My wife and I recently stayed at the Quality Inn Near Six Flags St. Louis in Pacific, Missouri. We brought with us four teenagers and one chaperone from our church’s youth group and reserved two double-bed rooms for two nights.

Following our first night at the Quality Inn, our group visited the area’s local theme park and later returned to the hotel sometime mid-afternoon. Upon our return, the hotel’s General Manager sternly informs me he is holding our group responsible for water damages discovered that day beneath the carpet of one of our rooms, and, subsequently, the ceiling of the room directly below our own.

Completely confident our group didn’t make any spills during the night I contested the manager’s claim and requested proof to support his accusation. He proceeded to show me the ceiling of the room below our own (see attached photo) and the soiled carpet itself within the room we were occupying, which, to my surprise, was soiled.

Due to the serious extent of this water damage, I tried to explain to the manager how ridiculous it was to suggest that our group could have possibly caused such a problem overnight EVEN IF we somehow knocked over a bucket of ice or stray water bottle, which, of course, we had not. Rather, I sought to explain, “It was MORE LIKELY the room’s air conditioning unit had a slow leak that over time created this problem.”

Despite my explanation of the obvious issue, the manager defended the working order of his air conditioner and continued to insist my group was to blame and that we would be billed.

At this point, I informed the manager I intended to contact my attorney for advice, and flexibly offered to meet with him later to re-discuss the situation. As I waited to speak again with the manager, my wife and I canceled the majority of our evening plans until matters could be resolved.

By the time our group was ready for bed, I was still waiting to hear back from the manager, who, according to the front desk clerk, was now threatening to call the police to file an official report. So, I waited for the manager to contact me and for the police to arrive—neither occurred.

Later that night, still waiting to hear from someone, I took the liberty of videotaping for myself a steady drip of water originating from the air conditioner in our room which I was fortunate to discover with a flashlight. Please note, this was AFTER the manager assured me his own maintenance technician had already examined the unit while we were at the park and was confident there was no problem.

Finally, after wasting the second half of our trip, I had proof that the fault of these damages rested with the hotel and not our group. So, with my camera in hand, I immediately took my video to the front desk for review. All I received in response was a quick insincere “Oh, sorry.”

The next morning as I proceeded to check-out it was made clear to me of the hotel management’s lack of concern for our troubles as no discount or refund was even offered for our stay. I was thoroughly disappointed.

I would not recommend that people stay at this hotel with the current management unless they are willing to take the chance of being swindled. Even our US judiciary system holds people "innocent until proven guilty!" But I guess when guests sign this hotel's disclaimer, they are setting themselves up to be guilty simply because the hotel management is too cheap to pay for their own building's upkeep.

Nice, comfortable room for the price.

Things must have gone downhill since the reviews from 2005 and 2006 were posted here. We booked this place based on those two and wish we had checked a little further. First, there was nothing awful about the stay, so if you can't find anything else, I would not be afraid to stay here. It's just that there are a lot of choices in this area, and it is hard to believe one cannot do better. The entrance to the hotel is down a residential street and you have to wonder how the zoning people let that one by. We were first assigned a room in the the "basement", a lower level of rooms that face the subdivision. The room was musty and we wouldn't take it. Our upstairs room was equipped with a toilet that required lifting the lid to manually pull the flush valve. A cable tie had been used to replace the pull chain. Can only suppose the maids know the trick but won't call maintenance. The hotel is decorated a little on the odd side, but nothing too weird to accept, just one of those things that make you ask "why". It won't hurt you to stay here, but I bet you can do better in the immediate area.

We stayed at this hotel for 5 days and were very pleased. We had a comfortable bed and a great shower. We liked the hot breakfast in the morning before we left for the days activities. The staff is friendly and helpful. The only drawback to this hotel is there is no elevator. If you are on the lower or upper floor you must carry your luggage up and down stairs. This was the only negative we could find with staying here. If we get to Pacific, MO again we would definitely stay here again.