Howard Johnson by Wyndham Salem Hotel & Conference Center

I booked and paid for a room for Friday evening, May 15th at the Howard Johnson Hotel & Conference Center in Salem Va. . When we arrived at the hotel approx 5:15pm the manager/owner would not release the room to me. He was the rudest person I have ever dealt with. He said I needed to call you at hotels.com to get you to release the funds, he absolutely said this was our responsibility. I did call your number at least 5 times and could not get a live person even though we waited on hold for at least 15 minutes. We did offer to pay directly, but he wanted his "today" rate which was over which was 3 times higher than the reservation rate. At that point we knew that we were getting scammed, classic case of bait and switch.! Needless to say, since it was Va Tech Graduation weekend, no other hotels in the area were booked solid, we had no other choice to return home. I am missing my granddaughter's graduation today. How absolutely horrible!!! I will never use Hotels.com again, and I would like my $$ returned.

My room itself was satisfactory and reasonably clean, but the overall property felt very run down. Several basic amenities were missing — there were no ice machines anywhere on the property. Another guest even approached us asking if we knew where she could find one because she needed to refrigerate her insulin. Her room did not have a refrigerator, even though the motel advertised that all rooms included one. We ended up giving her our refrigerator so she could safely store her medication, which should never be necessary at a motel. The free breakfast was also disappointing: only boxed cereal, no yogurt or eggs, and the waffles tasted like cardboard. The staff were courteous, but I was very uncomfortable when an employee offered to rent me a room “off the books” for $220 cash. It did not feel legitimate, and it made me nervous. The room had maintenance issues as well. The toilet handle had to be held down for several seconds just to flush. Another concern was that the back side of the property appeared to have long‑term residents living there, which made the environment feel less like a motel and more like a residential complex. This added to my discomfort. Overall, while the room itself was acceptable, the condition of the property, lack of basic amenities, questionable staff behavior, and general atmosphere made the stay uncomfortable. I would not choose to stay here again.

I would not recommend this place to anyone! This hotel needs a complete remodel!! The bathroom sink was clogged, door key did not work after the first day, the continental breakfast is a joke, and the room could have definitely been cleaner!

Took too long to check on considering we were the only ones at the desk. Reception desk person seemed more interested in the conversation he was having with someone on speaker. Tv in the room didn’t work and when tried to call the front desk the phone didn’t work. There was no coffee in the room though there website said there was, but worse is that there was no coffee in the lobby. Supposed to be a

The room was clean, but the actual place was dirty and run down. Shower was cold so if you need a shower don’t book here. The shower was also really gross.