Yes Neo, and that orange and brown decor was so...70's!

Hey, OO, don't make fun of my college colors. Go Bowling Green falcons.

Not a chain. They say: "Best Western International is the world's largest hotel chain with over 4200 hotels in 80 countries."

....while the young woman behind the desk endured the flirting of the drunk one with the prison tattoos. He wanted to know where the closest liquor store was, then argued when he didn't like her answer. His companion was leering nearby showing his remaining teeth.
LOL, welcome to the PNW

momof2, I am so sorry you are/were unhappy with the hotel, I know how it feels to look forward to a nice hotel room that is clean and what you thought you paid for then you get something entirely different!
This has happened to us at big hotels in Las Vegas, St Petersburgh Florida, Upstate NY...not chains either...It just happens.

But as the others say, dingy and dirty with disreputable looking characters is not going to get you a refund.

But this thread is good for anyone who might read about this Best Western Hotel...we will all avoid it from now on!

I'm still mystified why the OP would use Travelocity (thus, having to prepay) when they were only 30 minutes away??

And, anyway, it's only a hundred bucks. Not the end of the world. Chalk it up to inexperience and vow not to prepay again.

You booked it ONLINE from your car 30 minutes before arriving? I too wonder why at that point you didn't just drive on to the hotel in hopes they still had the room or use the phone and call direct so you wouldn't have to prepay. I avoid those "prepay" deals even when booking way ahead. I certainly don't see any advantage in prepaying a hotel 30 minutes before I arrive at the door.

This is incredible.

So you are trying to get a "cheap" room (as they say on the Lonely Planet Thorntree forum).

So you go through discount websites like Travelocity where you know that the cancellation policy is "absolutely no refunds".

And then, because it is so awful, you think it's "unfair"

Sorry, you took your chances knowing what the risks might be.

I don't "do" Travelocity or any of the other "get something for nothing" sites because I, frankly, think they are ripoffs and not responsible.

And, FORGET Priceline. I had a friend who paid relatively big bucks for a skid row hotel in San Francisco. (their "areas" of the city are not accurate.)

Just go to the hotel in question, preferably on the telephone, and ask what the special rates are right now.

I think we've come down to the core of the problem - which is why would one prepaid a room in Spokane for $96 when only 30 minutes away.

Prepaying rooms have a risk, but I do it all the time when the deal is good. Looking at biddingfortravel, the going rate for successful bids for 3* is around $50 for the Doubletree or RedLion. Prepaying on Hotwire for 3* cost $60-70 for most dates.

At those rates, it's worth taking a chance. But not for $96.

BTW, I also don't have problem with prepaying Travelocity per se. In fact, last Christmas, I booked a room precisely this way for a 4* hotel in Milan. Nice mini-suite for just around US$100.

Again, at that rate, I don't have problem prepaying.

I don't think Momo liked the reception... seems to have left for good.

My personal opinion is that a traveler should be able to have some confidence in Travelocity. It doesn't matter whether a peson is 30 minutes away from a hotel or 3 weeks away, anyone using Travelocity should expect clean and safe accomodations. A No Refunds policy protects Travelocity from the nitpicker but Travelocity should also have certain standards of acceptable. Maybe they haven't had time to respond to bad reports on this hotel BUT I think someone at Travelocity should be in charge of reviewing major complaints. At the very least, checking the hotel and giving momof2 a letter stating the hotel is acceptable or a letter saying the hotel has been removed from its lists.
Unfortunately, I don't think customer service is a priority with some major corporations anymore. BTW this week I accidently booked tickets for the wrong day using an on-line service. I called right away to explain the situation and beg a change in their No Refund/No Change Policy. The rep was courteous and re-issued tickets for the correct day "just this once". Yes, it was my fault and I would have altered my trip schedule because of it BUT someone was there to give me great service and fix my mistake.
I like all the people/companies I deal with to have a certain level of acceptable. People like chains because they are "reliable". This one wasn't. Travelocity should exclude this hotel from its lists. I agree with Momof2 that Travelocity has some responsibility here as well as the hotel manager. BOTH deserve her complaints and BOTH need to address the situation.

dfrostnh - while I agree with some of what you write, from a practical and reasonable point of view, I am not sure I would want Travelocity banning a hotel based on somewhat subjective complaints of one customer. Travelocity is not in a position to inspect hotels - that is not what they do.

OP had issues with cleanliness and upkeep, but she also spent more than half of her space with issues of the demographics of other paying customers - not something that Travelocity has any business getting involved in.

It would not matter if the OP book through the hotel itself, Priceline, Hotwire, Travelocity, Expedia or a brick-and-mortar travel agent. She will not get her money back with a prepaid room.

It's because it's a he-said-she-said situation, and everything stack against her - AAA, Tripadvisor, etc all suggest it's a decent establishment. Seems like the only people who doesn't like it is the OP herself. Well, she'll have a really hard time to prove her case; and her tone in her posts/letters won't help her either. And she has no pictures.

momof2's review on TripAdvisor includes in her title: "beware unless you like ex-con truck drivers and filth" and her dislikes were listed as, "Ex-con truckers flirting with the front desk staff and arranging for prostitutes"
http://tinyurl.com/fxqsz Take a look at the other reviews then do the virtual tour.

What was mildly amusing before, ceases to be, and this is one of my big gripes with TA. Anyone can say anything with impunity. Those are not comments "momof2" would dream of making if she had to use her own name, because it could come zinging right back at her in the form of a lawsuit!

I can guarantee that the front desk was NOT giving prices for prostitutes, whose rates, I suspect, are a great deal higher than that anyway. There are perfectly legit in-room masseuses. No hotel needs the legal and social issues that accompany prostitution, and they go out of their way to prevent it. One GM I know removes yellow pages with call girl services from the in-room phone book. It's an issue security is trained to look for. That's not to say some don't get by anyway, but they do their best to prevent it.

I can be as big a snob as the next person, but I think your characterization of these people as toothless ex-con truck drivers is atrocious. They were truck drivers (I assume that part is accurate at least), but there is no way on earth you could know whether or not they were ex cons, and if they accepted $30-50 as the going rate for prostitution, then they'd probably never had one before. You diminish yourself and your issue with the hotel with such statements, and as far as I'm concerned, this is a perfect example of why everyone needs to take TripAdvisor with a grain of salt.

I'm not a TripAdvisor fan AT ALL, but there are 13 reviews of that hotel on TA, including momof2's and 11 of them are extremely positive. Something simply is not adding up.

Skeptic that I am, I never prepay anything that I don't have personal experience with. I have never used Travelocity, Expedia, etc (except to do research).

You can usually get the same or better prices dealing directly with the property, airline, etc.

Europe is a different story. They often ask for a significant downpayment or some sort of commitment.

In those cases, I base the decision on the monetary risk I'm willing to take. I have to be willing to walk away from the money if the property isn't what I expected. For the record, I've never had to do that in Europe.

I have changed my mind here in the US once I've seen the property, but have been able to escape the "late cancellation penalty" of one night's fee because the hotels usually are amenable to this if you are reasonable with them.

Granted, my personal judgements concerning the clientele played a major part in my decision to leave, so apologies to all the truckers out there. My grandfather was a teamster so I realize that most are sober, decent folks.

However, consider this. Why would a hotel clerk check in a clearly intoxicated guest, especially one who was making her very uncomfortable by flirting, asking her personal questions, and arguing with her.

My judgements on that evening were not based on sterotypes, but on the very individuals who were checking in and the fact that the hotel rented them them a room! I can't imagine that a hotel cannot legally turn away an intoxicated person.

If this hotel could afford to be professionally run, there would be standards. If the place is in a desperate financial situation, they'd be happy to get any guests.

On tripadvisor, the review following mine is an obvious fake. Why would a person write a review and make a statement such as "Business travelers like it when a hotel makes their stay and the trip easier." Why would a business traveler need to be told what they like?

Well said, OO.
Regarding the issue of prepaying, I think some are still missing the point. They were in their car (using a laptop to book while driving) and were only 30 minutes away from the place. What possible reason was there to go ahead and prebook. I doubt the website popped up a window saying "Last chance. Only one room left."
Frankly. I'd think it would make sense to drive ahead to the hotel and then say to them, "can you honor this price I just now got online at Travelocity?" And that way if you are picky about the clientele staying there, you wouldn't be stuck with the room.

Someone above mentioned that Travelocity should have someone to follow up on "major complaints". Perhaps they do. But vague insinuations about the toothless truckdrivers is probably not one of them.

Granted, my personal judgements concerning the clientele played a major part in my decision to leave, so apologies to all the truckers out there. My grandfather was a teamster so I realize that most are sober, decent folks.

However, consider this. Why would a hotel clerk check in a clearly intoxicated guest, especially one who was making her very uncomfortable by flirting, asking her personal questions, and arguing with her.

My judgements on that evening were not based on sterotypes, but on the very individuals who were checking in and the fact that the hotel rented them them a room! I can't imagine that a hotel cannot legally turn away an intoxicated person.

If this hotel could afford to be professionally run, there would be standards. If the place is in a desperate financial situation, they'd be happy to get any guests.

On tripadvisor, the review following mine is an obvious fake. Why would a person write a review and make a statement such as "Business travelers like it when a hotel makes their stay and the trip easier." Why would a business traveler need to be told what they like?

So, for those of you who have taken such delight in lambasting me for my reaction to the conditions at the BW, answer this:

What would make YOU decide NOT to check in to a hotel after entering?

OO-states
"What was mildly amusing before, ceases to be, and this is one of my big gripes with TA. Anyone can say anything with impunity. Those are not comments "momof2" would dream of making if she had to use her own name, because it could come zinging right back at her in the form of a lawsuit!"

How can you presume to KNOW what I would and would not "dream" of doing??? And you KNOW precisely that BW and Treavelocity would file a lawsuit???

Would you say that on this board if you had to use YOUR real name?

BTW-I sent the exact same comments to Best Western and to Travelocity, and in fact I told the Best Western Corporation that I would share/post my comments with everyone I knew! No sign of a lawsuit yet!

I started a new thread asking the question:

What would make YOU decide NOT to check in to a hotel after entering?

I hope most of the posters on here weigh in.