I’m a 75 y/o retired Naval officer. I live in Midland, TX, a 40 minute drive from the Settles Hotel in Big Spring, TX. For several years we’ve wanted to experience that beautiful and historic hotel. So for my wife’s birthday I took her and the kids to the Settles for a quiet weekend.
After checking in we found a couple of room problems that could be normal in any hotel stay. We reported that the wall lamps above the beds were loose and falling off and has very small bulbs so that an old guy like me with cataracts couldn’t see well. In addition, of the two (2) phones in the room, one didn’t work. A technician came and confirmed our evaluation of the lamps and the phone, however, he informed us that he wouldn’t be able to repair those problems until after we would check out. It didn’t seem to occur to him that we couldn’t use those items after we would check out. My complain to the front desk elicited the same response and we had to settle for the fact that we would have to do without those items. In addition, no discount or a move to a new room were offered us.
The next day we found that we’d also have to do without coffee in the room since the Keurig machine was defective. And why even bother mentioning the fact that the shower head was sending out far few streams of water since many of the holes in the shower head were plugged. We didn’t complain of that since we had already experienced their lack of customer service with the phone and the lamp problems.
We checked out and went home. In the afternoon, awaking me from my afternoon nap I received a call from the Settles. They were calling to tell me that I was being charged an additional $70. What horrible damage has we caused to owe the Settles another $70 on top of the room charges of $495.12 for two days stay? They contended that they found yellow highlighter on a pillowcase and a small amount of blood on one of the sheets.
Our party consisted of myself, my wife, and our two (2) children ages 8 & 10. Anyone who has kids knows that they bleed. They have bloody noses, accidents, cuts, etc. And the hotel wants to charge us for the normal happenings of life? And as a 75 y/o guy I have cataracts. My cataracts are yellow and strain out the color yellow from my environment. So due to their lamps that didn’t work and my cataracts I probably did leave some evidence of my sojourn in their room since I read with an active highlighter in my hand. In our home, both yellow highlighter and blood are washable and are never seen again. Yellow highlighter is not indelible. It’s water based and is completely cleaned from linens with a good washing.

I’ve traveled all the world during my 35 year Navy career. I’ve stayed in all levels of hotel luxury from 1 star to 5 star. NEVER has a hotel ever charged me for normal vagaries of life. What started as a lovely weekend for my wife has been forever marred the Settles Hotel’s attempting to grab for every available dollar with no consideration of serving a clientele with graciousness and with a desire to see them return.
Will I ever stay at the Settles Hotel again? What do you think?