September 25 – “Thermostats and hotel dollies”

 

 

So Hampton Inn and Suites is no longer on our list of possible hotels to stay in unless it's the only one around.  We decided to try it since it was closer to the funeral home than the LaQuinta.  We had heard some good things about them in the past, so we thought it was a safe choice.  Not so much.

 

It was pricey.  But I was willing to treat this like a special occasion.  We don't stay in hotels very often.  But after I checked us in I asked if they had one of those roller things that you put your luggage on.  It's not like I was asking for a person to help us.  Just the dolly.  The answer?  "We do have them, but I guess customers have them all in their rooms or something."  OK.  We didn't have that much stuff.  We would just have to make do on our own. 

 

So we loaded up our luggage, hanging clothes, computer, briefcase, and ice chest headed inside for our room on the second floor.  The card key actually worked.  We have had problems with that one before.  But when we entered the room I noticed a towel on the floor in the bathroom.  Maybe it just slipped off the rack.  But no.  As we walked into the room itself, the bed had not been made and the room in general was a mess.  Not staying here.

 

We hauled our stuff back down to the desk and informed them of the problem.  She apologized profusely and issued us a new room.  Still on the second floor.  This time she said, "If there is any problem with this room, just call me.  I'll come up and help you so you don't have to carry your luggage back down again."  Oh, you noticed that, did you? 

 

Back up to the second floor again.  The room this time had definitely been cleaned.  Looked very nice.  In fact they had been maintaining a sterile environment in there by keeping the thermostat set on 52 degrees.  Now, I like a cold room, but that was just a little too much even for me.  Chris pushed it up to 70 and we waited for it to shut off for a while.  Didn't happen.  Instead of shutting off it switched to heater mode.  And this was apparently the first time for heater mode, because almost immediately we could smell the telltale odor of lint burning away.  I checked the blower and the thermostat for a way to turn off the heat.  No other options available.  We really debated about checking out right then, but it was already time to be at the viewing, so we left hoping the lint would be the only thing burning off.

 

Those were the only problems we had with the hotel.  Breakfast was pretty good.  But as long as they had one of those waffle makers I would have been satisfied.  We won't stay there again, though.  Maybe we'll get one of those customer satisfaction surveys to fill out.

 

Proverbs 27:1 says, "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth."

 

Father, thank you for being in control so little things like thermostats and hotel dollies don't really matter.  Amen.