Sex Toy In The Microwave: Worst Hotel Ever Granted A State License?

The Baymont By Wyndham Des Moines North was an unlicensed hotel, despite being branded as part of a global chain and being owned by McKinney, Texas-based Relianse Global.

On December 22, hotel inspectors found “trash, pests, nonworking smoke detectors and a “sex toy” in the microwave oven of a guest room.” And the property has been given a government license to operate.

The property owner held off on accepting guests pending issuance of the license. As long as they got the paperwork done, everything was alright. The hotel “corrected the guest-room violations,” agreed to “dispose of the microwave oven” and was given a provisional license.

During the Dec. 22 inspection of one guest room, the inspector found an accumulation of trash behind the bed, a “sex toy” inside the microwave oven, a soiled shirt stuffed in the ice bucket, and other articles of clothing that had been discarded under a couch.

…In a separate room, the inspector found trash behind a dresser console and clothing discarded behind a couch. A review of seven other guest rooms uncovered similar problems: nonworking smoke detectors, accumulations of trash, a soiled table and couch, a prong of some kind stuck in a bathroom electrical outlet, food debris, broken outlet covers, visibly stained furniture that had to be discarded, and toilet bowls that were visibly soiled with accumulated debris and feces.

One bathroom faucet could not produce any hot water and the interior of the lobby ice machine was soiled with debris. In addition, the inspector found rodent droppings in the breakfast-area cabinets and underneath the kitchen’s food-preparation counter, as well as dead gnats and dead fleas in a cabinet near the kitchen’s reach-in freezer.

The Baymont property had just changed ownership and that caused a snag with the license, it seems.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

More articles by Gary Leff »

Pingbacks

Comments

  1. Oh, God, I’ve stayed there more than once. It was just conveniently located to my work site in Des Moines and had smoking rooms, plus the price was good. That being said, I never stayed in a room there with no hot water, roaches, or any sex toys in the microwave. Maybe I got lucky. But then again, my stays were prior to this whole ownership mess and was also pre-pandemic. Just goes to show how hard it is for the two-star properties to get cleaning staff.

Comments are closed.