La Quinta Reviews

Ridiculous doesn't even BEGIN to describe this work environment. For one, communication is a huge issue. Procedures are inconsistent or outdated, so whenever a property owner or GM complains, the finger-pointing begins. Management is abusive, exhibiting a reactive, everything's-on-fire mentality. And, BEWARE of the gossip clique, especially when it comes to admins and their VP's. The thing that strikes me most about the political atmosphere is how much sway certain customer service folks and admins have over senior management. It doesn't matter how well you perform your job or how skilled you are; if one of these people doesn't like you, you will not advance in the company. PERIOD. They have the ear of the the VP, and will twist events around to serve their own agenda. Another annoying thing about this place is that small portion of the Data Services team is silo-ed on the East Coast. That means critical information regarding franchised properties is relayed second-hand, and is not always accurate. Often times it takes days to get an answer, which is frustrating considering there are usually 24-hour turnaround times to get things resolved. Management will NOT invest in software that is commonly used for development projects. There are no in-house graphic artists or web developers, so these tasks are often left to management or unskilled customer service reps. Worse, now that the company has attained IPO status, it's been rumored that staff cuts are looming. Which doesn't make sense, since La Quinta just opened 5 properties in Q1, and is actually expanding the corporate office. This maneuver is sure to make the organization even more top-heavy, while increasing workload for the underlings. Most positions stagnate after 2 years, and with all the back-biting, it's become an atmosphere of distrust. Steer clear of this snake pit.

The vacuum cleaners don't work very well and don't pick up everything. Just today I had to waste half an hour getting a vacuum cleaner. A huge number of the mattresses are lumpy and who knows when the last time they were replaced. I feel sorry for whoever is sleeping on them. There are a good number of bed frames that are lopsided and well worn out. The bath tubs and showers are pretty worn out and some of them don't even work that well. They all need replacing. There are even holes in some of the shower walls where water can drip into and mold can grow freely. The carpet is poorly laid out in some areas of the hotel and needs to be redone. In some cases we don't have enough quilted covers for our beds so we have to do the best with what we have. We need new lamps because all of them are too old and don't work right any longer. The lamp shades on them are also broken and worn which looks really tacky. One hundred percent of the mirrors shake like they're going to fall off of the walls. Imagine if one of them does fall off and injures a guest. The sinks are in terrible condition with cracks and missing stoppers. The toilets are in such bad shape that some are glued together and others are cracked in different places. I think it may be possible we need the entire water/plumbing system redone. The reasons why the general manager refuses to replace anything is so that he can get his 30,000 dollar bonus. The work place has become a hostel environment for many of the housekeepers and we have a huge turnover rate. I've only worked here one and a half months and I've already seen why in the past six months twenty three people have left. Because so many people are leaving we're constantly having to hire new people, but since the new people are only shown hostility by the head house keeper lady, many of them don't last very long so we then have to continue hiring more people and then train them. The cycle then repeats itself. I feel that this is a huge waste of money having to train new people just to have them quit, but the problem doesn't seem to stop at the rudeness and hostility. Because the housekeepers are in this kind of environment most of them are simply depressed most of the time which doesn't reflect well to our customers. Working hard isn't a problem for most housekeepers. Even the ones who are new are ready to learn. Something is wrong here though. They claim that every room should be done in twenty minutes and refreshing a room should take ten minutes. In order to actually get a room clean and sanitized for a guest it would take 45 minutes to do so at the most. They don't like for us to take too long though and if we do a good job cleaning the rooms making them spotless for the guests that ask why we took so long. If we cut corners and make it look like we didn't cut corners we're rewarded by not being complained at for not taking too long. I find this method to be unsanitary and would prefer it if things were done the proper way. That's why it's no wonder why we often have guests complaining that their room hasn't been done right. I'd feel better if the rooms we are renting were actually sanitary for our customers. We also get complaints online where they comment on how the hallways are always messy and smell like smoke. Things need to change before this hotel is either condemned or goes out of business because of the lack of care we are giving about our customers. This is no way shape or form to run a business. I know this because I've taken care of customers and people for over three years now and I know just what a customer is after. A good service/product with genuinely polite customer service. Without the positive attitudes of our employees we can't show our customers the best service possible. Without the right tools for the job we can't properly do our jobs. With no up keep on anything that needs replacing we are basically renting our guests a dump and more will rightfully leave bad reviews on our hotel for everyone to see making us lose customers. Without the rooms being sanitized properly our guests are more liable to get sick because of us. You can see where this is all headed. Customers will eventually flock to another location if this continues. If this is not how you want your brand represented then changes are going to need to happen before it's too late. I'm not kidding.