This was my first stay at Super8 (we became stranded in Worthington, MN due to poor road conditions) and I cannot imagine ever staying at another Super8 given our experience.
When checking in, I requested a non-smoking room (my children have breathing problems triggered by smoke)--although the room may have had a non-smoking placard on the door, the ENTIRE hotel reaked of smoke.
Once we made it into our room, I attempted to put items into the refrigerator--but found that it (and the microwave) weren't plugged in. When I tried to plug it in, BLUE SPARKS flew out of the outlet and onto the floor. I went to the front desk and reported the problem. The desk clerk gave me a key for the room across the hall.
We hauled all our belongings into the second room--the fridge and microwave were unplugged here as well (however there was a power strip at this outlet to plug them into). Unfortunately, when my daughter tried to turn on the TV, there were no channels. I looked behind the TV and found that the cable was not attached. I tried to screw it in, only to realize that the reason that it wasn't plugged in was because a piece of the cable was broken off in the back of the TV and it could no longer be secured.
I returned to the front desk, where the clerk told me that she would try to get the owners (who weren't onsite at the moment) to come and switch that TV for the one in the first room we'd been in. I returned to the second room, and after about a half-hour, a gentleman came to the door. Unfortunately, he didn't speak English very well and I had to explain and demonstrate a few times before he understood the problem. First he accused me of breaking the TV, and I wasn't sure that he understood or believed me when I told him that we'd found it that way. Ironically, his idea to fix the problem was to send me back to the first room we'd been in. I tried to explain the electrical issue we'd had in that room, but I don't think he understood that fully either. He left, having done nothing.
I waited another half-hour (thinking he'd return and swap the television) and then went back to the front desk. I had intended to request a refund and to take my chances on making the next town off the interstate, but while waiting I met another stranded driver whose truck had flipped over after hitting a patch of ice. At that point I knew I couldn't take my kids back out on the interstate, and that we were truly stuck in this smelly, run-down mess of a hotel.
At that point the owner's wife had taken over desk duty. Her English was a bit better than her husband's, even so I had to take her to the room to show her the problem with the TV before she understood it, and her solution was to have us move back across the hall (again). I explained the electrical problem to her (which I took to be a FIRE HAZARD)--her answer for that was to offer to bring the power strip from the second room back to the first room. I tried again to explain that sparks from electrical outlets were dangerous, but she either didn't understand it or didn't feel it was that much of a concern, and insisted on sending us back to the first room. Being completely stranded due to the freezing rain/ice storm with two small children, I felt I had no choice. I moved back into the first room (although I unplugged as many items as I could--using only one lamp, the TV and the fridge) to try to avoid overloading the outlets.
We spent a VERY miserable night there--the 'beds' (and I use the term generously) were actually pieces of wood nailed together on the floor to provide a frame under the mattress sets. We weren't able to shower in the cracked, grimy bathtub the next morning (and believe me, having stayed in such grime and smell made me DESPERATELY want to bathe!) because the shower faucet was stripped and was stuck on SCALDING hot water.
The breakfast was NOT fresh--and featured stale day old muffins, a crushed loaf of bread for toast. The only redeeming quality of the breakfast was that they did have a waffle maker. However, my son (who has a gluten allergy) could not eat a single item as they didn't have so much as one apple or banana, fortunately I had some gluten-free cinnamon crackers from my car to tide him over until we could leave.
At that point I was eager to pack up the car and see if the roads were passable. Unfortunately even that had to be made difficult, as the hotel was having in-room safes delivered that morning and they were stacked at the bottom of the stairs (no elevator of course) so I had to wait for someone to come and move them just so I could get past with our suitcases.
I have to say that BEFORE my stay in Worthington, if you'd asked my opinion of Super8, I thought that they were modest, but tidy roadside inns perfect for budget travellers. AFTER my experience in Worthington, I would have to say that a night spent roadside in my car would have been preferable. I nearly cried when I saw that just one exit further east was a brand-new Holiday Inn Express.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
