Oh well... what can you do?

I am over in Champaign, Illinois with my wife and our son, so that Daniel can do a college visit at the University of Illinois today. We drove over yesterday afternoon, went to do just a bit of shopping and bought Daniel a couple pairs of jeans. (Hey when you find some to fit the kid, you'd better get them. He wears a 28 or 29 inch waste and 30 inch length, and you just don't find those just anywhere.) We went out and splurged and had a nice dinner and then came back to the Holiday Inn, to jump in the pool and soak in the hot tub just a bit. Those who have been around me know that my back has been giving me fits for the past 2 weeks, so I was really looking forward to the hot tub.

So... we get ready and go out to the pool area, and notice that the hot tub is not exactly what I'd call clean. Still, I've been hurting so bad that I'm going to brave it, so I turn on the jets and step in... and it was cold! I've been in several motels that will have the "hot tub" temperature set fairly low because they feared someone being hurt... but this was cold. The water in the swimming pool was warmer than the hot tub. So.... no hot tub for my aching back. No problem, I'll use the suana... NOT! It was out of order! OK... I am getting ticked off! I could go on and on about how disappointed I am at the Holiday Inn, but suffice it to say that the room was dirty, had hairs all over the bathroom floor, the light fixture was hanging down above the sink in the bathroom, water was leaking from the toilet leaving the floor in the bathroom wet, they only gave us 2 wash clothes and when we tried to call down to get more, we discovered that our phone did not work. Libby went down to the desk to get more, and could not find anyone. She eventually tracked down a restaurant employee who tracked down the shift manager and he got her the wash clothes. Libby told him that the phone in our room did not work, the sauna was broken, and the hot tub was cold. He said, "I'll tell maintenance." No apology. No offer to discount our room. Just, "I'll tell maintenance." You know... when you pay over $100 for a room, you expect a little more. Seems like this is becoming the norm for Holiday Inn's anymore. I've just about written them off my list. I used to work for Holiday Inn, actually have for several Holiday Inn's over the years, and I know that their standard is supposed to be much higher than this. It just seems that no one is minding the farm anymore. Sad. To top everything else off, this morning we get up and Libby and I have both already taken our showers and Daniel was in the shower when I turned on Fox News and noticed the time. I turned and looked at our clock and realized that a previous guest had set the clock to eastern time! So, instead of getting up at 6:45, we were up and going at 5:45. Oh well, it gave me time to rant here on my blog and we will go out and have a good breakfast in just a minute. I could choose to get all upset about this, but what good would that do. It would just mess up our day, and I'm not willing to let it do that, so.... Happy Columbus Day Everyone!