Home-Towne Suites of Auburn

This is the worst hotel experience I’ve ever had in 27 years of travel. Since I was going to be visiting my oldest daughter who is a junior at Auburn, I thought I would stay in an extended stay hotel. This was a mistake.
I first tried to make a reservation over the phone based off of the good reviews I saw on here. The reservation was incorrect in my email, and so I called to get it straightened out. It was still wrong in the second email, but I figured I would straighten it all out when I got there. When I arrived in town and called to find out when early check in was, there was no answer. I called several times, and still no answer. Figuring they were busy, I decided to just drive over and see if I could check in. The front desk staff person was very nice, and checked me in. However, when I got to my room, it was dirty. There were stains on the sheet covering the box spring. And though the bed linens and covers looked clean, I was now suspicious. The kitchen was clean looking, but the paper towels were down to a few sheets. Though I had ordered a room with two doubles, the cupboard only had three mismatched bowls, five spoons, and two forks. The bathroom was clean, but the exhaust fan made a horrible noise.
I called the operator from the phone in the room, and it was busy. Thinking it was some sort of a problem, I called again and got the same busy response. I called twice more and when I got the same busy signal, I drove over to the office. There was a sign on the office that it was closing at 3 pm (this was a Sunday), and would not open again until 10 am the following morning. I called the next morning and the front desk staff person who answered was again very nice. She was sending someone over to change the sheets, bring paper towels, and fix the exhaust fan. Satisfied, I got my kids ready to go shopping. When I opened my door, there was a lady sitting on the bottom of the steps smoking a cigarette. Not sure who it was I decided to wait a few minutes for this person to leave, but a minute later someone knocked on my door. It was the same lady who was smoking, and she was holding our clean linens! I showed her where the stains were, and told her we would leave in a few minutes and asked if she could come back. She did and I appreciated that.
The quality of the hotel amenities was poor. The dish soap was watery; the hand soap congealed into a slithery mess, and I didn’t trust the hand towels in the kitchen. From what I could see, the hotel was in a state of slow degradation. The parking lot needs work, and the pool looked filthy (though in fairness, it was winter and I doubt anyone would have been swimming even though it was in the 70’s). I didn’t hear from our neighbors much, with the exception of one night when I heard someone knocking on what I thought was our door at around 10 pm. I opened my door and saw several men smoking on the stairwell, just hanging around.
The laundry was a hot mess. There are three washers and three dryers, and only two of the three were in operation. The one washers’ spin cycle didn’t rinse the water out thoroughly enough, so I put the dryer on hot. Both dryers were supposed to dry for an hour, so I set my timer on my phone for 50 minutes so that I could come back ahead of time. When I arrived 50 minutes later, the dryers had already stopped and both loads were not dry. I put in more money and set my timer for 45 minutes. 45 minutes later, the driers were already off; the owners must be saving money by having the automatic shutoff earlier than advertised. The clothes were mostly dry by this point, but I was furious. I complained to the front desk, and she was very polite and refunded me for the cost of the two driers. She told me that the owners have had this equipment from the time the hotel had opened (many years, by the look), and that she would let me use the hotel driers if I needed it. She was particularly nice. When I asked if I could borrow scissors and tape to finish wrapping a Christmas gift, she was very accommodating. I would say this is true for all of the staff that I did meet.
Lastly, this is not the name of the hotel. It is actually In Town suites, not Home Towne. I only found this out when going onto the website to complain, and the representative told me that it hadn’t been Home Towne for a few months. But the signage at the hotel and inside the rooms all said Home Towne anyway. When I called the corporate hotline for In Town, I had to leave a message; they still have not called back.
In short, don’t stay here. I write favorable reviews too, so I’m not just doing this because I was incensed either. One star only, just because of the front desk personnel who were nice.

Overall our stay was good. Safe place, like staying a relative’s house.
The Good:
Friendly staff, clean place, takes pets, freshly painted walls, a/​c heat works great (nice feature with digital wall control), comfortable bed and flat screen tv.
The Bad:
Paper thin walls (could hear neighbor snore), bathroom vent smelled like cigarettes (I think it should be replaced).
Suggestions For Hotel:
Add mirror behind closet door for the ladies, extra covers for cold months and luggage rack.

This place is great for the price, but you must be a flexible guest. The gentleman at the front desk the first night was great. He was very friendly and helpful. We requested a queen non-​smoking room, but ended up in a double non-​smoking that smelled like an ashtray. I cannot fault the staff for previous guests that refuse to follow the rules. Also, your card is charged at check-​in and the policy is no refunds for any early check-​out. I found it to be a safe place to stay and felt comfortable with leaving my dog. The manager rectified all of our issues on the last night and conducted herself perfessionally. We may stay there again in the future.

Mark is great