Best Western PLUS Ruston Hotel

I haven’t darkened the door of a best western in many years. I wish I could have the ear of the CEO for about 30 minutes just to honestly discuss the company’s direction. I was impressed with the staff at this location despite our room not being available until after 6:30. I totally understand staffing issues and they were working as fast and as hard as they could. I would also say that the new contemporary feel that they are going for is visually appealing. However, you need to seriously consider hiring a new interior designer. The hotel is full of little children who can’t move the chairs in the breakfast area because they are too heavy or too tall. It is almost like your designer looked at it all, but didn’t sit in any of it. I honestly believe that your designer has never traveled with children, or tried to work at the desk in the room. The office chair in the room does not raise to a height that you can sit at the desk. I watched a lady at breakfast almost have grounds for a serious lawsuit. Besides the fact that the chairs are too tall, they have fallen into such a state of disrepair that they are like trying to sit on a tilt-a-whirl. Once she was precariously perched on the unstable chair, she couldn’t figure out how to scoot it up to the table because she couldn’t reach the floor. Her husband shuffled three other wobbly chairs around his spot before giving up and standing to eat his breakfast. Clearly your designer has chosen form over function. No one likes to sit on ottoman cubes that put the table at chest height to eat. Trash cans by the front door are a great idea. Having to set down your luggage so that you can lift the lid to put in your trash... not such a good idea. Take a lesson from every fast food chain in the nation. Another note: as a pool owner, I would encourage you put in a bigger pool. It is almost like you are trying to discourage parents from getting their kids in the pool. I have seen bigger hot tubs than this pool. If you get more than ten kids in there, they start to fight with each other. Yes, it happened... there was a baseball tournament in town, and they must have. All stayed here. You should anonymously visit this property with your designer (with kids or grandkids in tow) and watch people try to use the facility and it’s furnishings. All of us users can see the deficits...so should you.

We stayed 1 night as a rest stop on our road trip to MS from Texas. Everything was very clean, the pool and workout room were nice and the breakfast was good. My only complaint is the light on the smoke alarm in our room flashed every 10 seconds and it was annoying at night. Other than that, great hotel!

Our room was gorgeous. Great customer service. It was Mother's Day weekend and we had a family reunion and there was also a graduation in town. I called and normally we stay at a room down the street but there a tornado there previously and it was damaged. Glad I did. The only thing was when I called and requested a queen suite I was told the couch pulled out and it did not. The pool is outdoor. Also the queen suites are on the back side. No view except a back street.

The hotel is off of I20 and within close proximity to restaurants, shopping, and about 10-15 minutes from Grambling University. I enjoyed the breakfast options and my modern clean room. If ever in the area again, I would return to this location.

Carlyn went out of her way to get us a room and a fantastic rate. There was a tornado in Ruston and we needed a place to stay with electricity. She help many others in the same day. She did great work with only a Hot Spot and 1 computer!

A tornado had just ripped through Ruston. The Best Western Plus was the only hotel that wasn’t damaged. The manager worked tirelessly without internet service to get all of us checked in. The staff was so wonderful in the aftermath of such a horrible storm.

driving across the country from CA to GA and back. we stopped at this property after dinner in Monroe, LA. we chose it from the website due to the location, photo, and being a BW Plus. We were pleasantly surprised at the quality of the hotel design and construction. The breakfast was good and in a very comfortable dining area. We are sold on BW Plus.

We stayed at the Best Western Plus in Ruston on the night of April 24th, 2019. That was the night of the major tornado that hit Ruston. The power went out during the hardest time of the storm at about 1:30AM. The rest of our stay was kind of a nightmare. The weather was expected to get poor that evening. There was no warning given to guests who may not have known that bad weather was expected. There was no “do ______” if tornado warning sirens sound during the evening. There was no preparation for a major emergency that was obvious before or after the storm. We stayed in our room until 8:00 the morning after the storm. There was no power, nor AC, during the evening. If the hotel had emergency generators they did not work. We checked outside in the hall to see if there were any hotel employees trying to give emergency instructions to guests, but the hallways were dark. There was a portion of the roof that had been lifted on the area where you drive in. This was obvious during the storm. We did not know if there was further damage to the hotel and if it was dangerous to stay in our rooms, or if the smart thing was to leave our rooms. No notice to leave the room we figured we should stay. At 8:00 AM we went down 4 flights of stairs in PITCH BLACK DARKNESS. There were no hotel employees with flashlights to help guests. There were no employees to help elderly or disabled guests get luggage down the steps. When we arrived in the lobby there sat several employees waiting on instructions as to what they should do. The manager and one other lady had a list of rooms on a yellow legal pad. No names of guests, just room numbers. When we approached the desk I asked, “You are aware that there are no lights in the stairwells?” The manager said yes, that the batteries didn’t work but for so long and there was nothing they could do about it. I asked why they didn’t have employees with flashlights helping people and was told that the flashlights had not arrived yet. She did ask how we had paid our bill, and did we want a receipt sent via email when the email was back up? Obviously, the payment was of more importance than making sure her guests were okay. I was upset but kept my cool because this woman had obviously never been trained as to how to handle a major emergency. Thank God the hotel was not directly hit and had guests trapped inside rooms. We asked instructions as to how to get to our road home. We were told there was basically no area of town that was not blocked. We could try, but they did not know if we could get out. We left, there was a direct route to the university area. We were then able to get on our route home with no problem. Tonight I called Best Western Plus Customer Service to let them know that the hotel did not have any plan, nor did they offer any assistance to the guests. A rather rude gentleman told me that my concerns had been documented. Never did he offer an apology for what had happened, nor did he offer any concern for what we had been through in a very trying and dangerous night. He told me he had done what he could do and could not talk any longer because other callers were waiting. People with no people skills should never be placed in customer service. All I ask is that he sounded like he cared just a little bit. I have to say that this was a VERY NICE hotel. The rooms were very nice. They were supposed to have a breakfast which obviously didn’t happen (no apology for that inconvenience). Had everything gone normally this would have probably been a very nice stay. Under trying circumstances, the Best Western Plus of Ruston failed their test of being prepared for a difficult situation. The hotel was great, the management and lack of employee training was the problem. In the end I have to say that we send our heart felt prayers to the people of Ruston. Many will have a hard time cleaning up and rebuilding. We will return to Ruston, but we will not be staying at the Best Western Plus.

Read the reviews before you choose this hotel....Fairly new hotel but carpet in room had huge red stain! Bathtub plug would not hold water and several pre authorization charges on our debit card that are still there even though we are home now! Keep calling and they keep saying, Oh they will fall off but this was a debit card and our funds are on hold until this hotel decides to release them....Should not be charged MORE than the reservation total which was 206 but hotel is currently holding 429 which makes no sense!! Never, ever will we stay here again