Working at the Ramada Plaza Hotel on Old National Highway in College Park, Georgia, was probably the most challenging experience of my life. To call this hotel rundown is an understatement. The owner, an Indian man named Arman, whose business, Blue Lagoon, also owns a few franchised Popeyes chicken locations. Arman was a master at playing games with the employees, treating us more like servants. As a front desk agent, most of us made $12 an hour with absolutely NO benefits other than deep discounts at Wyndham hotels, which none of the employees could take advantage of due to our low pay. One significant issue was the high turnover rate among staff, not just because of low pay. This constant change led to a lack of cohesion and teamwork, making it difficult to maintain consistent standards. New employees often found themselves overwhelmed due to being undertrained, which contributed to a stressful work environment. Training was confusing, and management relied on a couple of employees who thought they were being replaced to train new hires, leading to incorrect training. Arman had a rule where our checks would be docked for any cash mistakes. During my tenure, some employees had their paychecks docked for incorrectly checking in guests or not checking rooms for damage or smoking before returning the $150 security deposit.
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| The Entrance to the Hotel |
Another major downside was the hotel’s location. While being close to the airport might seem convenient, it also meant dealing with a high volume of transient guests. I'm not talking about the standard homeless person; I’m talking about drug addicts, pimps, hookers, and even drag queen hookers who wouldn’t tell their clients they were actually men. Many times, I would watch the security cameras and see someone running down the hall, chased by a naked man. Usually, the hooker would run out the door with the man's clothes and wallet, escaping onto Old National. This less-than-savory clientele led to various issues, from noise complaints to security concerns. The area around the hotel wasn’t the safest, and employees often felt uneasy, especially during late-night shifts. When they Super-8 Hotel was shut down for violations including running without a business license, the number of really horrible guests ramped up.
I was the only white person working there at the time and received threats during all my shifts just for following job guidelines. Aside from housekeeping, who worked from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., the only employee on the premises was the front desk agent. Many of my shifts were as night audit, from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., by myself. We did have a security officer who came in at midnight and left by 6 a.m., leaving me alone to protect myself. A few months in, I started bringing a retractable baton, then a taser, and eventually my Ruger LCP-Max holstered to my hip so problematic guests could see I could defend myself. This sense of insecurity was just a fraction of the drawbacks of working at the hotel. I saved video footage of guests abusing employees, and although we were told to ignore it, we fought back because otherwise management would dismiss it as typical for the neighborhood.
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| Things guests do in the rooms |
The working conditions at the Ramada Plaza Hotel left much to be desired. The facilities were outdated and in need of repair, making daily tasks difficult and frustrating. For the first two months of working there, we had no hot water. Imagine housekeeping cleaning and washing bedding with no hot water, or trying to shower in cold water during November and December. Shockingly, many guests were okay with it when told there was no hot water. The housekeeping department was problematic, sometimes just straightening things up and remaking beds upon guest checkout rather than properly cleaning the room and changing the sheets and pillowcases. It was not uncommon for guests to find socks, hats, and dirty underwear in the bed after turning down the sheets. Each housekeeper was required to clean at least 16 rooms during their shift, leading to cut corners and dissatisfied guests. I encountered many bizarre situations, like a guest calling to inform me there was poop under her bed. She was okay with it but wanted to let someone know so she wouldn’t be blamed. Housekeeping didn’t use bleach to clean surfaces, sinks, or toilets; instead, they used Fabuloso.
The lack of proper maintenance contributed to the unpleasant working environment. The maintenance man, Arman's brother-in-law Nick, was not up to code or sanitary standards. He also co-managed housekeeping, limiting their Fabuloso use to a gallon a week for a 271-room hotel. Mold was an issue, and instead of proper remediation, Nick would spray bleach cleaner, often leaving bleach stains on the red dirty carpet. Some ceiling tiles were wet and covered in black mold, dripping on me at times. When guests complained about bed bugs, we inspected the rooms ourselves, put them out of service, and moved the guests. Oddly, when pest control was called, the woman spent no more than five minutes, collected her cash envelope, signed a book, and declared no bed bugs. During ice storms, the owner told us we could stay in a room rather than go out in the weather, but there was NO chance I was staying in one of those rooms.
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| The ceiling tile that dripped on me |
Amenities listed on booking sites were unavailable. Arman forced us to lie, telling guests the hotel was under renovation, which it was not. The pool was cleaned only when a production company rented the hotel to film scenes for the miniseries "Candy" starring Jessica Biel. After filming, the pool was never available, and within a week, it was green again with a diaper swirling around the middle. There was no breakfast, in spite of the websites touting free breakfast, not that normal people would want to consume food inside the building.
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| Doesn't that look refreshing? |
There was also another point of their business, airport parking. They mostly did it through a website called Way but when Way was slow to send the check to the owner, he would cut off the Way customers and they would take out their frustration on us. The owner would instruct us to tell them they can stay in our lot for $10 a day if they chose but it had to be paid up front directly to us. Several times, Collage Park Police would come in issuing fines for illegally running an airport park and ride. Whoever was there at the time would be issued the ticket and would be required to show up at court and the owner felt this was OK. I refused to partake in this practice. It's a parking lot that I would never use for my own vehicle due to the fact that the lot was not monitored or patrols during the day or most of the night. I had many upset park and ride people come in shoving their phones in my face with photos of their broken windows and car damage and the only thing I could point out to them was the "Not responsible for damage" signs. Airport parking was a pain, not only because of all that but also the fact that they offered shuttle service between the hotel and airport from 6am till 11pm, supposed to be every half hour but many times the shuttle drivers would do things on their own schedule, leaving us to receive phone calls from upset people cussing us out. The daytime and afternoon employees told me the best thing to do was not answer the phone. What really sucked about the shuttle were the people who didn't realize there was no service between 11pm and 6am, leaving them to their own devices. I can't count how many times I was threatened over the shuttle service and expected to reimburse the person for their transportation cost, which NEVER happened. After a while, I adopted a fake name as the rest of the staff did for complaint purposes. There's a parking lady that is still threatening to sue the hotel and "Tito" to this very day because her car was towed for non-payment of her extended parking fees. The parking situation was really horrible because they would let it get overbooked to the point where the guests of the hotel would have no parking or we were having to turn away people who prepaid. If they ran over and wanted to extend, they had to do it through us on the phone or they would be towed within hours of the clock striking midnight. Even if the person tried to extend through the Way app, they would still get towed. Nice way to do business huh?
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| Housekeeping considers this "CLEAN" |
Management practices were another point of contention. Many employees felt their concerns and suggestions weren’t taken seriously, leading to frustration and disengagement. Clear communication from management was often lacking, resulting in misunderstandings and mistakes. This disconnect made it challenging to foster a positive and productive work atmosphere.
At Thanksgiving, the owner catered a dinner for the employees, acting as if it was good compensation for what we dealt with throughout the year. Our Christmas bonus was a $20 gift card from Wal-Mart, proving the owner didn’t care about the employees. If he treated us this way, I can't imagine how he treated his employees at the Popeyes Chicken locations he owned.
Lastly, the compensation and benefits at the Ramada Plaza Hotel were inadequate. Many employees felt their hard work wasn’t fairly rewarded, leading to low job satisfaction and motivation. The lack of competitive wages and benefits made it difficult to attract and retain quality staff, further exacerbating the issues mentioned above. Overall, working at the Ramada Plaza Hotel on Old National Highway had its moments, but the numerous challenges made it a tough place to work. I had already told the manager I wouldn’t work overnight, but she still scheduled me for a couple of overnight shifts. I worked one because I needed the hours, but at 1 a.m., I received a death threat call. I immediately called her and the owner, but they dismissed it as a hoax. I didn’t see it that way. That night, I spent a good part of the night taking as many pictures of the property as well as the employee communication notebook pages and some of the illegal paperwork that we were given as terms of our employment which I still have saved to this day. The following night, I was scheduled at 11 p.m. I took my Ambien at 10:45 p.m., told Terry I wouldn’t be returning, and he agreed it was for the best. At 10:59 p.m., I left the work group chat and blocked the phone numbers for the owner, manager, and hotel, then went to bed.
What I find mindboggling is the number of horrible reviews on Google and other sites, including the booking sites, but yet people continue to book rooms there. The owner doesn't even bother to reply because, I mean what would be your reply knowing the truth is spoken? The ones that leave good reviews are either confused or consider anything not a cardboard box as a luxury. Not one of the employees understands how Wyndham would allow this or the hotels around it be allowed to operate under their brand names but I guess that's one of those things between corporate and the people paying for the name rights.
If you are ever driving through Atlanta and you see a hotel in disrepair, keep driving down the interstate until you get to a place that looks like the Bates Motel, you'll have a better experience.
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