I just returned from the most horrible experience at a hotel in my life. Motel 6's were like the RITZ compared to my experience at the Wyndham Tutwiler. And it's a shame because it was my first time staying at a Wydham.

Below is what was sent to Management and told to a customer service rep at ByRequest. It's been 5 days and I have heard NOTHING from them.

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wyndham hotel – tutwiler – birmingham alabama august 21-25

events that transpired over the course of four days:

1- When I first arrived in Birmingham I went to the baggage claim area to find the Tutwiler van to take me to the hotel. I asked at the information desk and they phoned the hotel for me. I was informed that there was no driver available and that I should take a cab, give the receipt to the front desk, and I would be reimbursed. I did this. I gave the receipt to the front desk upon check-in. However, I only noticed, after I arrived in Houston, that no credit had been applied to my account for the $15 and thus I had not been reimbursed.

2- As the cab approached the hotel all I could see were cars in the parking lot, if you can even call it that. The driver could not even pull into the entrance of the hotel as there was a car in the way. It just looked tacky.

3- I checked in to the hotel, with a most helpful and friendly employee named Beaunca. She got me checked in and I was ready to experience the Wyndham way. However, my ByRequest number was not on my account. I gave this to Beaunca and I saw her type this into the computer. However, no amenities were ever brought up and I did not receive a single newspaper.

4- The first room I went into smelled completely like smoke. There was even an ash tray on the desk. I also noticed wallpaper peeling off the walls throughout the room. The light above the closet had a burn mark above it, at least the ceiling was black. Had this been a Holiday Inn or Red Roof Inn, I could see this occurring, but this is a Wyndham Historic Hotel.

I went back downstairs and Beaunca was concerned and said the room was on a no smoking floor and that there should not have been an ash tray located within. She obtained a different room for me on the same floor. I thanked her and walked up to the room. I opened the door almost fell over from the humidity/warm in the room. I looked at the thermostat and it was down to 60 and the fan was on HIGH. However, there was no cold air coming out of the mechanism. It actually sounded like an alcohol funnycar getting ready to take off.

I attempted to phone the front desk to let them know what was occurring. I assume it is standard practice to not answer the phone if you are assisting a guest. I understand this, however, there should be more than one person down at check-in in late afternoon/early evening when there are going to be multiple people checking in. I also had colleagues tell me, “They weren’t answering the phone.” – when they were trying to get in touch with me. I eventually got Beaunca on the phone and told her about the room – which was also in disarray with wallpaper peeling off all four walls. I asked her if I would see these problems on the club level. She said No and that I could be upgraded for $20 a night, since I had already had some problems. I agreed to this.

I went down and collected my new keys and went up to the room. (While I was waiting I heard a gentleman ask about concierge services and bkfst etc. I thought this was only a special feature and did not ask about it, I felt I was not eligible for this. However, upon later reading the booklet in the room, I read that all club level rooms are eligible for this service. I asked Liz upon check out about this, and she looked at my account and said, “You were placed on a club-level, so we don’t let you know about it.” (As if to say, only if you REALLY pay for this, should you take advantage of it… therefore, I should not want to pay for this next time!?!? I was quite perturbed by this.)
The new room, on the club level, also had some idiosyncarcies. The first was the lock on the door, which looked like it was about to fall off. Upon first entering the room I thought to myself, “OK! This is what Wyndham is supposed to be like!” It was large, airy, and had a sitting area. I began to settle in and unpacked my stuff and made a few calls.

While I was on the phone I noticed that both the alarm clock and the television were locked down to the furniture. I did not understand this. I could understand if I was in a Super 8 or Red Roof Inn, but I was in a Club Level Room at a Wyndham!

I then sat on one of the chairs in the sitting area to find the arm rest was broken. It was a clean break in the wood, but was broken nonetheless.

I attempted to connect to the internet using the wayport connection. I was unsuccessful and had to call to the front desk. I had my own Ethernet cord, but they said I need a specific wayport cord. It was brought up, and I figured I could do this on my own. After another 30 minutes, I had to phone the front desk again and they sent someone up.

Once he arrived he looked at the box and the connection and said, “Oh, you are missing the cord that connects to the box.” (This is the cord that goes from the wayport box to the phone outlet.) He left and returned a few minutes later. We still could not get the box to work so he phoned Wayport. I had tried doing this earlier, but to no avail. I only realized my error when reading the information booklet on the hotel more carefully on my last night.

It turns out that the cordless phones in the Suites say to make an 800 or 888 call you need to dial 8+1+the number. However, in the book, it says to dial 9+1+ the number. In the second room I was in, the two phones had TWO different instruction sets on them!

After calling tech support, the wayport was all set to go. I must stress that all employees of the Tutwiler are extremely helpful and friendly – it is the product itself that needs much work.

I went into the bathroom to only be further confused. I looked around and tried to find the light switch for the toilet/bathtub area. This bathroom was laid out in a straight line, one room, with 2 lights over the vanity. There was then a wall which separated the toilet/tub from the vanity. It turns out that the 2 lights over the vanity are the only lights in the room and one of the bulbs was broken. It was quite distressing having to shower in such dark conditions.

The room also had one of the drapes hanging off the curtain rod. Therefore, the curtains did not quite close all the way.

After a long day of travel I just wanted to get to sleep early. When I went to the bed I noticed it was not completely on the boxspring but at an odd angle. A small point I know, but it was just adding to my frustrations.

After getting in to bed, and I realized that Wyndham has no control over what other guests do in the hotel … I felt a pounding on the headboard, and a vibration. I could hear kids yelling and screaming. The room next to mine had kids that were bouncing stuff off the bed or jumping on the bed or doing something that was causing my headboard to vibrate.

I went over and asked the guest to please control her children. At that point I was so frustrated and upset with my whole experience at the hotel that I was ready to pack up my bags and leave… I didn’t care where I went… Motel 6 would have been better. I calmed down, however, and decided I would speak with the manager in the morning.

Thursday morning came and I went down around 7am to attempt to speak with Ed Gunderson, property manager. I was told he would be in between 9 and 5 pm – ok, that was do-able.

I came back around 1230 pm and was told that Ed was not going to be in because he was horseriding (or something of that sort). I asked if there was someone else I could speak with and I was put in touch with Janet Duke.

I spoke with Janet for about 20 minutes about my experience thus far at a Wyndham. I made sure to let her know that this was my first time staying at a Wyndham and as a member of Loews, HyattRewards and Starwood Preferred Guest, that I expected the same service (or better – given all the advertisements for ByRequest in the Wall Street Journal).

She told me she was sorry for what had occurred and that she would get me a new room. She also said she would speak with the ByRequest Manager to get my amenities up to me. She also said she would phone me within an hour to let me know of a new room to which I could be moved. We decided that she would take half off of Thursday nights stay due to what had occurred the night before. I said, “ok, great, sounds good.” I left feeling content that something would be done.

I returned to the hotel at 9 that night after a full day of conference activities. I asked at the front desk about my new room. I said that Janet had told me she would get me a new room. The front desk person looked in the computer and was like, “Hmm, there’s nothing here, let me find Janet.” She went to the back and returned a few minutes later to say, “I can’t find Janet, but I’ll give you a new room. Do you still want to be on the Club Level?” I said, “If possible.” Right away I thought, “Did Janet do anything? Was she feeding me a line?” I didn’t want to think that so I went up to my first room to see if there was a message on the phone like she said she would leave, there was not.

I went into the new room and at once was in awe. “OK! Now THIS is Wyndham!” It initially reminded me of the elegance of a ParkHyatt. However, this quickly changed. I quickly noticed a huge chunk of wallpaper bubbled out and falling off the wall. Above which were water stains on the ceiling. The bathroom, however, was an improvement.

I never received my Wyndham amenities while in this room either.

After moving all of my things over I looked over the room again and wanted to check my email. I looked on the desk for the wayport connection, but it was not there. It was over by the couch, on the other side of the room on an end table. “Ok, I’ll just plug in my computer and I’ll get all hooked up.” This was a pipe dream and led me to get frustrated as there was ONE outlet where the wayport connection was. Wayport was plugged into it with the lamp on the end table plugged into the outlet on top of that connection. I unplugged the lamp and tried to turn on the lamp on the other end table… but oops! It appeared to be burnt out. I also found a random plug/adapter thing just lying on the floor. I was like, “Hmm, this looks like the cordless phone adapter.” Sure enough – after I logged on to wayport I wanted to make a call. “Great” I thought, as the cordless phone was right next to my computer… but alas… since it was not plugged in, it did not work… of course, there was no place to plug it in in the first place.

I would suggest moving the cordless phone on the desk where there are more outlets… and moving the wayport over there would have been so convenient… as I had to roll the desk chair to the end table to work.

I do understand that the Tutwiler is a Historic Hotel, but I have stayed in Historic Hotels,… and Historic does not mean dilapidated.

I just let everything slide for the next day. I wasn’t going to let this bother me any more… Besides, I would be speaking with Ed Gunderson on Friday, or so I thought.

I went down Friday around 930 and asked to speak with Ed, and the front counter person informed me that he was not in yet, and she was not sure if he would be in that day. She phoned his extension to let me speak with him if he was in. Voice mail came on, and I hung up the phone. I told her I would come back later. Unfortunately, I was busy all day with the conference I was attending and did not get the chance to return to the hotel until 11pm.

Saturday morning I went down to the lobby to ask about dart and about a ride to the airport. I waited at the front desk for about 5 mintues… but no one was behind the desk. There was also a wedding reception in the lobby, so there were people everywhere. I found this quite odd. Eventually, one of the valets helped me and answered my questions. I asked about Ed and she said, “He only works during the week.”

Fine.

Saturday evening I returned to my room and phoned Wyndham direct to try to speak with someone about my concerns. I spoke with Katie at the resolution desk who gave me your number. She was extremely helpful and I thank her for listening to me and trying to help.

I figured everything would be ok for my checkout… or not.

I went down at 530am and spoke with Liz. I received my bill and noticed my local and long distance calls on the bill. I told her that I thought ByRequest members get free local and long distance calls. She asked if I had a ByRequest number. (Recall, I gave it to Beaunca upon check-in). She said it was not in the computer and did take the calls off.

Remember, I was supposed to be reimbursed for the taxi, but this never happened.

I felt Liz gave a slight attitude when I asked about the concierge service, as I mentioned earlier. Does this mean even if you upgrade and pay the $30 a night, you aren’t told about these services? I was supposed to be charged $20 a night for upgrading, but I don’t know if this never went through, or if this is what Janet did for me, not charging me for the upgrade.

I must bring to your attention the hold that has been placed on my checking account as it left me WITHOUT CASH ALL WEEKEND. There is a sign in the hotel that says if you are paying for incidentals with a DEBIT card, that it “hold” the total amount for the room plus $50 and that this may not be lifted for up to TEN days after you leave. I thought, “Oh, most people ask debit or credit with my card, since it can be used as both.” This did not happen, and I WAS NOT INFORMED of this policy upon check in. I only noticed the sign (which is in a 5x8 frame) on my second day.

I phoned my bank today about this (Sunday) and they told me the hold placed was for $520. This has put the icing on the cake. I will NEVER stay at a Wyndham again. I paid for the hotel IN ITS ENTIRETY on expedia before I arrived. My credit card was charged .. .and I get slapped again with a fee as a hold? It led to HUGE frustrations as I had no cash available. I was told that it won’t be lifted until tomorrow.

One final comments on your website… It should reflect the actual amenities at the hotel, which it does not. It says there is a “state of the art” fitness center, which is really the ymca down the road which is not open that often. It also mentions “in room movies.” Does this mean the HBO? Because that is all there is. It describes club level rooms as having plush terry cloth robes… maybe that’s not the floor I was on? Says there are Free USA TODAY papers M-F… I did not see these outside of anyones door.

I give you this feedback and I am concerned other people may have the same experience as I have and will elect to not stay at Wyndham. You know I will be telling family and friends about my experience. How can I honestly tell people to stay at a Wyndham when there are ParkHyatts, Loews, and W Hotels that surpass in quality.