My husband and I had the unfortunate experience to have been bumped from our USAirways flight from Charlotte to Baltimore yesterday evening. After three hours of haggling, we were given a complimentary stay at the Ramada Inn on Woodlawn. I don't know where to begin. The room rate was $44.00 plus a $5.00 breakfast coupon. The "delightful" experience began around 11:30pm when the complimentary shuttle service provided by the Ramada picked us up at the airport. We knew we were in trouble when the white van with an 8x10 paper sign taped to the passenger door reading "Ramada Inn Shuttle Van" approached the curb. All of the other hotel shuttle vans were authentic vans clearly advertising the hotel chain they represented. This was a rent-a-shuttle circumstance if I've ever seen one. The driver apologized for being late as he was detained by having to file a police report for an accident he witnessed on his way to the airport. After shoveling 14 passengers in a 9 passenger van (literally seated upon a lap of a person you do not know). On the way to the Ramada, the driver proceeded to rant about the crime in Charlotte, that there had just been two police slain over the weekend, and they had better "crack down" on the criminals 'cause Charlotte's crime is out of control. We soon approached the intersection where the accident occurred. The police were still at the scene, as was the wreckage. We were unable to pass through the intersection, although the driver pleaded with the police that he had to get us to the Ramada Inn just down the street. The driver remarked "that's okay, I think I know a back road." Another red flag that we were in trouble. He turned down a dark road which soon turned into a dirt road, driving at a rate of speed much too dangerous for someone who wasn't sure of where he was going. Before we knew it, the road took a sharp hairpin turn to the left, taking the driver by surprise, turning just in time to avoid hitting the large oak tree that lay before us. All of us gasped. He remarked "I'm sorry, it's hard to see at night. Everything looks different from day." After hitting a dead end, he performed a five-point turn and headed back to the main road. He barreled through a stop sign, then proceeded to another "back road". Soon we arrived our USAirways complimentary stay for having booked you on an over-sold flight hotel. I approached the front desk, said good evening, and was simply asked "smoking or non-smoking, can I have the coupon." We were told that the main elevators were out of order, to walk past the elevators, turn left, walk down this huge corridor of rooms to the other elevator. As we turned into the corridor, I couldn't help but think of The Shinning. We walked up to our room, began to slip the key card into the door, and noticed the door was already opened. We cautiously entered the room, looked under the two double beds and the shower for the monster that might be waiting for us. It was like we were in a time warp, a bad motel from the 50's. Surveying the room we discovered that the two lights above the shared nightstand did not work. Checking to see if they were unplugged, we saw that the triple-plug adapter hosting the cords for the lights and the alarm clock was hanging out of the socket. FIRE HAZARD!! I haven't seen so many cords in a socket in my life. We unplugged the entire thing from the wall socket. Pulling down the skanky bedspreads, we were greeted by a blanket with huge cigarette burn holes scattered throughout. The sheets look like they had been slept in. There were stains on the carpet that looked like....oh, nevermind. The room was freezing. To top it off, the smoke detector was not working, dead battery. Oh, did I mention I didn't notice a sprinkler system. As another traveler noted, yes, there is a gentleman's club adjacent to this hotel. Not a good sign. This place was a nightmare. We slept in our clothes, if you could call it sleep. Maybe about two hours total??
Please consider yourself warned. If you have the pleasure of being given a complimentary stay by USAirways at this hotel, you're better off sleeping in the airport!