When we travel and find ourselves absolutely exhausted at the end of the day, we seek out a hotel brand we have come to trust. It needs to be clean, quiet, have comfortable bedding, and provide some reasonable level of service. In older cities (like Niort) with older properties, we expect to find some quirky features, but that often adds to the charm. This place, though, is a disaster that deserves neither the number of stars (4) nor the Best Western name. Its location is wonderful: Central to the dining and commercial district; adjacent to a large lovely park; underground municipal parking nearby. The lobby is small and one person serves as receptionist, reservation clerk, bell person if needed, and bartender/server for the adjacent lounge. I parked the car as my wife dealt with the check-in. She was given a key to room 206, a “Preference” room according to our confirmation, and directed to the elevator. That room was occupied however, and my wife returned to the lobby. The young lady went back to 206 to verify this, then gave my wife a key to 106. It was a dusty, musty, room with a divided bath; toilet in a small closet near the entry door and a sink and shower in another room on the far side of the bed. There was one bath towel and one hand towel provided for this “double” room. The room was stuffy and we turned on the AC but nothing happened; the heat didn't work either. The room lighting was dim and the carpet needed a good cleaning; the windows needed scrubbing. We returned to the lobby but there was no one there. Apparently she also has duties in the rear of the hotel and we could not locate her. There were some school-aged children in the lounge area, but no one else. We went to dinner and returned, hoping to speak to someone in the lobby, but again it was vacant. We heard some voices coming from another room, probably the kitchen, but still couldn't find anyone. We would have liked to have operating AC and another set of towels, at least. Finally, we just retreated to our room, went to bed (the bedding was fine), and resolved to leave early the next day, which we did. Best Western should take a much closer look at this property and either enforce its standards or cut the cord with the franchisee. This is an embarrassment to the brand.