Quality Inn Post Falls Idaho: Not Quite a Horror Movie

On the cheaper side of hotels in Post Falls, Idaho, I thought I’d try out Quality Inn on Seltice way for a four day stay. It was a mixed experience to say the least.

On the positive side, the staff is friendly, and the included breakfast includes eggs, sausage, biscuits and gravy, good coffee and tea, quality yogurt, and toast. The eggs were thoroughly cooked and the staff kept things refreshed. Breakfast is advertised to start at 6am, though one morning, there was no hot food until 7am.

There is a small exercise room, about the size of a hotel room, with a complete dumbbell set, weight bench, treadmill, elliptical, a water cooler with cups and towels (most of the time).

The rooms are not ‘suites’ as one might get in another property of the same name. They are your standard 1960s motel room size. My room, 218, had no freeway noise from highway 90, and I heard no neighbors. The window HVAC system allows only heating or cooling and hummed nicely all night.

The room included a microwave, a small coffee-maker, and a refrigerator. Some coffee and tea bags are included. Nice if you want to make your own tea or coffee in the morning.

There was plenty of well-lit parking within a short walk to the entrance.

Bad Reviews (It Stinks)

On the negative side, there was quite a bit. In order of discovery:

There is a $50 fee if you don’t return the little plastic cards. Really? $50? I think the hotel could simply ask for them or have a receptacle in the lobby. But $50 seems punitive. The staff asked if I preferred first of second floor and I asked for the quietest room on the second floor. I was asked if I had a pet which suggested a pet friendly hotel.

Opening the door to my room I was greeted by a strong odor that I spent the rest of the four days trying to describe. It wasn’t entirely unpleasant, but not welcoming either. The closest I can get is that it smelled like balsa wood, but a bit worse. I know, that’s not a great description. It wasn’t related to carpet glue (carpet was being replaced in rooms down the hall). Later, I found that it coincided with use of the air conditioning. I think most guests would find the odor offensive. To me it was, ‘tolerable.’

The wifi was spotty, with a weak signal most of the time. For some stock market trades, I had to switch to my phone to ensure orders went in.

But it gets worse.

As I closed the door, I noticed the safety latch was broken and hanging. Not a big deal security-wise, but it looked tragic and scenes from horror movies came to mind. You’d think the hotel would fix something so visibly broken, but this was only a harbinger of what was to come.

Next thing I saw on entrance was that a bunch of electrical plugs were jammed into a dangling surge protector out the side of the dresser. Then I noticed that most plugs were falling out of the wall sockets, bare metal exposed. To my left, the closet door had globs of dried paint adhering it shut to the header. Freeing the closet door to open causes paint chunks to call and a horrid screeching sound (back to the horror movies). No worries. I could get it open enough to hang some shirts.

Has anyone used this closet?

Danger for kids. Or dogs.

Time to check out how clean the bed is. And now it gets really bad.

Pulling back the comforter and sheet, I was greeted with hair. Short curly hairs, and long hairs. Someone else’s thick short curly hairs on the sheets. Which of course suggests that nothing was washed after the last guests slept, and shed, in the bed.

Now I have to point out that the sheets seemed clean otherwise, and many of the hairs were, um, ’embedded’ in the weave. But some of the longer hair was just laying there. So cleaning was not thorough to say the least. Rather than go through the hassle of having the management change out the room, I slept on top of the top sheet – which appeared to be be very clean.

But it goes on.

The toilet flush lever was missing (one of the two).

The bathroom sink did not drain.

There was no soap in the dispenser in the shower.

I decided to stick out my stay so I could finish this review.

I met more than a dozen dogs in my trips through the halls and on the stairs (they were a delight) so be aware that this hotel is VERY pet friendly.

While enjoying breakfast I noticed the staff really wanted to please and perform, but there were 20 minute gaps in front desk help that left other guests very frustrated. They never asked me how my stay was, but I did check to see that I got my $50 back for my keys.