If only our experience in 2010 was that good.
Erin and I traveled, basically across country and back in 2010 for our yearly besties trip. Originally we were going to head for Canada and take in a bunch of the sites they had to offer, but because of scheduling conflicts, we couldn't go during the summer and we didn't want to roadtrip in the winter time. So, Erin suggested we head back to Disney. We'd visited WDW in January of 2009 and she'd gotten hooked on Disney travel.
I still wanted to road trip, so we compromised. I'd fly to Seattle, she'd drive over from Montana and we'd head down I-5 and across the southern states to end up in Disney. Though we never finished our blog posts/trip report you can kinda get an idea as to how that went from our travel blog.
Anyway, on our return trip we managed to make it into San Antonio - we wanted to stop there (okay, I wanted to stop there) because our pastor (well, the pastor we had while were growing up) calls me "San Antonio" since when I was little I hated when people called me Antonio (for the record it's "Antonia"). So I wanted to visit the Alamo and get a picture of me under a "Welcome to San Antonio" sign. We did both (and have nothing to show for it because Erin lost her camera!), but not before we had a nightmare of a night at San Antonio Travelodge - Alamo.
So, why am I sharing this now? It all started with a conversation started by a friend sharing this satire piece. It reminded me SO much of Erin and my experience. We "lovingly" refer to it as CSI: San Antonio and we're still convinced there was a dead body in one of the rooms.
So, let me set the scene. We pull into this hotel that looks nothing like the promo pictures they had on their website (or gave to Trip Advisor). It was in desperate need of paint, half of it was taped off, the pavement was shoddy at best... this should have been our clue to get outta there, but we were tired and we didn't want to get hit with a cancellation fee. So instead we drove up to the office, got out and checked in.
Check in was difficult, the man at the desk was no where to be found so we stood around for several minutes before he came walking in. Check in was simple enough. He gave us a key, told us about the complimentary continental breakfast (that was found in the same area as the pool, which was closed for renovations. Yeah, seems legit.), and where we needed to park. Off we went to the room.
We walk in and it looked like a brawl had just taken place in the room.The tv sat on not just a rickety old dresser, but one that was falling apart in front of our very eyes. There were stains on the carpet, and a fresh wet stain of something coming from the bathroom. I wouldn't venture into the bathroom itself, but Erin said the sink was very dirty/disgusting.
Dissatisfied with where they put us, we walked back to the office to get them to switch our rooms. The guy at the counter looked at us in disbelief when we told him what we'd found. He apologized and then had the nerve to ask "and you don't want to stay in that room?" Um, no, we want a CLEAN and well kept room. So with a huff, he switched out our keys and told us what our new room number was.
Back across the parking lot to the door. Erin puts the key in the lock and turns the doorknob and... the door wouldn't open. No amount of pushing would get it open. So back in the car we go and we drive over to the office. Yeah, we weren't doing any more walking in the heat. Besides, we figured we'd be doing this at least one more time.
Once again he is shocked, and this time walks over to the door with us to make sure we weren't pulling a fast one on him. He tried several times, even trying to kick the door in. Nothing. So he said something about the hotel being remodeled and perhaps that was the reason the door wouldn't open. Okay....
Finally the third room we walk in and... well... while it wasn't what we'd consider a GOOD hotel room, it was fairly clean, everything seemed to be in working order, and we were done trying to get a decent room. As long as the beds looked semi-clean we were in for the night. We brought in the bare essentials and hunkered in. But, not before we documented the more humorous parts of our room (which was a handicapped room at that).
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| Oh the irony! An ashtray in a non-smoking room. Gotta love Texas, eh? |
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| Erin having fun in the handicapped shower. |
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| They spared no expense with the furniture. This one was in the bathroom. |
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| ...and this was the chair by my bed. |
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| I was super excited to be in this room. (note we slept on top of the bedding.) |
We watched Skating With The Stars on TV (making fun of judge Johnny Weir because, well... he was pretty ridiculous)... and then the news broke in. Highways headed to Salt Lake City were closed due to a snow/ice storm. I was planning to fly out of Salt Lake. So Erin did some quick travel agent work and got our hotel booked in Dallas Ft Worth and we changed my airline ticket and we were going to head that way instead.
As we got ready for bed, talking of the plans of the next day (Alamo and Riverwalk), the door started to open. Someone was trying to get in! So we shoved all remaining furniture, suitcases, and what not against the door (the latch and lock were a joke)! The rest of the night we drifted in and out of sleep as a bajillion pizza flyers kept coming through the crack in the door.
And that's my horror story of the night. MUWAHAHAHAAHAHA! Stay away from San Antonio Travelodge.
