If I were to rate this hotel
If I were to rate this hotel, it would deserve nothing less than a zero. My colleagues and I had made reservations at the Governor's Inn several months in advance, as we were scheduled to attend the 2024 Governor's Conference on Tourism in Pierre. We had secured three rooms, and to our surprise, the owner of the hotel personally contacted my director the day before our check-in to confirm our reservation. My director assured him that we were indeed arriving the next day. However, upon our arrival, we were met with a frustrating and utterly unacceptable situation – our reserved rooms had been inexplicably canceled and rented out to other guests. This was not only outrageous but also particularly concerning given the impending storm.
After engaging in multiple frustrating exchanges with the hotel staff and the manager, we were left with no choice but to frantically search for alternative accommodations. For anyone familiar with conferences, securing last-minute lodging can be an arduous task.
To compound matters, we later discovered that the owner's call to my director the day before was marred by extreme rudeness. He questioned the basis for our "state rate" (given that we were government employees) and even queried whether we truly needed all three rooms. The reality was that we did require all three rooms, as our entire team was attending the conference. We had never requested a state rate; we had merely called to make our reservations, and the mention of the conference led to this designation, given that we work for a city municipality. Despite the unpleasant conversation, we had confirmed our arrival for the following day, only to be informed upon arrival that our reservations had been abruptly canceled.
Throughout the conference, we discovered that other attendees had fallen victim to a similar ordeal. It appeared that the hotel management opted to maximize their profits by renting rooms at regular rates. Regardless of the quality of this establishment, our city employees will unequivocally never return. The degree of unprofessionalism displayed by an actual hotel owner, who not only subjected our director to unwarranted berating but also took it upon himself to cancel our reservations, is beyond any acceptable standard in the hospitality industry.