I created this blog site in an effort to supply the public with information and opinions regarding their experiences in the hotel industry.
The reason for this is due to my own experience with a horrible hotel. The Howard Johnson hotel in Whitecourt Alberta to be specific. I spent some time on the net looking for a great deal on a room in Whitecourt as I will be working from there for a little over a week and would like a comfortable stay.
With the use of Expidia.ca I found the Howard Johnson. The Expidia rate was $85/night but if staying for 3+ nights the rate dropped to $05/night, a very good rate indeed. After comparing these rates to other hotels and the Howard Johnson home webpage I decided this was the place for us (I also booked a room for my colleague) through Expidia.
Once I paid for the rooms and printed a copy of the receipt I noticed the comment stating that there are no refunds for fees paid to expidia, no exceptions. Well that’s fine as we will be here for the duration anyway.
After traveling through one of the worst blizzards of my lifetime for 7+ hours we make it to the hotel and check in. Well the lobby was dirty and the elevator was disgusting. It appears that someone may have urinated in the corner of the elevator.
When I got to the room it appeared relatively clean and all I wanted was a shower and some sleep. Well, there was no hot water so I had a cold shower then climbed into bed.
After a day at work I got back to my room looking forward to soaking in the Jacuzzi tub. Well the water was not even luke warm. It was ice cold. After complaining to the front counter they offered another room but the water there was cold as well, so there was no point in moving. They did manage to get the water warm enough to have a warm shower. My colleague tried to get a refund from Expidia with no success, so we are kind of stuck here.
As I have spent time in a number of bush camps with little privacy or amendments, this is not a very big deal for me to live with. However, if I were looking for a deal on a room for me and my family this would have turned into a disaster. My wife would me mortified.
I looked online for a site where people can look for info on Horrible Hotels and found little out there. Therefore I have created this blog to warn other travelers. This is a good camp hotel if you don’t need very clean rooms or hot water. The lack of respect from the field crew staying here was also noted, slamming doors for 2 hours starting a 5:30 am. I call front desk but as they have limited grasp of the English language I don’t think they understood my complaints.
I hope this site helps others make better choices when booking a room. Best wishes all.
