Review of Best Western Plus St. Louis Airport Hotel 2*

I arrived at 1:30pm on the day of check-in only to be rudely told that I could not check in until 3pm by one of the staff members, the other staff member there actually took my name and checked the computer to see if any rooms were ready to use, when it was confirmed there wasn't, I went back out to my vehicle and drove around attempting to find another hotel, even considering booking one nigh at a much more expensive place and spending the second night in my van, because my experience had already soured. I wish I would have followed through with that because when I returned to the hotel lobby at 2:45 there were two families attempting to deal with the staff and getting absolutely no where. One woman, as far as I can tell, was just trying to get checked in to any room they could give her, while the other family was upset because the woman at the desk had charged two of their credit cards twice for the same reservation. They were upset because the refund would not appear on their cards for 2-3 days and they were in the midst of a trip that would be effected by the money not being available immediately. They were upset because it was the mistake of the hotel and they were not doing enough to correct it. The owner or head manager of the hotel yelled (and I mean literally yelled) at the woman who had made the mistake in front of all the customers then turned to yell at another employee who had just returned from checking on rooms demanding to know why she had allowed the first woman to make the mistake. Ultimately the police were called and a semblance of order was restored. At this point I had been in the lobby waiting for almost 15 minutes. In the course of waiting my 2 year old had gotten sick and vomited on herself, so I had done my best to clean her up and was eager to check in so that I could more thoroughly take care of her. The family ahead of me was concerned about the cleanliness of the rooms since the police fiasco had included complaints about smells and dirty rooms, so one of the employees was dispatched to check all the rooms that were supposed to be assigned to the family to confirm they were clean before the family paid for the reservation. When I finally got to the front of the line, I was informed that because of a mishap with Expedia, my reservation was not available. I explained to the woman that I had not reserved through Expedia. She kept insisting that Expedia had overbooked and that they did not have a room for me. The owner's wife (I assume) reiterated what the other woman was saying. I explained that I did not have other options. I was 4 hours from home and in town for a convention, my child had gotten sick and I was just trying to check in to a room, at that point any room. I was offered a smoking room (which was not what I reserved), but I said I would take it as long as it didn't stink. That caused an uproar and instead of giving me the room they gave it to the person behind me in line. I kept telling them that I was willing to take the room, but I was ignored. Then I was told again that there were no rooms available. I called customer relations while standing in the lobby and around that time two more employees arrived for work, bringing the total number of employees to four plus the owner and his wife. Customer relations spoke with the owner's wife and then one of the employees who had just arrived and within a few minutes after getting off the phone, I had my room, however, when I inquired about a discount for my trouble and the fact that I was still getting a smoking room, I was told by the owner that he was giving no discounts. This is the worst experience I have ever had and I will NEVER stay at this location again and will think twice about Choice Hotels as a whole. If this is what I can expect from a Choice Hotel, I'm much safer paying the higher dollar amount and knowing I will receive consistently great customer service.