William and I found ourselves in Hardeeville, SC which happens to be about halfway between our home in northern North Carolina and William’s mother’s house in Thonotosassa, Florida. We had the opportunity to drive down to visit and because we hadn’t seen his mother in five years, we decided it was definitely worth the time and money. We left Hardeeville, SC on Friday, February 6 and arrived in Thonotosassa, FL later that night around 9:30PM. We decided to stay at a hotel for the night and found ourselves short on choices, as the Florida State Fair was going on during the same time. We ended up finding a room at the Red Roof Inn #173 located on Horace Avenue in Brandon, FL for $99.99 plus tax for a total of $111.99 and booked the room around 12:30AM after visiting with family.
Upon arrival, we were notified by the attendant that if we had booked the room sooner, the price would have been cheaper – this was our first impression of the Red Roof Inn. Our second impression was having to move a large basketball goal sitting in the parking lot blocking the only available parking spot within view of our motel room. We arrived into our hotel room and upon first look we noticed a dirty used washcloth left on the shower rod in the bathroom. Because I am a former housekeeper, I began to look around the room. We noticed a left-behind charger still plugged into the wall beside the desk, hairs on the bathtub, ruffled towels that appear they were hastily put in place and previously used to dry someone’s hands, dirty mirrors, dusty frames, cobwebs, and a clearly misplaced bedskirt. The microwave appeared dirty, there was a penny on the floor, another hair on the washcloth near the sink, and food in the drain of the sink.
On Saturday, we had a Do Not Disturb sign on our door, around 10:00AM, we had a housekeeper knock on our door with the intention of cleaning our room. During check-in we were asked for our car make/model which should have been used to ensure we were gone before knocking on our door.
We were seriously disappointed with the room and the entire experience at the Red Roof Inn and proceeded to email the General Manager with our concerns a few days after check-out. A response was quickly received, although the only reconciliation was an offer for a 50% discount off any room for one night at this same location. This was my first experience with Red Roof Inn and I was seriously disappointed.
