Traveling. It always brings new adventures into your life. along with the adventures are typically challenges and frustrations. When your plane is delayed. When your rental car breaks down. The icing on the cake of an exasperating trip is, for me, a poor hotel stay. There is nothing more important than where you lay your head and regroup after or before a long day.
In your hotel there are several things you expect: courtesy, cleanliness and comfort. When these three things are achieved your stay will be glorious, but lacking even one can be disastrous.
This past week my family and I traveled to Nashville, TN for business. We searched the internet for a nice hotel. During our search we found The Hermitage Hotel: a "2004 aaa Five Diamond award Recipient" and a "Mobil Three-Star Recipient."
after a long day of traveling we arrived at our destination. It was late in the evening and hunger had set in. as I set up my computer I thought I would have a little snack. I reached in the mini bar and cracked open a can of pretzels and a Canada Dry. Mmmm, I thought!
Boy was I wrong. The pretzels smelled like PVC piping and the Canada Dry was flat thanks to a June 2004 expiration. So I reached for my second choice snack, a Nature Grain bar, only to find its expiration of December 17, 2003. Five diamond? Three-star?
The manager, Gene, came to my room to investigate the problem. During this time they intended to have more pretzels sent up. Instead the young man came bearing peanuts. When I pointed out the error he said he would be right back with pretzels. I wonder if he is bringing them to NC since he never came back. In the mean time, Gene took the PVC pretzels and later called the room to explain that all the canisters smelled the same. He planned to call the company.
Snafu behind us, back to a nice visit. We went to the hotel restaurant, The Capitol Grille, for dinner. The environment was nice and the food tasted fine, until we noticed the restaurant grade on the wall. If I had seen this prior to eating I would have left. The Capitol Grille received an "89" from the Department of Health. Five diamond? Three-star? are you sure?
Chef Sean said it was for broken ceiling tiles and a wet rag left lying on a cooking station. I doubted that, but would follow up once home.
This trip was becoming a nightmare. The night came and went and my business meeting was a success. Time to get back on the road.
as I was leaving, the Customer Service Manager paid me a visit. She apologized for everything and asked if I wanted to talk with the general manager. Sure, why not. He came around and we shook hands. He had already heard of my problematic stay. as I was showing him my expired granola bar he proceeded to quickly snatch it out of my hand and put it in his pocket. Five diamond!? Three-star!? I found this behavior very odd and expressed my concern.
Well, he wouldn’t return my granola bar, oh well, I just wanted to keep it for laughs.
Back in NC the next day I awoke to the deliveryman with an overnight package. Ray, the general manager, sent me a letter apologizing for our meeting getting off to an "unpleasant" start. Yes, when things are snatched from your hand it is "unpleasant," Ray. When you are mistreated by hotel management it makes things unnecessarily difficult. I even told him I was a writer and he should search google for my most recent report, "Consumer Report: Chevrolet SS Comes Standard with Vibration." Guess he didn’t.
He even went on to explain the "89" score and how the health department had inspected the Capitol Grille twice but hadn’t updated the score. However, this isn’t true. according to the Department of Health the score was "73" on January 26th and "89" on January 28th. also, the score wasn’t just low for ceiling tiles. It was low because "fruit flies were observed in the food storage area". Five diamond fruit flies! Three-star ceiling tiles! Fancy.
On your next trip to Nashville, TN do you want courtesy, cleanliness and comfort? If so, steer clear of The Hermitage Hotel.
Copyright © 2004 by Nathan Tabor
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