Update On Americas Best Value Inn Fiasco

Back in early September, Veronica and I were just starting our vacation..our much anticipated Baltic Capitals Cruise.
Veronica and I had booked a room at Americas Best Value Inn, Norfolk Airport Area in VA.
Upon checking into the hotel and entering our room, we found the room to be really dilapidated, filthy and there were bugs and flies throughout the room. The toilet had bugs crawling on the seat.
Veronica and I promptly left the property but not before Veronica went into the lobby and told the desk manager just how bad the room and overall property was.
The desk clerk offered her another room but we were not interested at all. The property was really in poor shape and the photos that were depicting the property were not even close to being an accurate representation of what it was like.
Because we had booked through Priceline or Booking Buddy or one of those type of web sites, we knew up front that we would not be able to get a refund from neither the hotel nor the booking agency.
We ended up walking away and spending the night just up the street at one of our favorite hotels...Country Inn and Suites.
A blog entry was made about this bad situation back in September. Here is a link to that blog entry...  AMERICAS BEST VALUE INN - NORFOLK AIRPORT AREA 5725 Northampton Blvd Norfolk, VA



Yesterday I received an email from the Manager of the hotel. Here is a portion of the email...I left his name out because it just wasn't needed for this blog entry.

Dear Sir

I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience that was caused when you checked in at ABVI Virginia Beach. As the manager of the property I was unaware of the situation, that may be because my front desk employee did follow policy and offer to switch your room. At this point I would like to offer a 50% discount of the rack rate towards your next stay and hope that you will give ABVI another chance. Once again, very sorry.

Now after reading this email, I wrote the Manager back and told him just how bad the room was and what an embarrassment the hotels condition was in. I also advised him that I had contacted the corporation that gave him licensing rights to use the company name and logo. I had advised them what had happened and what the dismal condition the room and property was in.
In closing of my email to this Manager, I told him that he could have offered me a week free stay at his hotel and that I would have turned him down. There is no way that I would ever return to this hotel and strongly advise those that are looking for a decent hotel, stay elsewhere.

This place is a dump.

  AMERICAS BEST VALUE INN - NORFOLK AIRPORT AREA

5725 Northampton Blvd

Virginia Beach, VA 23455

Update On Our Hotel Fiasco

I went to America's Best Value Inn web site where they had a contact/complaint form that I filled out.
Here is a copy of the text as written in my complaint to America's Best Value Inn:

Good afternoon,
My name is Rick Rosenshein. My wife, Veronica and I had reservations at one of your America's Best Value Inns. After reviewing the photos, availability and cost, we ended up booking a hotel room through BestFares.com. Our reservation was for Monday, 9/6/2010 and we pre paid $67.38 with tax. We were just looking for an average comfortable room that we could get a good night sleep before taking an early morning flight the next day. Based on what was presented to us online, we thought that we had made a safe choice. We had reservations to stay at the Americas Best Value Inn Virginia Beach Property Address: 5725 Northampton Boulevard, Virginia Beach, VA 23455 US Phone: 7574649351 As soon as we entered the room, we smelled a very nasty odor that we were unable to pinpoint what it actually was. The room was very dirty and the carpets and bedding looked extremely soiled. We also found bugs crawling around in the bathroom and on the toilet seat. There were also flies in the room. We found this room to be totally unacceptable. My wife took the room key back to the gentleman attending the front desk (we believe he was the owner) and she explained to him what we had encountered in the room. The gentleman offered us another room but we declined his offer. We felt that there was no way that he could not know what condition that room was in and since we had pre-paid, if there had been a better room available when we checked in, he should have given the better room to us directly instead of waiting until we complained. We ended up walking away from the situation minus the money that we had pre paid for the room and ended up paying for another hotel room at a competitors hotel. Both my wife and I work very hard for our income and it was really tough to have to make the choice of walking away from a pre-paid room because of the shoddy way this hotel and rooms have been maintained. Since your America's Best Value Inn name is on this hotel, I felt that you should be presented with the knowledge of what level your brand name is being represented by this particular hotel. Thanks in advance for your time and consideration in reference to this matter.
Sincerely yours,
Richard (Rick) Rosenshein

I deleted my address and telephone number from the actual complaint for the purposes of this blog entry.

Shortly after sending the complaint off, I received a generic confirmation.
Shortly after receiving the generic confirmation, I received the following email:

Dear Richard:


Thank you for contacting Americas Best Value Inn Hotel Group regarding your recent stay. Allow me this opportunity to apologize for the unsatisfactory experience at the hotel. All guest comments are very important to us. As a brand, we do not actually own the hotels that are licensed to use our name but, we are very concerned with and proactive regarding the manner in which they use our name in serving the traveler – you. Over the years, as we have grown to over 900 hotels in the United States, Canada and Mexico, we have developed a system for handling guest comments.

I have forwarded your comment to the property owner for an explanation, and input. Under the bylaws established by the Advisory Board, the property owner is required to respond directly to your complaint. We perform all of this work in the interest of establishing and maintaining excellent relations not only with our guests but, also with our licensee hotel.


I am sorry that you did not receive total customer satisfaction. It is customers like you that take the time to let us know where improvement is needed so that we may continue to provide you with quality guest services.

Best Regards,
Sandra Olsson, Director of Guest Relations
Americas Best Value Inn
by Vantage Hospitality Group, Inc.
www.AmericasBestValueInn.com
3300 University Drive, Suite 500
Coral Springs, FL 33065
Phone: (954) 575-2668 x-110
Fax: (954) 575-8274

As I told Ms. Olsson...the company may not own the hotel but the hotel is using the companies brand name and representing that brand name in a very unfavorable light.
I truly don't expect to hear anything from the hotel owner.
What could he possibly say about his hotel being in such poor shape with really filthy rooms and bugs everywhere.
The bigger question might be this...when was the last time that the company actually did an on site physical inspection on a hotel that carries their brand name? 
Based on what we experienced and saw, my suggestion would be this...if you are ever traveling and staying in an area where there is an America's Best Value Inn...go find comfort elsewhere because this brand is NOT your best value for your hard earned money.