A pretty vase but an empty one

Preposterous doesn’t begin to describe Four Points by Sheraton hotel on Fairforest Road in Spartanburg, South Carolina.  Our first clue developed when approaching the massive concrete construct which was reportedly built (or refurbished) for opening in July, 2022.  It is located nearby the Sheriff’s offices and a Community Services building, historically an unlikely and moderately off-putting proximity for a putatively high-end business. Overall the situs of the hotel is remote and hidden, a suitable introduction and small compliment to what proved to be a surreal and other-worldly experience.  Its planetary entertainment value did nothing to enhance our stay.

The registration entrance at the main door of the hotel was manageable as would be expected. As was the parking which in addition was ample. From there however it was downhill.

There was no need to check-in at the front desk in the customary manner; that is, unless you wished to have two of more room keys. Otherwise an on-line system was offered, including a modern direction to open the suite door using one’s smartphone (but excluding a similar application for another guest’s smartphone). We thus abandoned the convenience of having two “keys”.

The elevator robotic voice screamed the lift opening and announcement of the floor numbers. I am partly deaf and it was insufferable in the closed environment.

For the overnight accommodation we paid US$256.20 which we consider normal for an unsophisticated hotel room when traveling long distance along freeways. This hotel didn’t come anywhere near being worth even that trifling compensation. Upon entering the suite it was as though we had entered a dark cave, a cavity sensation further pronounced by the sequestered ambience afforded by the room looking inward upon the hotel lobby rather than outward upon daylight (which was paramountly inaccessible).

In the hotel suite we discovered that there was a sparsity of lamps, a violation of elemental interior decorating skill. Because I wished to use the desk, I quickly unearthed that the desk lamp was almost burned out.  By contrast the adjacent floor lamp was equipped with highly overpowered bulbs; and typically of so many hotel rooms, the shade and top screw cap were not tightened so it appeared as though it were mismanaged. I attempted to investigate the plugs and wires under the desk, only to find that, if I used one of the outlets to charge my computer, there were insufficient resources for the lamps.

In the result I transferred the overpowering floor lamp to the front room which was in darkness similar to the adjoining bedroom. I left the dwindling desk lamp on the desk but only after getting off my hands and knees from under the desk in a failed attempt to perfect the inadequacies.  Finally I gave up trying and decided to call the front desk.  This presented another obstacle.  When I tried calling the front desk from the telephone in the suite I never received an answer. I pressed multiple different lines with no result. Presumably the telephone was decorative only. With my frustration mounting, hesitatingly I decided instead to call the hotel from my iPhone (though I was uncertain whether using the web site telephone number would merely put me in contact with a central booking agency located thousands of miles away). When I connected with a gentleman (who I was informed the following morning may have been one “Mr Chris”) it was an inexpressibly abrupt and uninviting conversation with him. I ended having to call him back to address further matters of concern which had arisen. Because I am currently awaiting surgery I am somewhat immobile.  I asked for the delivery of a device to put into the shower to permit me to sit while bathing. It astounded me that a hotel of such modern pretension hadn’t a built-in seat in the walk-in shower (which quite obviously had replaced an erstwhile bathtub).

Meanwhile Michael from the engineering department arrived to address the electrical and lighting issues. He replaced the defective bulb of the desk lamp.  He returned later with another floor lamp to replace the one I had commandeered from the bedroom to the living area where the other guest had settled at a desk in former relative darkness. Michael’s calm and attentive behaviour was an indisputable credit to the hotel in particular and to the industry in general.

Afterwards another gentleman from what I presume was the maintenance department arrived with a plastic seat to put into the walk-in shower.  It was too large to fit comfortably into the tiny closet of a walk-in shower in the already minuscule bathroom.  He said he would send up another gentleman from another department to refit the device for the narrow space.  I told him not to bother; just put the existing device in the shower and let well enough alone. I was done with property management. The next morning the makeshift plastic chair sufficed to prevent me from collapsing in the shower but otherwise it was an utterly arduous task to circumnavigate to access the tap, soap and shampoo.

The two gentlemen were the only ones who added any measure of professionalism to our entire visit.

I have overlooked previously mentioning what was in fact one of our initial and most commanding disappointments. There were no laundry facilities other than an off-site, “in by nine out by five” arrangement which was patently useless for us having arrived around 3:30 pm in the afternoon and leaving early this morning. I find it unimaginable that a qualified hotelier hasn’t the perspicacity to appreciate the routine need for travellers to launder their clothes in a timely manner.  This is a deprivation not suffered by everyone in the industry. By contrast for example long-standing entry-level hotel successes like Holiday Inn commonly provide on-site washers and dryers to permit guests to attend to their own laundry.

Evidently the Four Points by Sheraton is devoted paramountly to selling alcohol (the bar in the middle of the lobby – a display upon which all the rooms and suites are ordained to regard – is overwhelming); and, by comparison the utility and propriety of the rooms and suites are secondary prescriptions.