My husband, daughter, granddaughter and I traveled to Ft. Jackson, SC, to attend our younger daughter's graduation from Basic Training. We planned to stay 2 nights at the Quality Inn Ft. Jackson, less than 5 miles from the base. I called in the early afternoon to notify them that we were in the area and were still planning to take the room. Being that most of the local hotels were booked full due to the nearly 600 soldiers graduating the next day, I wanted to be sure to have a room waiting for us when we got there. After driving 16 hours and being awake for nearly 38 hours, we were exhausted and checked in at the hotel. The front desk person's name was Melvin or Melville and was polite as can be. I gave him my debit card to pay for the room. We started to leave for our room and overheard Melvin tell another person who had come in behind us that he was sorry there were no more rooms available. I thought "Wow, I'm sure glad I called to confirm this afternoon!" When we opened the hotel room door however, the thick stale cigarette smoke about knocked me over. I did not book a smoking room, so I called the front desk and told Melvin that there was a mistake. He informed me that according to my reservation I had booked a smoking room. I found my confirmation e-mail and took it to the office to show him. He said that it was not the same as what he had on his screen and it definitely said that I booked a smoking room. Being as exhausted as we were, we decided to suck it up and go to bed. I knew already that there were no other rooms available there and I was sure there were none in the area.
In the morning we had to be at the Fort by 6:30 a.m. to pick up our daughter's orders as we would be transporting her to her next assignment in Gulfport, Mississippi. The graduation started at 9 a.m. We left the base around 1 after waiting in one long line after another to get her signed off the base. Finally got back to the hotel around 2:30 and began packing. We certainly were not planning to stay another night at that hotel. My husband and I went to the front office to inform them that we were leaving. We were told that we were supposed to check out prior to noon. It didn't say this on any of the paperwork that they had given me, nor were there any signs posted in the office. A cleaning cart and two maids were working on a room 3 doors down from us at that hour yet we were told that they would not be able to reimburse us the 2nd night because they didn't have anyone to clean the room. Melvin picked up the phone and said "They are checking out early"...no, he didn't say "the party in room 150 was leaving" but he just said "They are checking out early". Out walked a woman with a sour look on her face. She did not greet us, ask what seems to be the problem, etc. She only stated that the reason why we had a smoking room was that the card we reserved the room with was denied. I asked her why I wasn't notified and she said that the travel agent did not provide contact information. I found that hard to believe and told her so. She didn't care. She said that when the card was declined, she cancelled my reservation. When I called in the day before to confirm my reservation, she simply made a new reservation and gave me the smoking room. I asked her why I wasn't told at that time that there was a problem with my reservation and she only repeated what she had already told me. I told her that the card I used to reserve the room was not the card I intended to pay with and I had already given Melvin a different card. She then snapped at me "YOUR CARD WAS DENIED, PERIOD!" I told her she didn't have to yell and then she told me that she wasn't yelling! She then said "Have a nice day!" I walked out and continued to load the car and drive away. Sure enough, I was charged for the two nights. I am presently trying to reach the corporate office to report such crazy, rude behavior. No answers yet.
We left the area and decided to choose Marriott Properties for the rest of our trip and we found the Fairfield Inn in Atlanta, GA, and Gulfport, MS, far superior in customer care, room cleanliness and cost. I will never stay at another Quality Inn. They sure don't have a clue what Quality means!!!
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC