Red Carpet Inn

We had to be in Warren, PA and this was the only hotel we could find. The next closest place was Jamestown, NY for about $ 200 and I’m too cheap to pay that for nothing but a place to stay. However, after this place I might suck it up and slap down the plastic the next time.
Hubby reserved room through Expedia. Price was something like $ 54. A bargain, right? Hubby called hotel in the morning to confirm the reservation (we’ve been screwed by travel sites/​hotels in the past). They did not have the reservation. Husband remade the reservation. At the time we were glad we called.
We check in late in the afternoon on Saturday. The sun was setting and the golden hues of the autumnal sun made everything look warm and inviting. Including this place.
As we pull in, there are two bath towels spread on the concrete walkway on the front of the hotel. It looks like someone is drying grains on top of them. Hunh?
Hubby checks in. Apparently, they didn’t want to honor the Expedia price and insist that the rate on the site was for 2 people and we would need a bigger (more expensive) room. Hubby firmly told the guy that he needed to honor the price. Hubby was armed with a print out of the receipt for the room. It clearly showed the listing for two double beds, 4 people, and the quoted price. Guy behind the counter reluctantly agrees to honor the price.
Hubby checks the room first, to make sure it’s livable. Hubby announces that it’s a «rustic and dated» but that we would probably survive. We unload our stuff and then head out for the evening. Note: during this drop off effort I noticed that they didn’t have any shampoo or blow dryer (I have been spoiled by the Holiday Inn on the other side of town) so I have to buy shampoo and a blow dryer at Wal-​Mart. Our bargain price is now appearing to be not much of a bargain. I just chalked another $ 20 onto the price tally.
We go have a nice dinner, a walk along the river, and coffee at the Fresh Cup coffee shop (review coming soon). We get back well after dark. The kids are already asleep. We keep the lights off as we come in so that the kids don’t wake up. We turn on the bathroom light and crack the door so that we have a night light effect.
Now that the kids are in bed and the room is quiet, we realize that the sink is dripping. We attempt to stop the dripping but we are unable to wrench the handles far enough to make it stop. We are now destined to spend the night listening to the drip, sploop, bloop sounds of the faucet.
During the night I realize that the bathroom light is off. I assume the hubby or the kids turned it off. I try to get back to sleep while the drip, sploop, bloop of the faucet drives me nearly insane.
We wake up at 6 AM. It is still dark outside. Hubby goes to use the bathroom. It is ice cold and there is no electricity. It’s probably around 40 outside (maybe colder) and apparently we’ve had no heat for many hours. Our room is now comparable to the outside temperature. Hubby gets dressed and goes to wake up the hotel guy. Hubby says we have no electricity. Guy goes to flip a switch and we finally have electricity. However, heat is a lost cause.
I decide to jump into the shower. The water is lukewarm. Actually, the water is lukewarm for the first 30 – 60 seconds. Just enough time to get shampoo in the hair. The water then turns to something just a smidgen warmer than ice. I now finish my shower in ice cold water. It was the coldest water I have ever felt. It was so cold it hurt.
Hubby ends up washing his hair in the tub but not taking a shower because the water is so cold. Kids go dirty because there’s no way we’re going to get them to get in that water.
While hubby is in the tub washing his hair, the electricity goes out again. My hair is half dried, the TV amusing the kids goes out, the light in the bathroom goes out, etc. We end up having to open the drapes and parade around in our underwear while we get dressed because we can’t see anything with the drapes closed. Or course, the sun is still coming up so we are still more or less in the dark. My hair now resembles a wet dog, hubby can’t find anything, and the kids are getting bored without the TV.
Lights come back on and the sun starts lighting the room. We are Now that we have light, we find garbage (not ours) under the beds, stains on the grayish towels, stains (that look to be from a biological source) on the chair, and something on the wall (at bed height) that looks like a sneeze that had run down the wall and dried. Let me be clear that my husband and I are fairly certain that (although organic in origin) the stuff on the wall as not actually from a sneeze. Ahem.
Gross, gross, gross. We left as quickly as possible and would rather sleep in the car and take sponge baths at McDonald’s than sleep at Red Carpet ever again.