Odor & Room Problems Plague Hixson Comfort Inn of Chattanooga, Tennessee – a Review
4833 Hixson Pk.
Hixson, TN 37343
Phone: (423) 877-8388
Fax: (423) 870-8668
Toll-Free: (800) 424-6423
There are only a few other motel brands in Hixson, Tennessee. They all seemed to be within a couple of dollars of each other on price. This particular motel was $71.00 per night for two. This was for a room with a king size bed and two adults at the AAA rate. The Comfort Inn of Hixson was very convenient to where we need to be. Stays at other Comfort Inns are usually positive. So, we decided to give it a try.
Besides cost and location another reason that we looked at the motel is because of Goodsearch.Com. Choice Hotels owns the Comfort Inn brand (among others). They also participate in Goodsearch.Com. This means that I can donate to charity each time I book a room through Goodsearch.Com. Donating doesn’t cost any extra than you would normally pay. It’s just an easy way to support the charity of your choice. Visit the Goodsearch.com website, designate your charity and go. You are redirected to a link on the motel chain (or other business) of your choice. In my case, I pointed and clicked my way to Choicehotels.com and began to book the room.
The Choice Hotels website is user friendly. It takes only a minute to set-up an account. In a just a few minutes I had the room we wanted at a price that we could live with. The process was smooth. I was able to guarantee for late arrival with my credit card. There was a line where I could make special requests to the staff. A confirmation was automatically emailed to me. I also had a copy sent to my husband. Nice!
The motel was a snap to find. When we pulled into the parking lot the first thing we noticed is that the outdoor pool is still open. It even looked to be well-tended. It’s November so this really surprised me. The grounds looked clean and tidy. Parking was easy, adequate and well lighted. The rooms are on the interior of the building. We weren’t disappointed with the lobby either. It sparkled. There was a welcoming bowl of candy on the counter and no line. Good so far.
The desk clerk wore neither a tametag nor uniform. The check-in experience was fast but brought new meaning to the term “economy of words”. We had planned to reserve the room on the card but to pay cash upon arrival. The desk clerk did not have change so we had to use the credit card anyway. The whole transaction was handled with less than 10 words. We didn’t feel that the clerk was being unfriendly but seemed to just be shy.
Unfortunately, when we got to the room we found it was way below expectations. There was this awful eucalyptus smell to the room. I thought it would get better by running the air conditioner fan for a little while. We turned it on and went to dinner. We got back to find out that in the hour and a half that the unit was working it had not helped at all. The odor was still as strong as ever. Then, we noticed that the toilet was leaking water onto the bathroom floor!
I called the front desk. The same clerk was on duty. In a professional manner, I was advised to come to the front desk and get keys for another room. The clerk said there is no maintainence staff at night and the best we could do was to change rooms. My husband gathered our things while I trotted to the desk. When I got there I had to explain the problems again. Ten dollars came off of our bill. This made me a little happier.
But then a surprising thing happened. I was asked if my husband would mind crawling behind the toilet to turn off the water! This left me stunned. He was not thrilled when he heard the request but he did it. By this time, we both felt a little sorry for the desk clerk. Another guest was complaining about something else while I was at the desk. It was obviously not a good night for the motel.
The second room was much better. There was no odor and everything worked. The room was clean. Whew!
On an upside, we were able to get a good night sleep. The king size bed was comfortable. I loved the extra pillows that were on the bed! We also found an extra blanket in the closet. My husband appreciated the coffee pot and both of the packages of coffee. I pretended not to see the iron and ironing board tucked into the closet. They have wireless internet. Our second room was halfway down the hall from the office. The signal strength ranged from good to very good and would drop to nothing. After about half a minute you could reconnect.
Breakfast was interesting. The last health inspection for the Comfort Inn showed a score of 88 in June of 2008. This surprised me at first. Everything looked very clean to me. The assortment was good. They have those cute little waffles that you cook yourself. We also found gravy and biscuits. The arrangement was pleasing and well set-out. But upon closer inspection you begin to see why the score is so low. The milk and juice were in glass pitchers that were designed to have a core of ice running from the lid through the beverage. These were empty. By 8:15 am the juices and milk were all at about room temperature and icky. The waffles were great but there was no spray to keep them from sticking. The result was that the waffles were removed in pieces. One woman scraped up what she could and threw it away then tossed a pat of butter from the bagels onto the warm waffle iron for her husband’s waffle. It turned out easily and beautifully. I sure wish I had thought of that.
Checkout went better than check in but not by much. The desk clerk had to put down the newspaper and stop working the crossword puzzle to check us out. It seemed to annoy the clerk. The clerk was friendly when spoken to but was definitely not outgoint.
Overall, our stay here was not great or terrible. I would give it an overall 2.5 out of 5. The breakfast, room issues and staff took it down quite a bit from what we wanted by staying here. Our goal was a clean comfortable room, in a safe location with friendly staff and a decent breakfast. This visit didn’t quite measure up.
Will I stay here next time? I might but more probable, I won’t.
