Best Western Hotel Owego Inn, Owego

When we arrived the front desk person was very friendly and he allowed us to park our bikes under the over hang out front. We got to our room and could tell they are in the middle of upgrades. The kitchenette was very old and felt dirty. The sleeping area was freshly painted, looked nice and bed was fairly comfy. Those are the positive things.... The room was not cleaned how it should be, it was obvious the person was not happy with their job. The exit door near our room didn't shut so safety wasn't important. This is 100% smoke-free property yet they allowed smoking on the one patio outside the breakfast room. A full ashtray was there and the smoke would come into the food area. Then we get home and have 2 charges on our card, 1 has been removed the other they are "still working on" we payed with points and a week later still have a charge. We travel extensively and this is the worst BW we have stayed at.

Barbara R, Other at Best Western Owego Inn, responded to this review
Thank you for your feedback from your recent stay. I am very sorry that we fell short of providing exception service. I have passed on your concern to all of our management team so that each department can look into where we fell short. I am sorry about the billing error that occurred but you can be assured that i handled that the day you first called. I hope that you will give our Best Western another stay if ever in the area.

The staff was AMAZING!!!!!!! The rest was ok. The equipment in exercise room didn't work, but thankfully there was a park nearby that we could walk to. Definitely needs updated, (but it's happening soon!!)

The hotel met all expectations. Quick and easy check in and check out process. Comfortable rooms with all needed amenities. Great location right by the water. Friendly staff. The self serve breakfast was okay.

My stay was great! The rooms are good. They are a bit dated but clean and comfortable. They are in the process of updating. Keriug coffee maker in room with green mountain coffee. Breakfast is a Covid safe one but good.

Barbara Rutledge, Other at Best Western Owego Inn, responded to this review
Thank you for your feedback from your recent stay. I'm happy to see that you enjoyed your stay . our staff takes great pride in making our guest feel at home while they are traveling. We look forward to having you stay with us again.

The manager is amazing, anything you need she makes sure you have it. She always speaks to you and makes you feel very welcome, as well as her workers also. We wouldn't stay anywhere else even if the reason we are up isn't to be in Owego.

Barbara Rutledge, Other at Best Western Owego Inn, responded to this review
Thank you for your feedback from your recent stay. I'm happy to see that you enjoyed your stay . our staff takes great pride in making our guest feel at home while they are traveling. We look forward to having you stay with us again.

The location was convenient and the room was spacious and comfortable. The staff was kind and accommodating and the breakfast was more than substantial. I was pleasantly surprised to find Green Mountain coffee in the room - my favorite! We will definitely be back!

Barbara Rutledge, Other at Best Western Owego Inn, responded to this review
Thank you for your feedback from your recent stay. I'm happy to see that you enjoyed your stay . our staff takes great pride in making our guest feel at home while they are traveling. I have passed on your feedback to management. We look forward to having you stay with us again next time you are in Owego NY.

I live in PA... whenever I go to NY to visit my family, I stay here. The staff are so professional, warm and friendly. The room is always top notch and the breakfast is amazing. I will continue to stay here.

Barbara Rutledge, Other at Best Western Owego Inn, responded to this review
Thank you for your feedback from your recent stay. I'm happy to see that you enjoyed your stay . our staff takes great pride in making our guest feel at home while they are traveling. I have passed on your feedback to management. We look forward to having you stay with us again next time you are in Owego NY.

TLDR: This hotel is ghetto and the staff does nothing to improve the experience. The staff at the hotel are 100% the reason why a mediocre stay became a terrible experience. I've written many reviews for many hotels across this country but I have never been more exited to tell you how bad this particular hotel is. For context... we drove from NYC to Owego for a 4 PM wedding...there are a series of hotels (Quality Inn, Hampton Inn) in the same plaza and the majority of the wedding party stayed at the three. To accommodate travel, there was a 3:30 shuttle that left from the Hampton Inn that we needed to catch to get to the wedding. Given that check in at our hotel wasn't until 3 PM we knew we'd have just enough time to quickly shower, get dressed, and head out. We arrived around 2:55 PM and walked into the lobby. A woman behind the desk stared at us blankly before my partner said, "we are here to check in..." We start the check in process pretty seamlessly give the name, ID, and a credit card for what we assumed was a hold for incidentals. After about 5 mins of awkwardly standing in the lobby we are told the credit card was denied. I was confused but said nothing largely because we held our reservation using the same card so if anything, they already have the information on file. When I stated after about 5 more minutes of them fumbling with the credit card machine and whatever software they were using, I was ignored and they continued to mumble amongst themselves. At this point there are 3 women trying to figure out the issue so I offer up a reasonable alternative. Try another card. I offered up two of my credit cards and and first was told a different card wasn't necessary. Eventually they took it and got back to work at a sloth like speed to fix the issue. In the interim, I chat with my partner about our need to rush our getting ready because we have to walk to catch a bus at the Hampton Inn...I said something like "we still have to get to the other hotel"...Overhearing this, one lady chimes in and tells us there's no need to go to another hotel...rather than tell her to mind her business because she misunderstood our convo...we told her "we need to get ready for for wedding and are in a time crunch". Up until this point we've been relatively quiet as they very slowly work to solve the issue. It is now 3:10 PM. Frustrated, we again repeat our need to get checked in because we are in a time crunch. Rather than acknowledge our frustration we are told to wait as they're trying to solve the issue. At this point all 3 credit cards aren't working so it is clearly a them issue and not an us issue. The check in/check out process should be a smooth one. No more than 3 to 5 minutes. You go through the formalities, explain the amenities, thank your guests and everyone gets on with their day. Instead we were held hostage in the lobby for 20 minutes. Finally, I ask if we can just get into our room so we can get ready. We leave the credit cards at the desk and get into our room at 3:15... The minute we open the door we are both hit with an overpowering smell of cigarettes. It literally smelled like someone had just finished smoking a pack in the room and ashed out on the floor. Frustrated but needing tor rush, we skip the showers and just frantically get ready to catch our shuttle. We leave our room at 3:21 PM and head back to the lobby to discover at long last a credit card has successfully worked. They hand them back and we get on our trek across the parking lot to the Hampton Inn... Returning to the hotel around 1 AM after the wedding we immediately go to the room, confirm it still smells like a walk in ashtray and go to the lobby to ask for a room change. We explain to the new attendant that we couldn't complain earlier because we were in a rush but would like to switch rooms. Their response was to offer us Febreeze or a deeper 2 hour "machine cleaning" to ger rid of the cigarette smell. Again, we asked to switch rooms and the best they offered us was febreeze or a two hour sit in the lobby while the room was disinfected. Confused, we asked if the hotel was at capacity and if we could switch rooms and were told "they only had double occupancy rooms available". We said that is fine and were moved. We checked into our new room and got to bed...for the sake of time I will not get I to how crusty and dusty the room was but we were both so tired...we just let it go. The next day at checkout the same squad of 3 ladies who were at check in were there. As we approached the desk and let them know we were checking out we were met with blank stares and were handed a recipet for our stay. No questions about our stay, our experince...just a reciept, and cold stares. When we said goodbye we received no response in return, speaking louder just in case they couldnt hear us we said "have a great day!" And again...silence from the three. We laughed at their unprofessionalism and got on our way. All of this to say... if you somehow someday find yourself in the Best Western (formerly Holiday Inn Express) of Owego. Do yourself a favor and stay at the Hampton Inn across the way. We hung out with some friends after the wedding and the service was fantastic rooms clean and bright, and not a grumpy staff person in site.

We were fortunate to get a last-minute reservation when Cornell changed its graduation plans. The hotel was very adequate for our one night stay. I'm sure a lot of the issues I had with the hotel were due to Covid precautions, so I'm not sure whether it is fair to criticize. This is the first time we have stayed in a hotel since before the pandemic. The room had nothing loose in it, including local amenities information and note paper (which I happened to need!). The breakfast was very minimal because everything was individually packaged. I understand the reasoning, but the set-up was very poor since all the guests had to jam into a small corner of the lobby to get food to take back to the rooms. Hopefully things will improve rapidly when the pandemic eases.

I ended up staying at this hotel because I had driven across the US and after getting back into NY I figured that I should self quarantine for at least 2 weeks. This hotel had a fire while I was there that was pretty severe, no compensation was offered by the owner or manager. I had just finished making my coffee and I heard some strange noise out in the hall. I looked out there and I still that it was a fire alarm going off! I gathered some of my important stuff and made my way downstairs to the office, while walking to the main all there was smoke and a lot of water coming out of a room. When I went downstairs, the manager was just sitting there doing nothing. She wasn't trying to get the people out, or even go upstairs to see what the issue was. Felt that the manager endangered the people there including me. Another employee told me that housekeeping told the manager that she smelled something burning in that room. The manager did nothing about this step send her daughter upstairs to investigate cold her mother manager that she smelled something burning in the room. The manager did nothing! After the fire a couple of guys showed up in a broken-down pickup truck with a couple of shop vacs and that was their version of cleaning up! In the two days that followed no one showed up to clean up any additional mess left from the fire. The hallway and my room smells like burning wires. The hotel in general looks nice, but upon entering the hotel there is a septic smell all throughout. That doesn't surprise me because in my first room when I flush the toilet, feces came up in the shower! I was there for two and a half weeks and did not hear any housekeeping staff use a vacuum cleaner, especially in the hallway.. after I complained that the hallway was filthy I heard the girl the next day run the vacuum for less than 3 minutes. The rooms that I had did not feel clean. First room that I had I found two pair of underwear and a sock by the curtains. When I informed the front desk of this the girl just made a face. After the fire I asked the manager if there was going to be compensation because of the fire she said she was going to have the owner call me the owner never called me. No surprise...

IHG Service, Owner at Best Western Owego Inn, responded to this review
Dear michaelangley1, First of all, I want to let you know we take the safety of our guests very seriously. I have notified our management about your concerns regarding the housekeeping and general cleanliness of the hotel. I have also sent you a PM to discuss this a bit further. I want to apologize for not meeting your quality expectations. Thank you for making us your choice for your stay. We can't wait to show you all the changes based on your feedback. We hope to see you soon. Alejandro G. Case Manager IHGService

I stayed here during the COVID-19 pandemic. I'm an English Service Engineer, who lives in Asia as I normally cover that region. Nobody from England was able to travel so I picked up the Job. My first impression was very good, the staff were very welcoming and friendly. My room was very clean, had a fridge, microwave, super fast wifi, and a very comfy bed. Owego seems like a pretty good location, but I didn't get to see it all due to the lock down restrictions. On the evenings after work I would sit on the patio at the back of the hotel with a couple of beers and such a fantastic view of the river I was next to. There are all of the local fast food places close by too. Last of all, the staff were amazing. They made my stay great during difficult times. A big shout out to the mother and daughter at reception, and the house keeping lady. I truly hope to see you all again.

Second stay at this location...easy to find with plenty of parking...check in was easy…friendly desk staff...since I reserved through a third party, could not get a room on the second floor with view of river, not the end of the world...our room was in front of the hotel, but quiet with very little noticeable outdoor noise...room and bathroom were clean...no visible maintenance issues...bed was comfy with plenty of pillows...AC, though older, ran and wasn't too noisy...breakfast was very good with good selection, everything that expected to be warm or cold was...plenty of food...housekeeping staff was friendly and respected the do not disturb while we were out of the room....also changed out only towels we used (been at other hotels that advertise 'green' but only to have all towels and bedding changed out daily)...Front desk were great and helpful...the printer in the Business Center was out of service, but was able to print from Managers PC and printer...I asked for a small trash can for some flowers, after searching, provided a vase to use instead...absolutely no complaints about the hotel or staff!!!!