For Guests
Frequently Asked Questions about Guest Services
Do I need to make advance reservations?
While free-form spontaneous travel is fun and adventurous, we always recommend that guests make advance reservations, particularly during peak travel seasons and periods of high demand.
How can I make my reservation?
You have three main choices:
- Call the toll-free reservation system. For Americas Best Value Inn call 1-888-315-BEST (2378). For Super 8 Motels call 1-800-800-8000.
- You can also make reservations via the Internet. Within InnWorks' web site, go to the page under "Locations" for your desired hotel, then click on the icon to "Make Reservations."
What about reservations for large groups?
If you'd like to reserve more than 4 rooms at a time, please call the hotel direct and speak with the General Manager. We often require a written agreement plus an advance deposit. One individual also needs to be designated as the responsible party who will take care of payment for the entire group unless other arrangements are made.
We can also arrange room blocks, where we set aside rooms for your group for a limited time. Each person in your group then calls the hotel to claim a room for themselves. Each guest is responsible for payment of their room and incidental charges.
What is a guaranteed reservation?
A guaranteed reservation is one that we will hold for you all night so that you can be flexible in your arrival time. A non-guaranteed reservation is one that is held until only 6:00 p.m. (4:00 p.m. in some locations) on the date of arrival. If you are holding a guaranteed reservation and we don't have a room available for you, we are obliged to find a room for you at another hotel.
How do I guarantee a reservation?
Provide a valid credit card number at the time you make your reservation.
What are my obligations as a guest with guaranteed reservations?
With a guaranteed reservation, the hotel has to hold your room all night until check-out time the next day. At the same time, you agree to pay for the room, whether you use it or not. If you know you won't need your reservation, simply cancel your reservation by the cut-off time (usually 6:00 p.m. or 4:00 p.m. local time on the date of arrival). Be sure to ask for and save the cancellation number, and you won't be charged for your reservation. Sometimes during special events, a hotel's cancellation policy may change, often requiring cancellation as much as two days in advance. Be sure to make note of any special reservation or cancellation policies that may affect your reservation.
When I make a reservation, do you assign a specific room to me at that time?
No. We assign rooms each day for arriving guests. This way, we don't have to completely re-shuffle room assignments if a specific room is out-of-order or if an existing guest extends his stay. We take reservations for specific room types, such as non-smoking doubles. If you have a special request, such as wanting to be on a certain floor or wanting to be by an entrance, please let us know when you make your reservation. We aren't always able to honor special requests, but we will try our best to do so.
If my plans change, what should I do?
If you won't be using your reservation, it's really helpful if you let us know. We've had to turn away people in storms or other emergency situations because we've held rooms for people who had reservations but didn't show up. Remember, if you have a guaranteed reservation and don't cancel it, we will charge you one night's room rental plus tax.
If you have a non-guaranteed reservation but won't be able to arrive at the hotel until after the hold time (usually 6:00 p.m. or 4:00 p.m. local time), it's best to call the hotel and guarantee your reservation if you are able. This way, your room will be waiting for you, no matter how late your arrival might be.
Will my room be ready no matter what time I arrive?
We generally plan on having rooms available for newly arriving guests around 2:00 p.m. local time. Our check-out time is 11:00 a.m. Consequently, we have only a few hours for our housekeepers to clean and prepare rooms for new guests.
In general on weekdays our guests tend to leave early to get on with their work or travels. On weekends, guests tend to linger in their rooms, often staying right up to the 11:00 a.m. check-out time. For early arriving guests, we'll do our best to get you into rooms as quickly as possible, but we can't guarantee that rooms will be available until mid-afternoon.
What types of rooms do InnWorks hotels offer?
We have two standard types of rooms, designated by the number of beds in the room: "singles", meaning a room with one bed; or "doubles", meaning a room with two beds. The bed sizes are usually queens or full extra-longs. Both queen and full extra-long beds are the same length from head to toe. A queen bed is wider across than a full extra-long bed. At each InnWorks hotel, we have both non-smoking and smoking-permitted singles and doubles.
A few InnWorks hotels have a limited number of single rooms featuring king beds. A few InnWorks hotels also have extra-large rooms that are great for families with children.
What are the dimensions of your beds?
Here are standard mattress measurements:
- Full Extra Long: 53" wide x 80" long
- Queen 60" wide x 80" long
- King 76" wide x 80" long
What features can I expect in an InnWorks guest room?
All of our hotel rooms include: Coffee maker, color TV with remote and closed captioning, night light, clock/radio, telephone, in-room safe, and brightly-lit work areas.
Some InnWorks guest rooms offer additional amenities such as in-room refrigerators.
Tell me about the in-room night lights.
It can be somewhat treacherous trying to navigate an unfamiliar room in darkness. That's why we've installed night lights in all of our guest rooms. In other hotels, if you want a "night light", you have to turn on the bathroom light, which often turns on the noisy bathroom fan. Our night lights provide a soft glowing light. The light can be dimmed by turning the small dial at the corner of the night light plate.
Why do you charge for the in-room safes?
Many people now travel with costly items, such as laptop computers, cell phones, cameras, medications, medical devices, as well as money and jewelry. There was growing demand for guests of value-priced accommodations for in-room safes. Our options were to purchase in-room safes and pass on the cost to every guest, or to find a way to provide in-room safes where guests could decide whether or not to pay for this amenity.
We opted for the latter method by working with Safemark, which has been designated as a preferred vendor by many nationwide hotel chains to provide in-room safes for their hotels.
Safemark simply asks that we impose a $1.50 per night safe warranty fee for every guest. The $1.50 fee covers not only the use of the safe, but also a warranty that covers up to $5,000 if anything were to be taken out of the safe in your room.
If you don't use the safe, the warranty fee is fully refundable at check-out. Simply request that the safe warranty fee be removed, and we will gladly do so.
Why don't you just ask in advance if I'm going to use the safe?
For privacy reasons, we never ask guests in advance if they will be using the safe. Remember, if you don't use the safe, just let us know and we'll gladly remove the charge upon your request at check-out. This is an amenity that allows you to decide after the fact if you want to pay for it or not!
What other amenities are available at InnWorks hotels?
All InnWorks hotels have coin-operated guest laundry facilities on site. All InnWorks hotels also offer fax and photocopy service at the front desk for a modest charge. Several InnWorks hotels also have swimming pools.
Can I save money on long distance calls from my hotel room by using 10-10-xxx numbers that advertise 20 minutes of long distance calling for $1?
Sorry, but those rates will not apply to your call. Your call will still be billed at the hotel's direct-dial rates, which mirror AT&T standard rates, plus a hotel surcharge.
Do your hotels offer high-speed Internet access?
Most of our locations offer high-speed internet access. Wired access is available in all guest rooms (request a connection device from the Front Desk). Several locations also offer wireless access points in the lobby and adjoining areas.
Are InnWorks hotels accessible to those in wheelchairs or using walkers?
Each InnWorks hotel has some rooms designated as disabled-accessible. Because most InnWorks' hotels were built prior to the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"), the disabled-accessible rooms may not meet all of the ADA requirements for newly-constructed lodgings. However, our disabled-accessible rooms met all of the code requirements at the time the properties were constructed. All InnWorks' disabled-accessible rooms have one bed. The rooms do not connect to an adjoining room. The bathrooms are extra-large, with maneuvering room for wheelchairs and/or walkers, and support bars. Most of the bathing facilities consist of tubs with seats and hand-held showers. Two of our properties have wheelchair-accessible showers.
What other features are available for disabled guests?
Each InnWorks hotel has TDD devices available for guest use upon request. We also have signaling devices that can be plugged into a lamp to provide visual notification when the phone is ringing. Some of our rooms also have strobe light alarms tied into our fire safety systems.
What forms of payment do you accept?
We accept all major credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, Diners Club). We also accept travelers checks and cash.
I'm paying by credit and/or debit card. Why do there seem to be "charges" on my account different from what my receipt indicates?
When guests use credit or debit cards to secure payment at check-in, our computer system automatically "pre-authorizes" a certain amount of the credit or funds available in your account. Pre-authorizations are not actual charges. Rather, they are holds placed on your account to ensure there will be sufficient funds to pay for your stay when you check out. Pre-authorizations are common practice in the hotel and rental car industries because the actual charges cannot be determined at the beginning of a hotel stay or automobile rental period.
Generally, the pre-authorization amount consists of the anticipated room charges for the entire stay, plus an arbitrary amount over and above that for incidentals such as long distance phone calls. No actual charges or debits are placed on your credit or debit card account until an actual "sale" transaction is posted, usually at the end of your stay.
When your actual charges are tallied at check-out, we will enter a "sale" transaction against your credit or debit card. At that time, any unused pre-authorization amounts should drop off. Sometimes, it takes a few days for the excess pre-authorization amounts to be released depending on the policies of individual credit and debit card companies. If you decide to pay your bill with another form of payment or another card from the one you presented at check-in, this will usually cause the pre-authorization amount to stay on your account for up to two weeks.
Do you accept pets?
We accept dogs only. No other pets or animals are accepted, except for service animals.
Why do you accept dogs? Don't you realize that a lot of people are allergic to dogs?
We struggled with this policy for some time. However, with the advent of the Americans with Disabilities Act, hoteliers were required to accept service animals traveling with disabled guests. Therefore, it didn't seem logical to exclude dogs on the basis that some people are allergic to dogs, when in fact we were required to accept dogs under certain circumstances.
The other factor in our decision was a letter from an elderly couple who told us they really wished we would allow dogs because they always traveled with their dog. They also told us that their dog gave them more love than their own children! As dog lovers ourselves, we were moved to change our policy!
Why do you charge a fee for dogs?
The one-time fee is for extra cleaning that we undertake when a room is occupied by a dog. We know that some people are sensitive to dog dander, so we spend extra time deep cleaning the room, as well as laundering all bedding.
Are your locations safe?
In this day and age, no one can guarantee absolute safety. However, none of our locations have experienced any significant criminal activity. Guests must use common sense. Don't leave valuables in your vehicle where they can be seen. Lock your vehicle. Report any suspicious activity to the front desk.
What does InnWorks do for the security of its guests?
All of our guest rooms have dead bolt locks as well as an auxiliary lock such as a safety chain on the door. To secure your privacy while in your room, be sure to engage the dead bolt as well as the auxiliary safety chain. Also check any windows to ensure that they are locked. Many windows have dowels in place to prevent the windows from being opened. However, the dowels are easily removed in case of fire or other situations requiring emergency evacuation. The biggest security enhancement we've made is the installation of electronic locks on every guest room door. This was very costly, but this technology is worth every penny.
InnWorks also takes additional measures to safeguard our guests. Our desk clerks are trained not to recite your room number out loud. Instead, we will write down your room number on a piece of paper and direct you to the location of your room. This way, a stranger in the front desk area will not hear your room number being mentioned out loud. We also will not give out your room number to outsiders. Any visitors are asked to provide the name of the registered guest, then we will phone the room to announce the visitor.
What's so special about electronic lock systems?
Instead of metal keys, electronic lock systems use programmable key cards that look like plastic credit cards with a magnetic stripe on the back of the card. When used properly, electronic lock systems can provide a tremendous improvement in guest security beyond the old mechanical key systems.
Electronic key cards can be programmed for individual rooms for a certain period of time. Our policy is to program a guest's key card for the length of their actual stay, or seven days, whichever is shorter. For example, if a guest checks in for a two-night stay, the key card will be programmed for only two nights. After the second night, the card will expire and cannot be used to open the door. With mechanical keys, the key will continue to unlock that door until the lock itself is removed. With old mechanical key systems, a missing key or a key retained by a departing guest could easily place future guests' security in jeopardy.
When a new guest is assigned to the room, a new key with a unique code is created for the guest. When a new guest uses their key in a door lock, all previous guest keys are rendered invalid.
Electronic key systems also provide a means of determining when a guest room was entered and by whom. The door lock can be "read" with the dates, times, and identifying codes of all keys used to open the door over an extended length of time.
What should I do if something's wrong with my room?
By all means, speak up to the front desk. We do try our best to ensure that your room is properly prepared and everything is functioning. However, we aren't perfect, and there are things out of our control, such as the TV remote batteries dying without our knowledge in between guests. So when you first enter your room, take a look around. If there is anything that needs attention, please let the front desk know. If we don't know something's wrong, we can't correct it and make the remainder of your stay pleasant and comfortable.
There's a card on the back of the door. It says my room rate is $200++??
State laws require that we post certain information for our guests. There is usually a place to post the maximum room rate for that type of room. Many hotels take the highest rate they imagine charging for a particular room - usually a very special event rate - then add 15% to 20% to arrive at the rate posted on these room cards. This way, we won't have to continually update the cards each time our rates change.
