The Ramada Inn in Fort Smith was old when I stayed here as an engineer 8 years ago. Not much has changed, other than the bar is now closed.

Four buildings two floors high have rooms that have an keyed inside door that opens into a hallway and an outside door that doesn’t open. The bed was in the middle of the room. Air conditioning and heating were handled by a wall unit that buzzed all the time. There was a little area to work out in. The refrigerator and microwave were pretty new, along with the TV. Over 60 channels were available including HBO, SciFi, Food, FSN, VH1, Discovery, and Bravo. The bed was worn but still sleepable. One outlet was available for the laptop.

The internet access was implemented in the strangest fashion. No less than six access points (broadcast antennas) served wireless. There was even an access point in my room. The strongest signal never worked; I had to adjust my settings to pick one of the weaker signals through trial and error. Combined with a slow “I Agree” web sign-up, this made internet access frustrating.

The bathroom was small, the sink and mirror actually outside the bathroom. The shower head was only at the base of my neck, and the shower curtain sucked into the shower during usage. The bath linens had the feel of having gone through the laundry too many times.

The web site said there was a fitness room, but I couldn’t locate it. The courtyard in the center of the four buildings contained a swimming pool that wasn’t filled. The restaurant has an Italian restaurant that was only open on certain days; I didn’t get a chance to try it out.

The laundry service performed quite well. The same day service followed my instructions, folding my clothes and not using starch.

There is plenty of parking around the outside of the buildings, but the four buildings sit downhill from the building with the lobby and restaurant. A large car without much clearance will scrape their front bumper on the ascent, as attested to by the marks in the asphalt. Two exits onto two-way traffic made for easy entrance and egress once the traffic opened up.

The laundry service performing quite well, if I were to return to Fort Smith I would stay at the Holiday Inn Express, find out who did Ramada’s laundry, and use them.


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