My brother and now sister-in-law chose this hotel for the weekend of their wedding for both their bridal party and relatives as it was relatively new and a seemingly nice facility. When I arrived with my wife and 2 children on Friday afternoon, we were hoping to use the swimming pool until the rehearsal that evening, but as we walked by the pool an employee informed us it was not available due to some sort of electrical heating issues. When we inquired at the front desk later when it might be repaired, they stated that it should be fixed by that evening.
We then proceeded to our room which seemed rather warm. We adjusted the thermostat and waited 45 minutes to notice that the room had only gotten warmer to 83 degrees. We called the desk and after various questioning of us, the young man decided to come up and check it for himself to discover that it probably was not working. He offered us another room and a $10 discount for the inconvenience, which seemed fine at the time until we found our new room also did not cool down much below the mid-70s at best but were willing to deal with it to get through the weekend.
The next morning we awoke to find that we (and seemingly everyone else with whom we spoke) had no hot water to shower. We confronting the front desk, they stated that it would be resolved by the afternoon. It was related to the pool issue, which still was not working. We left for the wedding assuming it would be resolved for our next morning showers and maybe let the kids swim before we left.
However, we once again awoke to no hot water. My father, who had booked the rooms for our side of the family, asked the front desk employees and then the on-duty manager about what compensation would be made due to our troubled stay. The manager shared that she could only offer $30 off for each his and the newlyweds' room, to which he was not satisfied and I believe continues to be discussing with the company.
What I found perhaps the worst of all about this was their dishonestly in not being up front with their problems with the new customers we saw checking in (whom my father warned when he noticed the desk staff shared no information) in addition to those who had experienced such a poor stay. To consistently tell us it would be resolved and then not fulfill their statement and then essentially offer a very meager compensation does not strike me as a business putting the comfort of their customers first in hopes of return business.
The only exception to the entire miserable stay was the decent breakfast area. Batter to make your own waffles using their 2 irons as well as an assortment of various breakfast pastries and beverages were available. A kind female employee worked hard to consistently restock the food in addition trying to clean the area due to some kids from a travelling team that were rather messy.
- Country Inn Merrillville
- Merrillville Country Inn
