We just stayed at the Quality Inn for a lacrosse tournament at Bryant University. I am a semi-picky mom of four children, and have been all over the place for sports tournaments and for college shopping. First the pros - the hotel is very conveniently located near Bryant. The staff was friendly, and parking was ample. The beds and bathroom were clean. Breakfast was the usual for these type hotels. Now the cons - this is an old hotel. We also opened the door of our room to an awful musty smell. Having one son deathly allergic to mold, I asked the manager to come to the room to see what I was talking about. He explained that the hotel was built on ledge, that there were many trees, and that created a humidity problem. I repeatedly said " the room smells musty" and he repeatedly explained that the problem was humidity and he would bring in a de-humidifier to the room. I gave up, and had him open the window - which only opens 6" for security reasons - understandable but doesn't help with the smell. The manager nicely called later to say he had a room available on the second floor, which did not smell musty, but we had settled in and remained in our room.
This hotel required a two night stay with no cancellation, and any changes or cancellations have to be made three days before the reservation for refunds. When I made the reservation, I didn't notice this policy (my fault), but find it hard to believe that this type hotel doesn't have a standard cancellation policy and one night minimum. I did get a reminder email about the cancellation/change policy the week before our stay, which was nice. The day before we were to leave, plans changed, and we only needed one night stay. I knew I was out of luck, but now will never book at a hotel where I cannot cancel the day of travel or have a minimum length stay. The reason this was particularly annoying, is that although we only stayed one night, the price for two nights was over $350. This hotel is overpriced.
After all the traveling I've done recently, I have learned something new, too. Any hotel that offers smoking rooms is probably an old hotel, and will always smell like smoke. If we return to the area, we will not be staying here.
- Smithfield Quality Inn
