I had a little bit of a tough time finding the hotel: it was hiding behind the Steak & Shake and was technically on a side street, not the main road as the address seems to indicate.
My reservation was for a Single Queen, non-smoking, ground floor preferred since I walk with a cane. Well, my room was away from the main building and upstairs: I was told there were no downstairs rooms available. OK, so I decided to tough it out for the two nights I was staying there.
The room was clean and quiet overall, but it was not a Queen size bed as I had requested on my reservation, but a Full Size bed. I called the desk and the clerk insisted it was a Queen room. So I measured it and found it was 9 inches too narrow for a Queen, but "just right" for a Full Size bed.
I didn't notice until I had to use bathroom that there was NO toilet paper and NO roller. I called down to the Front Desk and was told I'd have to come down to the desk to get a roll of paper. They messed up (and tried to deny it) so I have to go fix the problem? The next day, the housekeeper left an extra roll of TP, but no roller. The shower was clean and there was plenty of hot water, but the towels were on the small side.
The bed was relatively comfortable, but the pillows were flat, so I had to retrieve my "emergency" pillows from my car.
There wasn't a lot to eat nearby except for the Steak & Shake in front of the hotel, or the IHOP a mile west at I-35. The Front Desk Clerk was helpful enough to send me about 2 miles north where there was a small variety of eateries such as Chipotle, Applebees and a small BBQ place. There was also 24 Hour Target where I could get some more allergy medicine.
Breakfast was a little better than expected with four kinds of cereal (one un-sweetened), 2-3 kinds of sweet rolls, and bread for toast. The juice looked and tasted like juice flavored water. Everything else seemed to be OK, just really watery juice.
I didn't care for the housekeepers standing around watching me as I moved my suitcase, medicine bag and pillows from the room. They kept asking me "are you done yet?" It was 9am and I didn't have to be out until 11, so why were they so impatient?
Checkout was relatively easy...once the clerks showed up. They had all my information, including my rewards number, but I was charged a safe fee, even though I didn't use the safe. I was also charged a "utility surcharge", Aren't utilities included in the room? Or is this a surcharge to cover their low rates? The kicker was being charged 19 percent (yes NINETEEN PERCENT) sales tax. Oddly enough, the Ramada Inn across the street only charges 17 percent tax, but their rates are $15 higher, so I guess the higher "sales tax" must compensate them for having cheaper rooms. So with the higher tax, I only saved $5 from across the street. I think next time, I'll do a little more shopping around and check not only rates, but tax percentages.
- Howard Johnson Overland Park
- Overland Park Howard Johnson
