BingBongBoy
Oct 19, 11, 2:26 pm
When planning the trip that I am on a the moment, hotel option in this area were a little limited. We had elected to stay at some no chain, small guest houses which have been great, but I still wanted to make the most of some of my benefits that I have with IC and earn some points too, to offset the ones that I have spent on the trip.
So, we selected a Holiday Inn in Portsmouth, NH. It is a great location, near the I95 and Route 1, so very easy to access and find. Close to the road, but good windows so no noise really. I thought that it had been completely refurbished, but whilst dealing with an incident that I will detail below, it turns out that only the public areas and floor 5, the floor we were on, had been refurbished, and not in a very good way either. The rooms them self were OK, but the corridor was awful. I don't know who selected the colour scheme, but red and purple, with brown carpet really is not a great look...
However, the very minimal staff were helpful and assisted whenever it was required, and boy did I require them...
First night we were there, we had had a long drive from Provincetown at the end of Cape Cod, all the way up past Boston, stopping for some outlet shopping and then on to Portsmouth. So, after heading into town for some dinner, back to the hotel to turn in for the night. As we got ready for bed, I started to untuck and pull back the covers of my bed as I can't stand the sheets and quilt being tucked in all around the bed. As I pulled back the top sheet, I saw what I thought was a long burn mark on the quilt. I took a second closer look and was then hit with a smell... It was not a burn mark, it was a long smear of human "poop"... I was horrified.
I called down to reception straight away and the lady said she would be up shortly. She was vastly apologetic and said sorry for taking so long to get up to the room, but she was the only staff member on duty. Now, bearing in mind that this is a hotel with 130 rooms, she was the only person working? And she was correct. She changed the bed, said sorry a million times and told me to speak with the manager in the morning, she would leave details, and he would be able to sort out something to say sorry. So, in the morning when I did go down, we were offered apologies again as well as free breakfast which was fine with me.
However, he confirmed that the owners of the hotel have cut the staff back so far that there is often only one person working, especially late at night and in the morning. Obviously there are housekeeping staff and bar/restaurant staff, but anything else is all done by one person. Apparently, the property is owned by the same people who own the HI in Portland, Maine. Which has come in for quite some stick in the past...
So, a great hotel, comfortable beds, great staff, few of them as there were, and a great for driving holidays in the area.
So, we selected a Holiday Inn in Portsmouth, NH. It is a great location, near the I95 and Route 1, so very easy to access and find. Close to the road, but good windows so no noise really. I thought that it had been completely refurbished, but whilst dealing with an incident that I will detail below, it turns out that only the public areas and floor 5, the floor we were on, had been refurbished, and not in a very good way either. The rooms them self were OK, but the corridor was awful. I don't know who selected the colour scheme, but red and purple, with brown carpet really is not a great look...
However, the very minimal staff were helpful and assisted whenever it was required, and boy did I require them...
First night we were there, we had had a long drive from Provincetown at the end of Cape Cod, all the way up past Boston, stopping for some outlet shopping and then on to Portsmouth. So, after heading into town for some dinner, back to the hotel to turn in for the night. As we got ready for bed, I started to untuck and pull back the covers of my bed as I can't stand the sheets and quilt being tucked in all around the bed. As I pulled back the top sheet, I saw what I thought was a long burn mark on the quilt. I took a second closer look and was then hit with a smell... It was not a burn mark, it was a long smear of human "poop"... I was horrified.
I called down to reception straight away and the lady said she would be up shortly. She was vastly apologetic and said sorry for taking so long to get up to the room, but she was the only staff member on duty. Now, bearing in mind that this is a hotel with 130 rooms, she was the only person working? And she was correct. She changed the bed, said sorry a million times and told me to speak with the manager in the morning, she would leave details, and he would be able to sort out something to say sorry. So, in the morning when I did go down, we were offered apologies again as well as free breakfast which was fine with me.
However, he confirmed that the owners of the hotel have cut the staff back so far that there is often only one person working, especially late at night and in the morning. Obviously there are housekeeping staff and bar/restaurant staff, but anything else is all done by one person. Apparently, the property is owned by the same people who own the HI in Portland, Maine. Which has come in for quite some stick in the past...
So, a great hotel, comfortable beds, great staff, few of them as there were, and a great for driving holidays in the area.