Hotele niedaleko Oelwein Veterans Memorial Park, Oelwein

Get your popcorn ready. My experience with the front desk clerk at this Choice property was eventful, but negative. We were inconveniently “upgraded” to a suite…which we already had booked anyway. We didn’t ask for an upgrade. We booked a suite with 2 beds and a sofa bed out of necessity, so it was actually an inconvenient downgrade to 1 bed. The room was also located directly across from a noisy elevator. There were several guests staying there for a wedding. Traffic was constant throughout the night from the wedding party as was the excessively loud elevator door and chime. This is also considered a downgrade, since we were in the area for an event too and needed rest. My initial interaction with the front desk clerk Ashlynn was unpleasant. She was lazy, unconcerned and a liar. There were 45 min left until continental breakfast ends, so I asked if more of the hot items: eggs, bacon, etc. would be brought out. She replied, “no because it takes about 20-25 minutes to make.” There are a few problems with her take: 1.) when I finally asked, there were 45 min remaining before the 9am cutoff 2.) the warmer had been completely empty prior to my inquiry. 3.) rem the wedding guests that also included several families with small children so many likely never had the opportunity by around 8am. I didn’t press the matter and went out to get food. I stopped in to take a look in the dining area again which was packed with very little of anything still. Ashley saw me re-enter and check the dining area. The nasty look she gave me was unnecessary, but I proceeded to my room without issue. Apparently Ashley was triggered and had negative intentions at this point. Yes we were the only black family staying at the property that night…I quote. At checkout she advised that there’s a $300 smoking charge because her maid came in the room prior to checkout and smelled smoke 1.) No one came into the room. We didn’t have the do not disturb tag on the door at 10:00am (checkout is at 11:00am) when she knocked and tried to let herself in the room while we were getting dressed. 2.) Ashlynn initially said that she and the maid smelled smoke in the room. 3.) Finally, Ashlynn later said that the smoke was in front of the elevator and not the room. Which is it? Either way, we do not smoke. A smoke smell in front of the elevator could have been from any room or guest coming back from smoking inside a car, etc. Randomly assigning a smoke smell in front of the elevator to our room is asinine. Rem all of the wedding guests. It doesn’t end here. I advised Ashley that smoke lingers, and if we did indeed smoke within the last 1-2 hours as accused then the smell would still be present inside the room. I suggested that we go up together and confirm. At that point she declined and said it was ok, then printed a receipt for the correct amount of 1 night. We later called to voice a complaint with the Choice Company directly and we’re told that the $300 charge did exist. Choice said the

When we got to the hotel there were many people waiting for their rooms to ready, this was an hour after check in times. When we got to our room, the door was open, a pop bottle was laying right in the walk way into the room and the beds weren't made. We went to the front desk, waited for a few minutes for a worker to let her know, said that we would be back since we had our daughters college graduation to attend. When we got back to the hotel later that night no worker was to be seen. Get into the room and the floors were nasty and sticky~my husband cleaned it up some with a wet towel. Breakfast was very limited with what was available for food. They ran out of milk and had to go to the store to buy more. Workers were very scarce, when checking out we couldn't since nobody was at the front desk. The garbage can by the front entrance was over filled and we couldn't even throw away our few items. Highly recommend NOT staying at this location.