We stayed at the LaQuinta Inn and Suites in Andover, MA for Cello’s North Eastern Regionals Competition (Read more about this event HERE).
(This was Hooch’s first hotel stay!)
We had stayed at a LaQuinta in Harrisburg, Pa for one of Cello’s dock diving events, and had a wonderful experience. The hotel was clean, and the staff could not be more friendly. Read more about it HERE.
This experience was QUITE different. There were 2 Laquinta’s to choose from for Cello’s Regional Competition. We chose the Andover location, even though it was 20 minutes away, because with the DockDogs discount, we saved $400 at this location. The LaQuinta in Andover was a bit older than the one we stayed at in Harrisburg, PA, and had a very “dirty” feel to it. When we went into our room, it smelled awful. When we told the hotel front desk staff, and instead of changing our room, they gave us the rug deodorizer they use to spray on the rug, and told us to spray the rug ourselves! (SERIOUSLY!?!) We should have immediately checked out at that point!! Our hotel keys did not work consistently, which made it difficult trying to get back into the room with two dogs, and I heard others complaining about this as well. We decided to stick it out in this hotel – but were regretful that we didn’t change hotels after the sight of our room!
I was completely creeped-out in this smelly room! To make matters worse, I had just recently received an email from a friend about a creepy hotel situation just minutes from our home (later found to be false news!)
The following story is from Empire News:
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Body Found Under Motel Bed, Police Say It Has Been There At Least 5 Years
MOUNT LAUREL, New Jersey – 
Stunning news this morning out of New Jersey, as reports of police discovering the body of a young woman under a motel bed have been confirmed. The owners of the motel asked that their name and location be omitted from news reports to protect their business.
The body, which has yet to be identified, was found by a person staying in the room.
“I dropped the television remote, and when I went to check under the bed I found her. It was like something out of a scary movie,” said Aaron Silver, the man staying in the room.
According to initial reports by the medical examiner on-scene, it appears as though the body lay undisturbed in the room for about 5 years. There was a normal amount of rot and decay on the body to suggest that it had not been moved or touched over the course of that time.
The motel has not made a comment about the issue but have told police that they are constantly cleaning their rooms and have no idea how this could have slipped beneath the cracks.
“I clean that room every day. I noticed a smell several times, and told my manager,” said Anita Rodriguez, a housekeeper at the motel. “He told me to just use extra Febreeze in the room and it would go away eventually. I always hated cleaning that room.”
Motel representatives say that all their rooms are cleaned daily, but that it is not the policy of the company to make their housekeeper check under the beds.
“They do a heavy clean of the rooms to sanitize for guests, but when it comes to under the beds, they just run the vacuum around the edges. Who really looks under the bed, anyway? No reason to waste anyone’s time,” said Charles Dyson, a representative of the motel chain.
“It’s the most bizarre thing I’ve ever seen,” said police chief Joe Goldsmith. “I’ve seen a lot of strange things in my time on the force, but to think about all the people who’ve stayed in this room, with a dead body beneath them, and they didn’t know about it? It gives me the heebie-jeebies.”
Police have seized room and occupant records for the last several years, and are trying to trace the person or persons who may have stayed in the room around the time of death.
“Funny thing is, the records also show literally almost 1,000 complaints from people who stayed in the room over the years. Everything from a bad smell to an ‘eerie feeling.’ Several people even asked to switch rooms in the middle of the night,” said Goldsmith. “The motel really should have checked out that room a little more closely.”
(see the original link HERE)…again – found to be false.
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Even though the above story was false news, the bad smell we were experiencing creeped me out.
…So… I still insisted that Brian look under the bed! 🙂
(Cello “helped,” of course!) 😉
PHEW! No dead body here! In fact, the bottom of the bed was solid, so there was no “under-the-bed!” (I was still creeped-out by the way!)
After all of the above, to top it all off, we had REALLY noisy neighbors (not from DockDogs). SO…we finally had it with this hotel, and actually checked out of this La Quinta a day early. We booked a room at the Somerville location for our last night in Massachusetts after other DockDogs members had given us great feedback on the hotel. (BEST move ever!!) We would NOT stay at the Andover La Quinta again!!
Hooch and Cello didn’t seem to mind too much:
