(The following is a letter I’m sending off to the corporate headquarters of Wyndham Hotels. I just felt they should be made aware of what’s going on at a couple of their properties)

I just returned to Seattle from a visit to the Midwest to see some relatives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and in Aberdeen, South Dakota. Unintentionally, in each of the cities, I had booked stays in Wyndham properties and I thought you would be interested in what I came across.

The bulk of my stay was spent at the Super 8 By Wyndham Aberdeen East. After searching on Priceline, it seemed to have the most competitive rates, so I grabbed a room.

Of course, you get what you pay for and that should have been on a sign somewhere in the lobby. I checked in, went up to my room and was greeted by some kind of smell and not in the pleasant sense. Of course, staying there for six nights, you get use to it—like living near the airport and not noticing the jets landing. However, I don’t think I missed a single semi-truck or teenager drag racing their car, as highway 12 was right outside my window and the sound-proofing of the windows was just this side of window screens.

The breakfast was adequate, although some days there were creamers for the coffee, other days there weren’t. Would it be a butter day? Maybe.

However, the incidents that inspired this letter were twofold:

1. While staying there 6 nights, there wasn’t a single day of room service. I completely support the environmental angle, so that played on my tolerance.

It was use the towels I that came with the room, make the soap and shampoo last, ask for coffee and toilet paper at the front desk when it ran out and watch the trash pile up. I waited for someone to show up on the third day, as promised on the signs in the room, but they never came.

Finally, someone showed up next door on Sunday morning and I assumed my room would be next. Although it seemed strange that they wouldn’t clean the room until the day before I left.

I went and visited relatives that Sunday and when I returned, the room key didn’t work. I went to the front desk and I was informed that I had overstayed. They only had me through Sunday, not Monday. Apparently, a screw up on my part, but when I went to pay for an extra night after finding a $77 on the hotels.com app, I was informed it was too late. With taxes, the room came to $99.

So, I went back to my room with the overflowing garbage.

To add insult to injury, they had tacked on another $85 charge on my credit card because I had stayed in the room without paying. It has since been reversed, but here’s a question—every guest has to fill out a form for the car they’re parking outside and on that form is a space for YOUR PHONE NUMBER. Would it have been too much of a bother to have someone call that phone number and say, “Oh, Mr. Hunter, were you planning to stay an extra night?”  Looking back, I wish I had noticed I had only booked 5 nights and then I would have booked a room almost anywhere else in town. But I was trying to spend more of my time getting together with family than trying to figure out a way to escape a bad situation.

Now, this is where the tale turns. Again, not even realizing I had booked reservations with two different Wyndham properties, I was a bit concerned during my drive over from Aberdeen to Minneapolis that I was heading to part 2 of this traveling nightmare.

However, the Baymont by Wyndham Bloomington is the hero in this story. It was the complete opposite: clean, friendly staff, easy to find. I made good time on the drive over and arrived in town by 1pm. A way early arrival, but I was told at the front desk that my room was ready and was handed the key. The room was clean, quiet, comfortable and I’d ballpark 33% bigger than the Aberdeen room. All that and a slightly better free breakfast, all for just $78.29, taxes included.

As a small business owner, I know that if part of my company was coming up short or hurting the brand’s reputation, I’d want to know. The folks in Minnesota get it. Those running your Super 8 in Aberdeen do not.

Tim Hunter