to speak with Kenlen in front of us because it was getting more and more fishy as it progressed. He said he can't do that because it is privacy (he wasn't worried about privacy when he called him originally in front of me on his iPhone while working the front desk). It was all a bunch of BS that they were feeding us now. As this all was progressing another guest came up and told the guy that he was supposed to be checking out but he's eating right next door and is running late and the front desk said it was no problem, he could check out at one. (I immediately said, WHAT?! how is it that he could get a late check out but when we asked they were not authorized????) The young man stated that they have a "quota" they must meet and then they could not longer give out late check outs. I completely understand, I worked at a hotel before myself and know that is true but I requested a late check out at the time of my booking online and I am pretty sure their quota was not met then!!!! More disbelief of how they treated us. Meanwhile, the older manager came back from speaking with Kenlen and said that Kenlen NEVER said he would refund us or not charge us $20, he simply called to apologize about bookit.com's policy. I was astonished that he said he would never say that!! Was I just making this whole thing up?!?!? I could not believe what was occuring. I began to yell and state that this whole stay was a nightmare, the manager was not even apologizing or concerned at how upset I was, he just had a blank stare and said Kenlen is a kind man and has never had any problems like this in 5 years. He basically was stating that I was the one making it up and he was sticking up for his employees, instead of even considering my side of the story. NEVER ONCE did he apologize, state that it may of been a misunderstanding...nothing. As he stood there with a blank stare saying, "uh huh, uh huh" as I was expressing how unbelievable this was, I said you are not even listening to me are you?! He said, "No ma'am I am not listening to you." Some manager he is. He has no customer service or sympathy for customers like me who went through this nightmare! I wish he could experience this. I felt like I had no say so in anything, I was nobody. No paying customer should ever feel like this. I felt like I had been robbed of a good stay and $20. He said I could speak with the general manager when he comes in this week, but basically he couldn't do anything for me. I asked for their District Manager's number and he said sorry we're privately owned, we just have a general manager. Apparently since they are privately owned they can pull this kind of scheme and get away with it. I have not called the general manager yet, I instead took it up to Ramada and filed a formal complaint. Worst trip ever, horrible stay. I am still in shock at how this hotel is running their business. I understand their privately owned but they still must have some standards that they must follow since they are under the Ramada name and I know the Ramada would not like to hear that their name was associated with something like this. Awful, don't stay here at ALL! Stay away. Oh, there was one good thing....Bryan's 24 the restaurant connected to the hotel, they were extremely friendly and had amazing service and when I told them we were staying next door she said, we aren't affiliated with the hotel (I can see why they would not want to be!)
As I am reading all the reviews on here I see another complaint titled, "Watch your bill" apparently this is not the first time they tried to pull something like this before. Something fishy is going on at this hotel. Should not be open for business they way they are running it. STAY AWAY FROM THE RAMADA DOWNTOWN LOCATION.
Oh, and to top it off when I went to get ice, there was dust and hair all in the ice bucket. Lovely.