Get well soon, hubby, because I HATE this hotel....
Written: Jan 19 '09
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Near the big Little Rock Hospitals, UAMS and VA.
Cons: Dangerous neighborhood, poor security, slacker housekeepers, dirty bathtubs.
The Bottom Line: If you have an ill family member and need to live away from home during his/her hospitalization, find a comfortable place, even if it's a little further away.
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| frazzledspice's Full Review: La Quinta Inn Little Rock Medical Center Area |
My husband had an angioplasty at the VA Medical Center in Little Rock this fall, and, since it is 3 hours from our home, I decided to stay at one of the recommended hotels, La Quinta in Little Rock.
And while he may have had trouble sleeping in CCU, I probably had even more in this hotel.
It was close to the hospital--about 1 1/2 miles down the interstate--but it was in a dangerous neighborhood, and if you ventured a block or two in the wrong direction, it was in an even more dangerous neighborhood. Because the two of us stayed there the night before, the clerk gave us a room "in the back" so that my hubby could have a good night's sleep. But on the next night, Friday, when I was all alone, it seemed as if they rented out to partiers. In the middle of the night I could hear people playing around with the lock on my door. I grabbed my cell phone, poised to call 9/11. It seemed as if they were there forever, and I was getting more and more nervous. When I complained the next day, I was told that "the police patrol the back of the motel all the time...."
No luck, either, on getting the room cleaned (and the tub was dirty when we arrived.) When I mentioned this to the desk clerk, she said, "Oh, I'm not sure those housekeepers are doing their jobs."
When my husband was resting after surgery, I went back to the hotel around 2 p.m. The housekeepers hadn't been in the room yet, but one knocked on the door. "If you don't want me to clean your room today, you can just sign this paper," she said. I was flabbergasted. It was the first time I'd ever been in a motel where, instead of cleaning your room, housekeepers came around asking you to sign a permission slip for them NOT to clean your room. And since my room wasn't that clean when we first arrived, I did want them to clean the room.
When I turned on the shower, brown water came out of the showerhead for a good 30 seconds before it turned clear. This was not the kind of motel I was used to staying in.
The TV and Wi-fi worked well; heating was adequate. It was just a vaguely uncomfortable environment for a woman alone whose husband was in the cardiac care unit to be.
The breakfast bar offered cereal, fruit, muffins, toast, waffles, juice, and coffee. One thing I liked about the breakfast bar was that the other guests also had family in the hospital and we were able to form a little community and commiserate with one another.
When my husband had to stay an extra night at the hospital, I really considered changing hotels. I had stayed at the LaQuinta downtown, near the Clinton Library, for a business conference earlier that year, and had really enjoyed it. But finally I decided to tough it out and put a chair up against the door.
If he should go to the VA Hospital again, I think I'd stay at a hotel in a safer neighborhood that was a little bit further away from the hospital. I had to get in my car and drive there anyway, and, being all alone in a distant city, it would have been more pleasant to have stayed in a better hotel.
BTW, this is the only negative experience I've ever had at a LaQuinta Inn, and we've stayed at LaQuintas in St. Louis and Columbia, MO as well.
Recommended:
No
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