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Pennsylvania hotel breaking all the rules

by Meg Massie (RSS feed) on Sep 30th 2008 at 3:00PM

When inspectors from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture responded to a consumer complaint at the Holiday Inn in Lancaster County, they were surprised by what they found -- but given the hotel's laundry list of offenses, perhaps it shouldn't have been such a shock.

When the hotel's walk-in refrigerator failed, they moved its contents to a guest room for cooling. The room's air conditioner was turned all the way down to 65 degrees -- 24 degrees higher than the maximum temperature allowed by state public health guidelines. This is but one of many ridiculous incidents that begs the question: Why is this Holiday Inn still open?

On the same day of the food inspection, Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement officers searched the hotel and found that it was selling liquor without a license, and had been doing so for over a year, when ownership changed hands and the new owners never sought to renew the liquor license.

The problems don't end there.

Treasury officials say the hotel has failed to pay taxes since July 21. There is no way to know how much the hotel owes, because those figures come from the hotel's monthly reports, and guess what? Those aren't accurate or complete, either. However, the state Department of Revenue recently placed a lien on the property for $29,259.28 in unpaid sales taxes for November and December of 2007.

Employees paint an even grimmer picture for the Holiday Inn. They say paychecks have been late and have bounced, and they have been paying insurance premiums out of their paychecks, yet the hotel isn't actually carrying insurance. One employee found this out the hard way when he went in for surgery and was told he didn't have insurance, even though he'd been paying for it through his employer.

Housekeeping employees have been instructed to rinse out and reuse disposable supplies in guest rooms. This includes refilling used shampoo bottles and -- ew -- rinsing out and reusing trash bags. The job market in Lancaster must be pretty dismal for these workers to stick around.

On top of everything else, utilities and cable have been shut off at the hotel due to failure to pay bills, and the building has failed fire code inspections as well.

What does a hotel in Lancaster County, PA have to do to get shut down?!

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Reader Comments (Page 6 of 6)

Midnightblaze Oct 1st 2008 5:22PM

It would have been nice for this Meg Massie to mention that this Holiday Inn was terminated as a Holiday Inn on the 29th at 5:00 pm. Holiday Inn is getting tight on these hotels that don't want to conform to standards. Have you seen or heard about their new look? Several hotels have the new look and the hotels are beautiful. You will know it when you see it as things are changing at Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels... and yes, I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night!

Tom Oct 1st 2008 11:22PM

They also shut the restuarant down on Oct 1, 2008, had their power cut off for at least 6-7 hrs due to non payment on Oct 1 2008, were in court in Sheffield AL, today filing an injunction to keep from being ran out of town by the city on Oct 1, 2008, Greentree Holiday Inn also Kronos based lost their flag on Monday sept 29th as well as did Lansing MI. So its not the authors fault stuff is happening to fast to write about it and keep up. There will be another article on this on the Sunday Newspaper again this week www.lancasteronline.com.

I drove through their parking lot this evening and counted 3 cars. I am assuming that was employees because after they day that hotel has had today and the week they are going to have I cant see anyone staying there. I have confirmed reports that many many cancelations for that property took place today. This is a problem whereever Kronos is not just Lancaster.

Again, this was a great article..and we cant fault her for not being able to keep up..she has to take a breath now and then too...if she were to try to keep up with everything going on there at the moment she wouldnt have time to eat sleep or drink...heh

christina Oct 1st 2008 6:16PM

I believe this is indicative of just one bad apple, because I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Portland Oregon a few weeks ago, and it was totally fine, nice, clean, safe, and I would stay there again

Dave Oct 1st 2008 6:22PM

Unfortunately, I have had to stay at this same hotel at least once, sometimes twice, a year for the past 15 years. Each time, I swore to myself and my company's managers that I would NEVER stay there again. But it is no surprise that the company's travel dept. continued to book me in there. The place was a dump the first time...and now it should be condemned immediately.

KK Oct 1st 2008 6:28PM

My husband and I stayed at the Holiday Inn in East Hartford, Ct. in May for my step-son's graduation. Lord Have Mercy...when we arrived on Friday night, it was around 11:00p.m. Having never been to East Hartford, we were dismayed at the neighborhood. We were even further upset when we exited the car and noticed there was a green Ford Taurus in the parking lot that had been riddled with bullet holes and sitting in an ancient pool of oil and various other fluids that had leaked from it. Obbiously, it had been there for awhile. Our room smelled like HOT SEWAGE when we arrivede, but we stuck it out and stayed the night. Upon discovering most of the hotels were full, we were forced to remain there until Sunday. Well, the smell in the room cleared up, but on Sunday, which was graduation day, we woke up late and called for room service. I was told, "Well, you'll just have to come downstairs like everyone else because we're not providing room service today." That was a mistake, as I went from zero to BITCH in 2.5 seconds. By the time I finished emailing corporate and calling the manager, the dining room manager was calling to see what they could bring up. Hubby answered the door and the server said, "Sir, here's your breakfast...we weren't providing room service, but someone insisted.." Before she could finish her sentence, I popped the FREAK out of the bathroom and said, "I insisted...problem?" That shut her up fast. Another nasty e-gram shot to corporate.

After graduation, my husband and I decided to wash clothes and although the washer and dryer were pointed out to us, they failed to point out by a posted sign or otherwise, that the dryer was actually broken and would therefore twirl our clothes around until they were approximately four degrees from freezing. I shot ANOTHER E-NASTY GRAM to corporate. AFter calling the front desk and delivering a scalding earfull, the manager sent a lovely lady upstairs to pick up our clothes and return them toasty warm and nicely folded. I tipped her a ten.

To make a long post short...I'm not a complainer. It takes a LOT to get me rattled. I believe in good service. Stay away from Holiday Inn, people.

Jay P Oct 1st 2008 6:30PM

Just like the Dunkin Donuts and 7/11s the hotels are being bought up by foreingers and they dont pay taxes. Just the middles class pays while they run a cash business and pockets the money with no trail to find.

Lynn Oct 1st 2008 6:34PM

As a former pool technician, I can say with certainty that the strong odor of chlorine in a pool or hot tub does not mean a high level of chlorine in the water. It is a strong indicator of the presence of URINE! So to anyone who reads this, IF YOU CAN SMELL CHLORINE, STAY OUT OF THE WATER!!!!!!

talcott scovill Oct 1st 2008 6:35PM

They are franchised. Who, owned it, by nationality.
My wife had a similar expierance at a motel in of all places, Old Orchard Beach, ME..
Foreigners do not have the same standards that we Americans do! But a National Chain? They had better get real and fix the problem or pull the franchise!

Kris Oct 1st 2008 6:57PM

I will no longer stay at Holiday Inns as I have experienced some very disgusting ones before. Holiday Inn just does not seem to care what kind of crap places they have their names on. You get charged extra for a pool side room yet the pool is not near your "pool side" room. I complained numkerous times but they do nothing and let the place stay in business.

Mimi Oct 1st 2008 7:04PM

My husband and I like car trips - like the scenery and being able to stop and see what we want. We considered getting a motor home but decided against it when the gas prices started to rise.

The WORST part of road trips is finding reasonably priced clean motels/hotels.

One rainy night several years ago, we were returning to MD from visiting my daughter in NY. We stopped at what looked to be a nice Holiday Inn.

Imagine our distress at pulling down the covers to see bedsheets with skid marks. We had a good bit of arguing to do to get our money back.

Wish we had the same system of B&Bs they have in the UK. Cheap, clean, and great breakfasts too.

mary Oct 1st 2008 7:11PM

I worked at a Holiday Inn Express for two months, from July 4 to Labor Day. In those two months I learned more than I could have paid for. This place had a "bug" problem. Customers were constantly bringing them in the disposable cups to the front desk, the Jacuzzi had "suds", Late notices for the utilities were piled on the managers desk, and they were showing up to shut them off, only by getting the owner on the phone it would be delayed for another day. The areas that were off limits to the guests were filthy, I don't think these places were ever cleaned. The smell was horrendous, either the airconditioning unit was not circulating the air or I don't want to think where the smell was comming from. I just went home and never went back because I was afraid that the paychecks were going to bounce. That was the worst place I had ever worked in my life. For the good news the place was forclosed and a new owner was found.

jb Oct 1st 2008 7:49PM

Hmmm, perfect candidate for a government bailout???
NOT!!!

wonluckieducky Oct 1st 2008 7:52PM

this is common for this chain of hotels. we stayed at the one in niagara falls and it was sooo gross! my little kids still call it the stinky hotel because it was dirty and smelled like a bar full of drunks urinated all over the whole room, topped it off with a good dose of vomit, and it was then left to rot for 3 mos. these are not the only ones that arent where youd want to lay down at night. the spokan one was a tiny bit better,but not by much. it just isnt the one place that sucks, its the whole chain.

leni Oct 1st 2008 7:53PM

Yes, I am also wondering where Holiday Inn has it's head these days. This is their name and a few more stories like this and they won't be able to pay someone to stay at one of their locations.
When a person is traveling to an unfamiliar place the inclination is to stay at a well known chain, assuming the quality will be what we expect from that brand. Holiday Inn has just moved so far down my list of potential places to stay that it fell right off the paper.

AJA BROOKS Oct 1st 2008 7:54PM

Yeah, we stayed at the one in Roanoke Rapids, NC last Sunday and there was hair on the shower floor/bathroom and hair on my pillow.... DISGUSTING!!

Lotta Oct 1st 2008 8:00PM

Duh, everybody. Holiday Inns are nasty, gross, overpriced, understaffed, old and in every way UNACCEPTABLE. Anyone who would actually patronize a Holiday Inn anywhere deserves what they get. You should know better.

james Oct 1st 2008 8:20PM

I WORK AT A HOLIDAY INN IN NASHVILLE AND THEY DO HAVE INSPECTORS THAT SHOW UNANOUNCED. THEY ARE VERY TOUGH. THEY CALL ROOM SERVICE AND CHECK HOW LONG THE PHONE RINGS AND HOW LONG IT TAKES TO GET THEIR ORDER. THEY CALL ALL DEPTS. THAT DEAL WITH A GUEST IN THEIR ROOM TO SEE HOW THEY RESPOND. THEY START FROM THE TIME THEY HIT THE PAKING LOT. AND THEY DO SEND A COPY OF THE REPORT TO IHG AND ALSO POST IT ONLINE.

dude Oct 2nd 2008 12:45AM

Adult bedbugs are a reddish-brown, flattened, oval, and wingless, with microscopic hairs that give them a banded appearance. A common misconception is that they are not visible to the naked eye. Adults grow to 4-5 mm (1/8th - 3/16th of an inch) in length and do not move quickly enough to escape the notice of an attentive observer. Newly hatched nymphs are translucent, lighter in color and continue to become browner as they moult and reach maturity. In size, they are often compared to lentils or appleseeds.