Sleep Inn - Dania, FL Review

[vacruizer]

Yikes!!! I'm booked at the Sleep Inn pre-cruise in October! It got great reviews here and was one of the few inexpensive places I could find for the date I needed. (I think it's boat show weekend in FLL.) Maybe I should start hunting again. I don't need a 4 star hotel but I do insist on clean.

 

Good luck dealing with corporate of Choice Hotels. I had a similar situation a few years ago in a Comfort Suites, although not quite as bad! Room was filthy, beer bottles in trash can, stuff spilled on the AC unit and walls, dust bunnies and cobwebs everywhere. We were ok until we discovered the sheets had never been changed - they were crumpled and full of hair. We went to the front desk and complained and were handed a new set of sheets and told housekeeping had gone home. I wrote to Choice Hotels afterward and got a response that "since our hotels are independently owned, we are forwarding your complaint to the manager." We had already dealt with the manager during our stay and he was unconcerned. I ended up getting nothing off the stay and a letter in the mail for 10% off a future stay at that property only. Like I would ever stay there again. I wasn't terribly happy with the corporate response. The whole reason I wrote to them was that the hotel itself and it's management did not resolve the issue to our satisfaction.:mad:

[Mike&Nikki]

Due to this post & the response (better put... lack of proper response by mgmt)... we will be cancelling our reservation for May & now will be shopping for another hotel.

 

Thanks for the info!

[momwyoming]

Scott.........in order to get that discount did you have to show anything when you checked in? I noticed it was also good for other Choice Hotels.

Thanks, Deb

[Ltvscout]

Scott.........in order to get that discount did you have to show anything when you checked in? I noticed it was also good for other Choice Hotels.

Thanks, Deb

No, I didn't have to show a thing. All others that have used that discount have reported the same thing.

 

Yes, it's good for any Choice Hotel.

[Ltvscout]

Due to this post & the response (better put... lack of proper response by mgmt)... we will be cancelling our reservation for May & now will be shopping for another hotel.

 

Thanks for the info!

Can you expand on what you mean by lack of proper response by the management? Did you call them with questions or something?

 

My bro-in-law and his family stayed there this past Friday, April 6th. He stayed in a third floor room. He stated that it had that bad deodorizer smell, but that he didn't notice any cleanliness problems. He did have a surly front desk person though. A woman this time, he didn't catch her name. I never saw a woman working the desk the two days we were there. He had called them the morning of arrival (his flight was coming in late just like mine did) to request his name be put down on the port shuttle list for 11am. The woman he talked to was snotty and said they don't take requests for the list, that it's first come, first served. I didn't have that problem. They were nice when I had called and put me down for 11:30, the earliest opening they had at the time I called for 5 people. By the time my bro-in-law got to the hotel, after 8pm, the earliest slot left was for 1pm. They ended up taking a cab to the port.

[billh65]

What happened to 100% Satisfaction Guarantee

 

I would contact corporate for satisfaction, seeing that the mngr wasn't much help...jmo

 

The OP really needs to contact Choice Hotels and file a complaint and ask for a charge back to his credit card. Choice has strict guidelines for their franchise holders, and will look thoroughly at your situation.

[billh65]

What happened to 100% Satisfaction Guarantee

 

 

I would contact corporate for satisfaction, seeing that the mngr wasn't much help...jmo

 

The OP really needs to contact Choice Hotels and file a complaint and ask for a charge back to his credit card. Choice has strict guidelines for their franchise holders, and will look thoroughly at your situation.

[rickdeni]

We stayed there the night of March 11th. We were on the second floor. The room was very worn and the carpet and furniture could have used a good cleaning. The toilet, shower and bed were clean. I also booked this because of rave reviews for the price. Next cruise I will definitely find someplace else. Last year we stayed at the Yankee Clipper, paid big dollars, and smelt mold for the entire stay. We are not having good luck in Ft. Lauderdale.

[Lisa NJ]

I was looking for a hotel in FLL that was under $200/night, offered free airport/port shuttles, would sleep five people and have clean rooms. I researched on CC and other sites and asked a lot of questions. Based on many recommendations I went with the Sleep Inn in Dania. After staying there I can say that I got three of the four things I was looking for.

 

I booked March 23rd and April 1st at the Sleep Inn, staying there both pre and post cruise. Thanks to an earlier post, I found this link which saved me even more money than I would have using my AAA discount:

 

http://www.smartertravel.com/discounts/Save-Quality-Comfort-Clarion.html?id=16348

 

We arrived in FLL late on the 23rd, around 7:30pm. Upon getting our luggage I used the courtesy phone for the Sleep Inn located in the baggage terminal to call for a pickup. They asked for my name and reservation # to verify I was booked with them and asked how many people were to be picked up. They told me a driver would be at the airport within 30 minutes to pick us up. It actually took closer to 45 minutes for pickup, but that didn't bother me. After all, we were going on a cruise! People that use complimentary shuttles should tip the driver; I tipped him $5.

 

Backing up a little, if you're going to arrive late in FLL you should call Sleep Inn in the morning, preferably by 10-11am EST, and ask to be put on the list for port shuttle transportation. If you don't do this, all of the early time slots for transportation to the port will be filled by the time you get to the hotel.

 

When we arrived at the hotel I found the lobby to be nice for this class of hotel and the desk staff to be prompt and courteous.

 

We walked into our room and the first thing that hit me was the smell. I'm not sure how to describe it but it was like someone dumped a whole can of a sickly sweet smelling deodorizer on the carpeting. Ok, I got a cheap room and I'm going on a cruise in the morning, I can live with that. The first thing I check out when going into a hotel room is the bathroom. I can usually tell how clean everything is going to be based on how the bathroom cleanliness looks. I found hair on the floor and black mold in the grout of the shower tiles. :eek: Ok, I got a cheap room and I'm going on a cruise in the morning, I can live with that. We settled into the room to watch some TV before bed. My son took his tennis shoes off and was walking around the room in his white athletic socks. Awhile later he was laying on the bed and my wife asked him how the bottom of his socks got all dirty. I then looked at the bottom of my socks and they were filthy as well. The carpeting was in sore need of a cleaning, it was full of dirt. Ok, I got a cheap room and I'm going on a cruise in the morning, I can live with that. The sofa bed had stains on the cushions and stains on the mattress when we opened it up. (They supply you with linens and a blanket in the dresser drawer to makeup the sofa bed. The pillow can be found on a shelf in the closet) Ok, I got a cheap room and I'm going on a cruise in the morning, I can live with that. Then it came time to hit the sack. Those of you with weak stomachs may want to skip this part and move to the next paragraph. Upon pulling back the covers I found a large brown stain on the bottom bedsheet. My first thought was, "GROSS!" :eek: I then figured it must've just been a bad stain that laundering was not able to remove. But, I wanted to make sure before I got into bed. Well, I took a sniff and sure enough, it was feces. Imagine someone having bad diarrhea in bed. That's what this turned out to be. Upon further examination I noticed that this stain had "leaked" to the top bedsheet as well. Ok, I got a cheap room and I'm going on a cruise in the morning, but this I definitely wasn't going to live with! I immediately called the front desk to tell them of the situation and requested new bedsheets be put on the bed. The hotel was booked so I couldn't get a different room. Our shuttle driver came to our door a few minutes later and was going to hand me the bedsheets. I told him I wasn't going to change the soiled sheets, so he came in and changed them along with the bedspread and pillowcases. I asked him if the manager was in and he said no, but he would be in in the morning. He said his name was Vick Patel. In thinking of how this could've happened my only guess was that the guests from the previous night made the mess, then made up the bed to make it look like no one slept in it because they were embarrassed. The maid came in, assumed the bed hadn't been used so didn't bother to change the sheets. My 13yr old daughter who was sleeping in the same bed as I was understandably freaked out by all of this and it took us a long time to get her to get into bed and go to sleep that night.

 

The next morning we got up and went to the free continental breakfast. They had a nice spread which included make-your-own belgian waffles. Every room also gets the morning edition of the Miami Herald. After breakfast I went to talk to the manager. I went in thinking that I wasn't going to ask for the room for free, but I felt that a 50% discount for all that we went through wasn't out of line. The manager already knew about the situation. But, upon talking to him he was implying that "my" kids made the mess in the bed!?! I was flabbergasted! He said he talked to his maid and she swore that she changed the sheets. (What's she going to say, no, I didn't change them, please fire me?) He said that the "stains" rinsed out easily and were still slightly wet further implying my kids made the mess. He said that since I was the guest that he was giving me the benefit of the doubt. I told him I wasn't looking for a free room, but that I thought a 50% discount would be appropriate for what we went through. He told me all he'd give me was a 10% discount. I was floored! He wouldn't budge. I then told him that I was also staying there post-cruise and if he wasn't going to give me 50% off that night that I wanted the 10% discount applied to the post-cruise stay as well. He said no, that it was only for that nights stay. I then went on to tell him that besides the mess in the bed that I found hair in the bathroom, black mold in the shower, stains on the sofa bed and that the carpeting was filthy. Only then did he agree to give me the 10% discount for the post-cruise stay. If this had all happened post-cruise, I would've put up a much bigger stink. But, I didn't want to put myself into a bad mood before our cruise. I will be contacting the Choice Hotels corporate office to give them a full report of our experience.

 

There is a Global Rent-A-Car desk in the lobby of the hotel. Since we were going to be in FLL all day post-cruise, I inquired about a rental. I got a rate of $50.05/day with unlimited mileage (with all fees/taxes) for a mid-size 5-passenger car so I booked it for our post-cruise stay. We had an 11:30 timeslot for shuttle transportation to the port. We didn't actually get the shuttle till closer to noon. We again tipped the shuttle driver (the same one who picked us up at the airport the night before and changed our bedsheets) and paid the extortion money to the porters to insure our bags made it onto the ship.

 

Our cruise was fantastic!

 

Upon debarking from our cruise I called Sleep Inn for pickup from the port. They again asked for my name and res # to verify my reservation and asked for the number of people in our party. They said a driver was on the way and would be there in a few minutes. A few minutes turned out to be about an hour.

 

When we got to the hotel at about 11:00am or so I went try to get an early check-in. They didn't have a room available yet but said one should be ready in about 15-20 minutes. I then got our rental car, which turned out to be a nice Ford Taurus. By the time I was done handling that our room was ready so there was no need for us to store our luggage in the business center. (Which was UNLOCKED by the way both days we were there, not locked like I saw someone else write in a different review.) We went to our room which this time was on the 1st floor (first night was on the third floor) and noticed that this one did not smell nearly as bad as the first. But, there was hair in the toilet, black mold in the shower, stains on the sofa-bed mattress and the carpeting was even filthier. Luckily, there were no gross stains in the bedsheets this time. :rolleyes:

 

If you're going to have some extra time while in FLL, I'd HIGHLY recommend going to Hollywood Beach and the Broadwalk. It's a very pretty beach with all kinds of neat shops with cheap beachwear. There are also a number of very good restraurants on the Broadwalk. That night we took a drive down to SE 17th Ave where all the fancy hotels and night clubs are. This is something else I'd recommend, just to see all the neat sights. The kids swam in the hotel pool after we got back from the beach. It appeared to be clean, but I did not smell any chlorine.

 

The next morning we had the noon time slot for the shuttle to the airport. The driver was only 10 minutes late for that one. Oh, if you're travelling with small kids I recommend you try to keep them out of earshot of the maids. They use the "F" word sprinkled throughout almost every sentence they utter, and they do so while shouting to each other.

 

So, after my experience of researching a hotel to stay at in FLL I have to wonder if maybe there are two Sleep Inn's in Dania? The one we stayed at surely could not have been the same one everyone has been raving about. Sure, the lobby was clean and the front desk staff (other than the mgr) was very nice, but our room was FAR from clean. I personally will not recommend this hotel to anyone after actually staying there. I'm up in the air on whether I'll stay at any other Choice Hotels in the future.

 

P.S. - On April 2nd when we were leaving there was a carpet cleaning service at the hotel. But, they were only cleaning the hotel hallway carpeting, not the carpeting in the rooms. At least they're keeping their initial appearance up to par. :rolleyes:

 

Yikes! I do not think I would eat the b/fast...not here!

[Bequia]

Sleep Inn has 99.9% positive reviews, this one never made sense. I wonder what the other side of the story is? :rolleyes:

[stlrboo]

Yikes! I do not think I would eat the b/fast...not here!

As I mentioned previously, we stayed there pre and post cruise in April of this year... None of these problems were apparent, tho' the rooms could use a thorough cleaning, but nothing out of the ordinary for the class of hotel/price. :p The FREE breakfast was wonderful both days..;)

[PirateGal]

This story is totally frightening!!! I can't believe you went back post-cruise! Please post your review on tripadvisor.com so other travelers can be warned as well.

[Bison]

We have stayed at the Sleep Inn 3 times pre cruise and each time thought iit was fine.

[booze brothers]

Sleep Inn has 99.9% positive reviews, this one never made sense. I wonder what the other side of the story is? :rolleyes:

 

Please don't be too quick to judge.

 

We had a similiar (not dirty sheets) at the Sleep Inn last year. The room was to be a non smoking room. Well the whole floor reeked of smoke and our nonsmoking room was a joke. The bathroom was dirty, tub would not drain and the fridge had some kind of goop that had mold on it. We called the desk many times and were told someone would be there to take care of things. Well they did show up, at 11pm and we were already in bed. The next day I went to speak to the manager and he implied that NO, I had never contacted the front desk. Well that did it . Now he's calling me a liar. We never had the breakfast and took a cab to the port.

 

Bequia, I wrote a short review when I returned. It's very hard giving a negative review when so many have had good reviews.

 

We will never stay there again.

[Northshorecruisers]

LTVScout,

 

Please post back on the board to let us know what type of a reply you get when you take this higher up. We have 3 rooms booked there pre-cruise in November and we may now need to change hotels.

 

Thanks

[booze brothers]

Please let me say one thing.

Other people we talked to the same day we were there, never had a problem. Maybe it is an isolated thing but nevertheless, it should not happen to anyone. They are under staffed and that creates a problem. It seems the front desk clerks are happy when you have good news but are terrible if you complain about anything. I am not a complainer about trivial things. Mimi

[Northshorecruisers]

Anyone - or any business - can have a bad day. I'm just looking for a fairly clean place to stay the night before we cruise....a lot of bad things can happen before the cruise because once I get on the ship it all floats away.

The attitude toward the customer was inexcusable. Maybe it was just a bad or inexperienced manager. Maybe the person is no longer there. The test will be in how the parent company comes to the plate.

[Donna - dsw]

We stayed here pre cruise on March 9th. I wasn't the best place, but wasn't bad for one night. I didn't notice it being dirty.

 

I would not have been happy with you situation at all!

[booze brothers]

We're going to try Extended Stay America in Jan. $114.+ so we'll see how this goes.

[capecodtoby]

I must admit there seems to be a negative slant to the Sleep Inn based on this post, but it can happen at any hotel. If anyone takes the time to look through 3 or 4 pages of reviews on Tripadvisor you will see basically pretty good reviews. After you factor in the price you are paying, what else can you ask for?

 

When you have to book 3 plus rooms like I do it becomes an even better buy.

[Northshorecruisers]

After reading Ltvscout's post regarding their experience at Sleep Inn, I sent the mangement an email saying I had heard some negative things regarding cleanliness at the hotel and wanted to know if the issues were being resolved as we have 3 rooms booked there in November.

What I received was an automatic response saying that my comments were very important to them and they would reply within 7 business days.

After spending over 20 years in the Customer Service field - I'm really having a problem with Sleep Inn. 7 business days can run out to being almost 2 weeks - I'm sure they're hoping you'll forget about your problem by then. If my comments were important to them, they would answer me within 24-48 hours.

So, we've cancelled our reservation and booked at another hotel that has the ammenities we wanted (free shuttles, pool, breakfast in the morning, lots of restaurants within walking distance). Plus the rooms were a touch cheaper!

[booze brothers]

That's exactly the way I feel. Customer service is very important. If management doesn't give a hoot about the customer then they probably don't care about their employees or take a personal interest in the business ~ only the profits.

 

Would you mind telling us where you are staying now and the cost?

[Northshorecruisers]

We went to the Hampton Inn & Suites in Plantation, FL. I called there the other day and the lady at the desk was very friendly & helpful. Also did an internet search and found there are 29 restaurants within .5 miles and a mall across the street. Liquor store is a 5 min walk.

At Sleep Inn, each of our rooms had a king bed. Wasn't the greatest setup for the two teenagers but they could sleep in the same bed for one night. Cost was $129. At Hampton, all of the rooms we booked have two queen beds (rooms are avail with 1 king) and the cost is $119.

[redtop101]

We've stayed at both the Sleep Inn, Dania and twice at the Hampton Inn, Plantation in the past 12 months. We did not have a negative experience at the Sleep Inn, but we definately preferred the Hampton Inn for cleanliness, friendly customer service, decent breakfast, proximity to many stores & restaurants, safe neighbourhood and 3 desktop computers for customer's use in their business centre.

[stlrboo]

We stayed at the Sleep Inn in April, and had a nice stay pre and post cruise! One night on the 3rd floor and 2 nights on the 1st!:)

 

With the recent reports about the Hampton Inn, and proximity to restaurants, etc., etc + a cheaper rate, we will definitely consider the Hampton for our next stay in FLL!:D