Ark Suites By OYO Jonesboro I-555

We stayed at The Ark in Jonesboro while traveling in for a funeral, and it was honestly one of the worst hotel experiences I’ve ever had. When we arrived, they had already given our reserved room to someone else. From there, things only got worse. They first tried moving us to a room where the door lock didn’t work, the room smelled horrible, and everything looked dirty and stained. They then attempted two additional rooms, both of which also had issues. One had another broken door lock, and another had no working lights at all. Eventually, we were moved to a room on the third floor, despite there being no elevator and my elderly mother traveling with us. The room itself felt unsafe and poorly maintained. The smoke detectors had been disconnected, the electrical outlets were so loose and damaged we were afraid to plug anything in, and there was even a hole in the bathroom wall. There were also no trash cans in the room. When we asked for washcloths, they said they had none. When we requested an iron, they handed us one attached to a giant base like it belonged in a museum exhibit called Hotels of Regret. To make matters worse, there was water leaking from the ceiling outside one of the rooms into a trash can in the hallway, and staff members were openly complaining to guests about management. The billing situation was the final straw. The hotel successfully charged our card, the payment had fully gone through on our account, and they still repeatedly attempted to charge us

We were unable to stay because we opted to pay upon our arrival, therefore Ark Suites booked all their rooms out before we arrived. So we did not have any of the rooms we booked once we arrived.

The first room we were sent to was not cleaned. In the second room, the lights were unplugged. There was only a thin blanket (more like a sheet on the bed) and we borrowed pillows from the couch to be able to sleep. There was painting supplies in the hallway (obviously they are remodeling some areas, but these items were just left there. We stayed Sunday night). The “continental breakfast) appeared to be dry cereal and a few slices of bread. So, we went elsewhere for breakfast. It was cheap, but not a place we will stay again.

Get what you pay for

Immediately after check-in we informed the front desk of burned out light bulbs, no garbage can in the room, door lock non functioning, the tv not working properly, massive amounts of old equipment stored in the hallway right outside the door, the toilet not being bolted securely. We were offered no resolution. Was told there was breakfast at 7am. There was none! (Not that we would have eaten, this place is beyond old and run down). Talked to the front desk at check out also and was just told “sorry”. Tried having hotels.com mediate a resolution and was told we didn’t bring anything to their attention within 30 min of check in. Not true since I was at the front desk within minutes of entering the room they gave us.