Hotel nightmares

Tips from the experts

The Dayton Daily News obtained and analyzed hotel inspection data from Public Health Dayton & Montgomery County on 96 establishments in the county. The data covered more than six years and included 978 inspections, 929 violations and 1,756 comments made by inspectors.

From Interstate 75 in Harrison Twp. travelers can spot the sign for the Liberty Motel and an inviting price: $29.95.

What they can’t see — at least from the outside — are the bed bugs, broken toilets and assorted other problems health and fire inspectors have repeatedly encountered there in the past several years.

Make no mistake: There are plenty of good hotels and motels in Montgomery County. But you can also check into some real nightmares.

And none in recent years has been publicly cited for more problems than the Liberty Motel.

Write ups by inspectors from Public Health Dayton & Montgomery County include such violations as cats kept in the facility — at least 15, along with feces, were found in one room entered by inspectors Dec. 16 — to broken windows and doors, plumbing leaks, moldy carpets, torn or stained bedding and overflowing trash cans.

Bed bugs and other pests have been a constant problem leading to eight violations since 2009.

In all, the motel at the corner of Keats Drive and Neff Road has racked up 91 violations since 2009 — more than twice as many as any other operating hotel or motel in the county, according to a Dayton Daily News analysis of nearly 1,000 inspections by the county health district.

A total of 96 establishments were inspected 978 times and given 929 violations, the newspaper found.

If violations are found during inspections, hotel managers can expect a return visit to determine whether the problems have been fixed. Recurring issues lead to more visits and can result in hearings before the public health board.

If conditions pose a serious enough health risk, the county can move to shut down a facility, which it did to the North Plaza Inn on North Dixie Drive in 2009. The motel logged 52 health code violations that year, but also had other problems, including drugs and prostitution. In one troubling incident, a 3-year-old boy found a used hypodermic needle in a drawer while his parents were sleeping and contracted hepatitis C, according to Harrison Twp. Fire Chief Mark Lynch.

The biggest category of violations found by the health inspectors (215 times) is “Housekeeping & Safety,” which deals with the use and storage of maintenance and cleaning materials, as well as safety features like hand railings.

A total of 35 establishments were cited 73 times for “Insect and Rodent Control.” At least 66 of those violations in 29 establishments resulted in inspectors finding live or dead bed bugs or evidence of bed bug activity

The good news is that about two-thirds of the hotels and motels in Montgomery County received fewer than 10 violations — and 22 had zero violations in the six years and three months of the data.

‘No hazards here’

The Liberty Motel logged the most inspections of any facility — 45 — leading to its 91 violations. Inspectors return over and over again if they are unconvinced management is moving to make changes.

No. 2 on the list of most violations was the 35 West Motel on West Third Street, which had 39 violations from 11 inspections between the beginning of 2009 and March 25 of this year.

Yvonne Bryant, who helps her mother run the motel, said most of the violations are minor and none involved bed bugs. The problems have been fixed, she said.

“There are no health hazards here,” said Bryant, 63. “When (the inspector) comes out here and points something out, we do it.

“We’ve painted all the walls in every room. We have replaced every mattress and box spring. I don’t think there’s anything in this motel that would cause anybody to make out a will before they check in.”

No. 3 was the Microtel Inn & Suites at 4500 Linden Ave. with 36 violations; and No. 4 was the Ramada Inn Dayton North at 2301 Wagner Ford Road with 31.

Vijay Patel, general manager of the 50-room Microtel Motel Inn & Suites, said all the problems in his hotel have been addressed.

“They come out twice a year and they tell us what’s wrong, and we try to correct it at that particular time,” said Patel, who has run the hotel since 1998.

Inspectors found bed bugs in 2009 and 2011, according to the reports, but Patel said the motel deals with pests immediately.

“If a guest leaves one or two, we try to treat that issue right away. That way it doesn’t spread out,” said Patel. “And last time the inspector did come, there was somebody complaining about it (bed bugs), and he could not find anything because there wasn’t any.”

The motel is planning a full renovation in June, Patel said.

“So that will probably solve most of our problems,” he said.

30 cats

The Liberty Motel has frustrated health inspectors because the problems don’t seem to go away, said Jennifer Wentzel, director of environmental health for the health district.

“They get some of the violations fixed and then when we’re out looking at different rooms and we’re seeing the same violations in those rooms,” Wentzel said.

Fire inspectors have found repeated problems as well.

An inspection last December by a State Fire Marshal inspector, for example, found 22 fire code violations, along with violations of other state and county codes not directly under their jurisdiction.

In mid-December, inspectors from the Division of State Fire Marshal’s office received a complaint about someone having “30 cats living in room 211,” according to a public health inspection report.

The resulting 25-page inspection report documents 41 different infractions including:

• 18 rooms with defective or missing smoke detectors.

• 10 rooms with no operable ventilation fans.

• 12 rooms with stained bedding, carpets or walls.

• Three rooms with “open wiring.”

• A gasoline-powered lawn mower stored in one guest room.

• Two rooms with “collapsing” ceilings.

• And in room 211, inspectors found “15+ cats found living in guestroom; feces and urine soaked carpet.”

When reached by phone, the owner, Balbir S. Jassal, said he has no current problems.

“Those violations have been corrected already,” Jassal said.

He said the rooms have been treated for bed bugs.

Lynch, who has jurisdiction over two of the five worst hotel and motel offenders, said he is most bothered by the instances of open wiring and the absence of working smoke detectors.

“If you’re a sound sleeper and a fire starts, and that smoke detector doesn’t go off, you’re going to be overcome with smoke and not be able to rescue yourself,” he said.

An April 16 health department inspection of the Liberty Motel found the problems encountered on an inspection a month earlier had been cleaned up, including live bed bugs found in Room 182.

But that doesn’t mean the motel is in the clear, Wentzel said.

If a subsequent inspection turns up bed bugs or dirty linens or broken toilets or collapsing ceilings or pets in the guestrooms or any other serious problems, the health district will likely begin enforcement proceedings, according to Wentzel.

That will trigger a warning letter to appear at a hearing a district headquarters downtown. If the establishment can’t agree to conditions going forward, or doesn’t live up to the agreement, the motel would face a full hearing before the health district board and could be shut down, she said.

“If we keep seeing repeat kinds of things, it becomes recalcitrant and we want to get that fixed,” Wentzel said.

Honeymoon hell

Out-of-towners aren’t the only guests at area hotels and motels; local residents often use them for special occasions such as anniversaries and weddings.

For Rosemary and Kenneth Hatfield of Tipp City, who spent their wedding night at the Ramada Inn Dayton North last New Year’s Eve, the experience was one they would rather forget.

The couple thought they had done their homework, visiting the Wagner Ford Road hotel beforehand to inspect and book a room, Rosemary said.The room they were shown was “pristine,” she said, and they made a deposit.

Unknown to the Hatfields, however, is that the 230-room hotel has racked up 31 health violations since 2009. Bed bugs were found in 2010 and twice last year. Other problems included mildew in bathrooms, mold in several areas, holes in the wall, repeated instances of stained bedding and furniture, water-damaged ceiling, missing electrical outlet covers and leaking faucets.

The nightmare wedding night for the Hatfields began at check in when they were told they had been downgraded to a lesser room. In the excitement of the moment and pressure to meet members of the bridal party, they took what they were told was available for a lesser rate, ditched their luggage without looking around and headed for the nearby Hollywood Gaming at Dayton Raceway.

It wasn’t until they returned close to midnight that they realized what they had purchased.

“I was going to take a shower until I realized there were no towels,” Rosemary said. “And then I looked and there were no blankets on the bed. There were no sheets. There’s no pillows, there’s no nothing.

“So we started investigating. because we had family who were staying in the hotel, too. We pulled out the hide-a-bed. It was a stained mattress, dirt, food, empty cigarette packs. And again no linens.”

Even worse, Hatfield said, she recognized “dried vomit” on the base of a bedside lamp.

“I was furious,” she said. “It took almost three hours to get towels and blankets.”

After weeks of wrangling with an uncooperative manager, she said, they received a partial refund.

“If I had looked at the online reviews prior to making that reservation, we would have never stayed,” she said. “Because there were numerous, numerous people who complained of the same thing.”

The new owner of the hotel, commercial real estate developer Michael Heitz, doesn’t deny there were problems when he bought the tax lien on the property in March.

“What a mess,” said Heitz. “I mean, like none of the lights in the parking lot worked. There was only one bulb in the main sign working. And the inside was absolutely terrible, filthy.”

Heitz, whose Lexington, Ky.-based company has purchased and demolished three high-profile eyesores in Dayton in recent years, including the derelict Dayton Lodge at Needmore Road and I-75, said the Ramada is not a “tear-down” despite the problems.

His company, Garrett Developers LLC, brought in a new management team, hired more staff and is doing renovations, he said.

“We’ve just been doing cleaning, cleaning, cleaning since then, and we’ve made a dramatic improvement.

“We still have problems. I’m not saying it’s completely there,” Heitz said. “But we’re working on it.”

‘I look at the carpet’

Ron Monte, an adjunct professor of hospitality management at Sinclair Community College, said those hoping for a pleasant hotel experience can tell a lot from the exterior of the building.

“When I pull in, I think the sense of arrival is probably one of the most important things,” Monte said. “Is it landscaped? Is the parking lot nice? Has it been sealed and striped? Is it crisp looking? Is the building well lit?”

If he likes what he sees he’ll go inside — and keep looking.

“I look at the carpet, actually,” Monte said. “I start looking down. Is the carpet nice and clean?

“Then I come in and look at the décor. Is it modern? Even if it’s not modern, is it well maintained. Not everything has to be brand new, but is it nicely maintained?”

If you still have questions, he said, ask to see a room.

Wentzel, who was an inspector with the county public health district for 12 years before she became the director, also looks closely at the exterior of the building and the lobby.

It’s the room, however, where she is most careful.

“One of the first things I do when I go into a hotel room, is I take my luggage and put it in the bathroom first,” Wentzel said. “Then I take a walk around the room looking for potential problems. I’ll pull back the covers and look around the edges of the mattress to see if there are any bed bugs. I’ll look at the furniture to make sure it’s maintained and clean.”

Also, Wentzel will hang up clothes, but she never uses the drawers.

“I don’t know what was in there before my belongings were placed in there,” she said. “I just keep things in my bags and live out of my suitcase.”

Rising expectations

Monte said competition is pushing the big hotel chains to raise standards, often above what is demanded by local and state regulations.

“Guest expectations are higher and higher all the time,” he said. “The big franchises really push customer service. Each year they come out with new and improved ways to make the guest experience even higher than it was before.”

And to some extent you get what you pay for.

The $30-a-night rate at the Liberty Motel won’t even cover the supplies and materials needed to keep rooms clean and properly maintained, said Mike Hyslope, who runs one of the 22 hotels in the county that had a perfect score from the health department in the last six-plus years.

Hyslope, general manager of the Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Washington Twp., said it takes a lot of work to keep a perfect record. And that costs money. Hyslope’s hotel advertises rooms starting at $154 a night.

Guests are paying for more than a comfortable bed, although Hyslope said that is important. His housekeeping manager inspects each room after a housekeeper is finished, often getting on her knees with a flashlight to spot anything left behind.

“She’s going over that room with a fine-toothed comb,” he said.

Staff writer Jim Otte contributed to this story.