I was so excited to stay in this place because when we first arrived, I liked the parking garage all tucked away beneath the rooms, and the wooden siding of the '70s-style building. (Hey, we all like different things. I like '70s architecture.) There were friendly people in the hallways who held open doors for us as we brought up our luggage. The rate was great, especially for having a bedroom, a bathroom, a kitchenette and a separate living room/TV room.
I smelled a moldy smell in the lving room dresser as I was unpacking clothing and just sort of resolved not to use that particular drawer with its bottom sagging from water damage. No big deal.
But then my husband pointed out the living room couch to me. Wow. It looked like they hadn't cleaned it or reupholstered it for maybe 20 years. It was full of holes and stains and I imagined scabies crawling all over anyone who sat on it. It looked really dangerous. I'm not saying it was, but it looked very dirty.
I thought, well, OK, so we won't sit on the couch.
But then, while I was continuing to unpack (ever the optimist), I hear the sound of water running in the bathroom above ours. OK, noisy pipes in an old building. Don't be a princess. Deal with it.
But then I heard water cascading into our bathtub. (!) I ran into the bathroom to see a good-sized clot of nickel-sized holes in a sagging, re-re-plastered, stained corner of our bathroom ceiling. Water from the bathroom upstairs (their toilet? their tub?) was cascading down into our tub.
Alright, if the building is structurally unsound, maybe we shouldn't stay more than one night. We'd been driving all day and so stayed the night, fitfully sleeping in what felt like a not very clean bed and got outta there in the morning.
Oh, and there was only a very flimsy door with one very skimpy lock on it. Other locks had been torn asunder/broken apart.
I mentioned the ceiling leak to the woman at the front desk the next morning. She seemed nonchalant and not particularly apologetic. Hmmph.
We left.
- Americas Best Value Inn Portland
