Magnuson Hotel

While in Washington, NC, I stayed at the Magnuson Hotel. I checked in very late and only chose Magnuson because it was a better option than some of the other hotels/​motels in town for a semi-​decent price. While the front desk staff were kind and the bed was comfortable, the room, overall was unsatisfactory. At first glance, the room appeared to be clean and decent, but upon further inspection, I found that the sheetz had stains on them and the bathroom was covered in mold. There was orange mildew build-​up on the shower head, all in the tub, on the ceiling above the shower, and around the toilet bowl. Even the complementary bar of soap had orange mildew. There was a strange splatter stain on the bathroom door as well. At checkout, I notified the girl and she just said «ok» and wrote a note. The first morning, we posted the «do not disturb sign» and stayed in the room until approximately 2 pm, and the housekeeping staff never came back to clean and swap out towels. The breakfast selection was subpar. Overall, I had a «1 star» experience at a «2 star» hotel.

Stiff, uncomfortable beds with tiny, thin pillows, horrid musty smell throughout hotel, a/​c in our rooms was off upon check-​in, making the late Aug. heat unbearable. Had to leave a/​c units running for at least an hour to get a tiny bit of relief. One front desk girl very rude, sighing a lot, etc. No maid service and we stayed for 2 nights. Gross, grainy soap in bathrooms. (Bring your own). Dirty bathrooms & tubs, stains on towels. Tiny, unkempt pool with freezing cold water. No decent nearby restaurants. Breakfast food not replenished appropriately. Several guests both mornings stocking up their breakfast trays with MANY items of the same kind (i.e., 6 pkgs. sausage biscuits, 6 packets of oatmeal, etc.) and heading back to their rooms, despite the sign that read, «please limit to 2 items of the same kind.» Thin walls in rooms. Noise level next door loud. Loud hallways. No a/​c and bad smell in hotel stairway. No elevator, making hauling luggage upstairs in the heat & humidity unbearable. Would not recommend at all.

This was the worst hotel experience I have ever had. Now, I’ve stayed in crappy hotels before, but they were in better places so they were worth it and they also weren’t on the eve of graduation either. I wasn’t expecting to stay in a palace in (Little) Washington, after all it is just eastern NC, but my Mom and I weren’t expecting what we got last night. It certainly wasn’t quality, as this hotel was a Quality Inn less than 6 weeks ago.
My Mom arrived shortly before I did and she said she rang the bell and rang the bell before someone finally arrived via the side stairs and headed to the front desk to check her in. As I walked in at 7:30 pm, I overheard the lady tell my Mom our room number and then my Mom tell her that, when we checked out, she was going to pay in cash rather than charge the credit card she used to reserve the room. They each confirmed those details again — the room number and the payment method. Then we headed out for dinner.
We didn’t get back til after 9 pm. As we tried to find an elevator, the lady at the front desk alerted us that there was not one. Thankfully we didn’t have a lot of stuff with us. As we made it to the second floor, we immediately smelled smoke. This was baffling seeing as every single room on the hall had a placard that said «non-​smoking.» We found our room and took our things in to get settled. Since the front desk clerk said something about courtesy drinks Mom looked in the fridge and found a half full bottle of milk. We just wrote that off as carelessness. A little while later she went to use the bathroom and noticed an empty plastic bag left on the counter top which seemed to have previously held someone’s toiletries and that it smelled strange. Again, maybe just carelessness. I tried to call the front desk, but when I pressed «0,» I got a busy tone. Mom said not to worry about complaining.
We retired to our beds to try to relax. Once I got up to use the bathroom, I immediately noticed it wreaked of the smell of urine and noticed through the half-​open shower curtain that someone had left behind a bathroom loofah. I also noted that the toilet had such a dark ashy residue that it appeared to not have been cleaned in years and the paint was chipping off the molding. I glanced at the hair dryer and noticed it was covered in dust. I immediately told Mom about the loofah and stench. Then I nervously wondered aloud if our room had been cleaned. We just shook our heads and said we needed to get to sleep.
3 hours later, I still could not get comfortable to sleep. So, I went out to my car at 1 am to get my charger. On my way back in, I told the new girl, a blonde, at the front desk about the issues. She was astonished and said she’d never heard so many customer complaints in her life. She said there may be a possibility for a comp or discount and she’d notify someone. I assumed that they probably were booked because of graduation weekend so we couldn’t relocate and even if they were my Mom was probably asleep by then.
I went back upstairs and could immediately taste the smoke as I entered the hallway. That’s how strong it was. I tried to plug my iPod in, but soon discovered that none of the outlets worked! It was hard to sleep because the mattress was lumpy in the middle and there were terrible pillows. They were so small they should be on children’s beds, but were hard as rocks.
This morning the continental breakfast seemed to have a good variety and it seems that was the only sentiment that was remotely positive. While sitting there, a housekeeper walked by and she asked how things were. I told her we needed to speak to a manager and then reeled off some of the issues we dealt with. She said that the manager was not on duty, but would pass on our information.
Once we were ready to go check out, we headed to the front desk. Mom and I told the girl at the front desk everything and she offered us 10% off. I then stated we would be calling corporate because this was the worst hotel experience ever and 10% off was nothing. That got her attention and she went and got a man by the name of Soheil (forgive me for my not knowing the correct spelling). He said he would give us $ 40 off. The girl standing there said she was having trouble figuring out the math to calculate the new total and I said that a third off the price for such a terrible experience wasn’t enough. Then it was finally 50% off the $ 130 total. We were unhappy, but were already late to head to campus. I understand that people make mistakes, but if you forget to clean a room and the hotel’s in such terrible condition, then make it right.
To top it off, they ran my Mom’s credit card even though she had cash in hand to pay. We didn’t have time for them to figure out how to void it out and left. Thankfully we are home now, but I’m flabbergasted. My Mom and I have both stayed in cheaper hotels that were better than that!