Picture this: South Jersey around 4pm on Xmas eve, you arrive at a shift change, check in, pick up the key, go to your room and drop off luggage--not a lot--then leave for an early dinner, returning around 8:30. A woman at the desk in ill-fitting uniform is chatting with a woman with a shaved cocker spaniel. Holiday greetings around. Head to the room, key won't work, so you return to first floor (you're laden with the remainder of your luggage--you're musicians, you have instruments), talk to the maître d’hôtel, who re-keys the card and sends you to a room across the hall--apparently you're in 210, not 205, as you thought. You elevator back up and enter room 210. Strange clothes, your bag is missing, and the heat is on max. You return to the desk.(third trip). Nobody's there. You wait a few minutes and finally hear breathing from the corner--the clerk is or was asleep. You tell her (a) it's not YOUR room and (b) your luggage is somewhere else in the motel. She AGAIN checks the records, realizes you were correct in thinking you were in 205, rekeys the card (second time), and you finally enter the room. Thirty minutes wait. She appears exasperated, outraged, says nothing.
Around 2 a.m. you're awakened by someone apparently vacuuming, loudly, either overhead or in an adjacent room. Vacuuming ceases after fifteen minutes, replaced by the loud hum of the refrigerator in the room. Minutes later, more vacuuming...
The wall-mounted lamp was unplugged when we entered, had to move furniture to get to it. Charge for wireless: $4.95 per night. Teevee worked, but the remote was flakey. No housekeeping in sight.
Imagine how much more interesting this would have been if the guy in 210 had been in bed, exiting the shower, otherwise occupied when we walked into his room.
- Cherry Hill Extended Stay
- Extended Stay Cherry Hill
