Hotel Seville
.302 North Main Street
.Harrison, Arkansas 72601 United States
Received from a
traveler
on
Tuesday, 22-May-07:
"Hotel Seville, Harrison, AR - I stayed in the quaint, funky, idiosyncratic “
Real Spanish Castle” known as the Hotel
Seville in downtown Harrison, Arkansas. The
price was right at $65 for a suite, which was
really a made over apartment, with hilarious
1960s furnishings. Clean room, working AC,
comfy bed, good, friendly service from the
proprietess and her staff…the “continental
breakfast” was a hilarious joke, but I skip
it most mornings anyway, and besides, there’s
a small town café right around the corner
with atmosphere and good food. I got more
than I expected for my $65.
What a change this stay (May, 2007) was. The
whole hotel had a downhearted look to it.
The lobby was dusty, the floor dirty, the
stairs even worse, the suite this time was
about the size of a Comfort Suites, but with
peeling paint and wallpaper, stained
carpeting, a bed that must have been 20 years
old, a thundering window AC that blew…air,
but did not condition it, a bedside lamp
literally too dim to read by…a big
disappointment, especially since the price
had jumped to $90 a night. But, hey, I was
there, I had good memories of my first stay,
and besides, all the other lodging in town
was full…I checked after checking in. I
resolved to make the best of it, had a fitful
night on the trampolining bed, made coffee in
the suite and went around the corner for
breakfast, then off to do my deal for the
day. I stopped by the desk and told the new owner that the AC didn’t
work right and he said he’d check it out.
When I came back to the room after breakfast,
he said there was nothing he could do about
it until Monday…this was Saturday, and I was
leaving Sunday morning, anyway. Again, I
resolved to make the best of it and took off
for the day; the weather was lovely, and the
room didn’t heat up. I was REALLY
disappointed upon my return after 8:30 pm to
find my bed unmade, the coffee pot still in
the sink, fresh towels in a dirty bathroom…
you get the picture. Well, a bit more
graphic part of the picture is that the night
before I’d had a bout of um, explosive,
diarrhea, and the toilet was pretty foul…
still that way.
I marched down the dingy stairs with the
paint peeling off the walls from water damage
to the desk and barked at the owner, suggesting
in strong terms that I would like one night’s
room refund for the inconvenience and for the
far-below-$90 standards of the hotel and
service condition. He said he needed to talk
to the maid, called me after awhile and said
she DID do my room…I barked quite a bit
louder asking him to come see for himself.
He showed up, chip firmly on his shoulder,
and saw the clean towels, and claimed the
maid had in fact done my room…despite the
disheveled bed, and the stinking coffeepot
and…again, you get the picture. He offered
me a $15 refund, saying the maid must have
gotten ‘tied up’. I told him to keep his
fifteen bucks, I’d get online and let folks
know about all the big changes at the Hotel
Seville.
The man in the next room, by the way, was
unlocking his door as I returned from my
barking session, and I asked him if his room
had been tended to, and he looked and said it
hadn’t. The maid must have really been tied
up in a tough knot….
This place is $30 a night quality, period.
If I’d paid $45 a night, I would not have
complained, but for $90 a night I want to
come in and find the coffee maker ready for
the next morning, my bed made, etc…I don’t
think that’s remotely too much to ask.
The lagniappe to the whole experience is that
the hotel lounge is apparently a local
hangout for very, very loud drunk people, who
apparently believe it is a state jail felony
to smoke less than two cigarettes at a time…
the smoke filtering into the hotel [in the
new owners’ defense, this situation existed
two years ago] who are allowed to scream at
each other in the on the street, before
revving their muffler-free motorcycles over
and over (I travel on a motorcycle, a quiet
one).
[The owner, along with the generous $15
offer, also offered to move me to another
room, which I gathered he thought was a
reasonable compromise. It was almost 10:00
pm, I had stuff strewn all over the suite,
was literally exhausted from the strenuous
labors of my 14 hour day, and declined…but at
least he offered…but my thought was that I’d
just have to lug my stuff to another filthy
room with a worn out bed.]
"
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