When “Independently owned and operated” sucks.

One of the things this tour shows you is how the level of service can vary greatly from state to state within the same brand. Most chains that rely on franchises are also at their mercy when it comes to making sure the brand is presented well, especially the food service industry. Travelers are also at their mercy. Tonight, I may be in one of the worst Super 8 motels I have ever stayed at. I’m not trying to be ungrateful since the tour is covering everything, and I am also currently doing unrelated work for Super 8 as well, but we all share horror stories the next morning usually starting off with, “Hey, did your room come with (insert creepy description here)?”

And we knew going in that we needed to keep the budget down, so encountering places like this was likely. (As an FYI, Super 8 is in no way sponsoring this tour, we just happened to pick them. I’ve also had great experiences with Super 8 across the midwest, so it’s certainly not the entire chain.) But that’s the point. Consistency. It’s one of those things you notice if you talk about brands all day. Little thing like, oh, the refridgerator doesn’t work eventually worked–at all. The ‘free’ wireless that we need and that they lure you in with hasn’t worked now in three different states.

In one, I literally had to keep the laptop in one corner of the bed or risk losing signal. The phone in our room says Ramada. I’m actually posting this with the help of the Sprint USB card from the van. The bathroom had about 1/8” left on the toilet paper roll and no spare in sight. (Ironically, I found myself wanting to see that little fancy Origami trick they do with the edge of the paper by folding it up into a triangle, just to complete the experience.) And the entire mount was coming out of the wall, almost as if Clint Eastwood was trying to dig his way out of this Alcaltraz.)

You know in movies how the bad guys will pretend to be good guys in order to fool the cops, like in Die Hard when officer Twinkie shows up to investigate possible gunshots at Nakatomi? It’s like that here. Nobody apparently knows how to run a motel. I think the people at the main desk are really a front for something far more sinister. Contrast that with another Super 8 nearby: they have an indoor pool, great landscaping, cucumber wraps, plasma TVs, Bono and the boys playing live out back and even someone to do your taxes.

It’s still puzzling how brands can let themselves be held hostage by the individual owners when it comes to offering a consistent level of service, all in the name of ‘Independently owned and operated.’ If I was the brand, I’d take back control until the worst offenders got their act together, because this just hurts them in the long run.