Here's a true story about my recent stay at Staybridge Suites in Lansing, MI. I hope it helps you decide on whether or not to stay at this hotel:

First let me start by saying the room was very large, nicely appointed and clean. We were very happy with our choice. The only problem being the bedding for the pullout bed was a bit worn and was torn in one corner. Also the bed is a bit hard and cheap. Overall though it's a nice looking hotel that is generally comfortable and clean. That's where the compliments end unfortunately....

We have 2 children, one of them is young and sleeps in a crib, so we asked for a crib and this was delivered (this is important info for later on in the story). We put the kids to bed about 10PM and went to bed ourselves at about midnight. At 12:45AM we were awoken by the loud "thunk!" of a slamming door. Followed by many other noises coming from the room directly adjacent to ours for the next 2 hours. This is when we discovered that the walls are likely built as cheaply as possible and contain no added soundproofing.

Finally at approximately 2:30 I was able to fall back asleep, I know this because I was continually checking the clock hoping our new neighbor would fall asleep. At 2:47 another loud "thunk!" of a slamming door followed by yelling and screaming. My children are now awake as well! At this point I'm half asleep, and very angry about being woke up so I call the front desk, here is exactly how the conversation went:

"Hello Staybridge Suites"

"Were you the person we ordered the crib from?"

"Yes that was me."

"Why would you put people next to us at 12:45 in the morning knowing that we had young children?"

"They requested a first floor room."

"Yes but you are empty, why put them next to us"

"We aren't empty sir."

"Well obviously not empty, but there's hardly anyone here."

"Sir we aren't empty."

"Ok, whatever. They are being extremely loud and arguing and they woke up my whole family. Just make them be quiet."

Click, I hung up the phone, I did not say goodbye (this will be important later).

So we do hear more yelling, but no one knocks or calls their room, strange. We would be able to hear this due to the paper thin walls. Thankfully though after a few minutes it does get quiet. Score, it's 3:15 and me and my family (including children who are still awake) can finally get some sleep. Nope... 5 minutes later a woman in the room next to us is very loudly enjoying having sex with the man she was just screaming at. I call the front desk again:

"I don't think you ever told them to be quiet and they are now having sex."

"Excuse me."

"They are still being very loud, make them stop."

"Well I'll see what I can do sir."

"If they don't stop being loud and my family can't sleep I want a refund."

"I'll put that in a note for my GM sir."

I hung up the phone and tried to go back to sleep. They finally got quiet at about 4:30. They never received a phone call or a knock at the door. Everyone falls asleep at about 5:30 AM. Anyone who's ever spent a night in a hotel with kids knows what kind of special torture this is.

So at 9:30 we go eat breakfast. They are out of sausage because apparently they weren't expecting people to eat one of the 2 hot items on the menu, but other than this it was a B- breakfast. Not too bad, not too good. While the family eats I decide to go check in with the GM:

His nametag says Bill [--].

I begin to explain to him the problem and tell him I'm in room 211. He interupts and says "We don't have a room 211, do you mean 111?" (as if he does not know who I am, you will find out he does, the only point of this comment was to belittle me) Yeah I guess it was 111.... sorry. So I finish a very shortened version of the story above and the first thing he says is:

"Did you hang up on my front desk staff?"

I'm in shock. I literally look like a nightmare, my eyes are bloodshot, you can tell I've had a horrible night. So it takes me a few seconds to even fathom this. Is he really asking me about my manners with the front desk staff after I've been up half the night and the hotel would not help me?

"Yes I did."

"She left me an e-mail about the situation. I have a zero tolerance policy towards disrespect to my hotel staff."...........

"It was 3AM and I had been woken up by people screaming after she put drunks in the room next to young children, so yes I may have been impolite and didn't say goodbye."

"Well I don't offer refunds in a situation like this."

At this point, I was more than a little angry. You are probably intelligent if you are still reading this, so I won't talk down to you to explain why.

He then continues to talk, but I'm pissed and I want an apology which I still have not received, by anyone. So I say "Are you going to apologize?" He continues to talk (I'm really not listening at this point). So I say it again "Are you going to apologize?"

"Sir if you are going to keep interupting me I'm not going to speak with you."

"Are you going to apologize or not?" At this point I'm pretty furious.

"Sir I'm sorry you did not enjoy your stay"

"In that case are you going to refund any amount of money I have paid."

'No sir I am not."

"Then I'm going to file a chargeback with my bank."

"Sir you signed a card (I guess I should have read that the card entitles me to one horrible night at Staybridge Suites and then I'll get harassed by the GM for bad manners), so I generally win all the chargebacks we receive."

**Well it's nice to know that you've been receiving so many chargebacks! At least you are spreading the word about good manners.

"Well I've been a customer at my bank for 10 years we'll see about that. Enjoy your 1 star rating!" And with that the conversation comes to an end. This entire conversation happened in front of another front desk employee, so I guess he learned how he can treat customers from his Boss, and that no matter what he does he can get away with it. Now he really likes his boss, and the next time a customer has a problem, they too will be miserable.

I call Hotels.com to see if they can give me a refund, they cannot but offer to call the GM themselves. I tell them not to bother but they say that maybe they can get a partial refund. He tells them no refund as well. Hotels.com did apologize numerious times and did not once correct my manners. For that I am grateful.

So let's sum this up:

Overall, you'll have a good stay here if you don't have anyone loud next to you and don't have to deal with William [--]. This is why the hotel has many positive ratings. Heck, we would have left a positive rating had they put the drunks next to some other person's room or better yet (Brilliant!) next to no one or denied them a room.

Don't stay here if you want to take the chance of getting someone loud next door and having one of the worst nights of your life. Based on my experience the hotel will not make them be quiet. Then if you do complain to GM William [--], not only will he not do anything about it, he'll completely ignore the problem and have the nerve to scold you about bad manners (or some other thing that irritates him about YOUR behavior, because it's clearly YOUR fault you had a horrible night).

**Update: I sent Mr. [--] an advance copy of this to give him one more chance to reconsider. He sent us a Certified Letter for $6.00 saying no and that we should not contact him anymore. I guess the irony of sending someone a letter to tell them to leave you alone is lost on him. My wife and I had a good laugh.