Skip to main content

Springhill Suites, Holland Michigan

 Subtitle:  Mold and breaches of fire code.

It's been over 2 years since I got fired from the hotel, so I'm comfortable sharing these experiences.  I saw issues with the building, brought them up to management, and was told that either I was wrong, or these things weren't issues.

Let's start with the actual inciting incident that led Stellar Hospitality (of Rochester, Michigan) to "discontinue my services":  A blocked toilet.  The hotel GM told me to stick my hands into the toilet and manually unblock the toilet after a drain snake failed and the company would not bring in a plumber.  Said GM was positively spitting when she had to come in and manually unblock the stoppage herself.  Never mind the fact that this was 2020, right as CoVid was kicking off, there's still all sorts of hepatitis germies that live in fecal matter, and I had no idea if there were needles or other drug paraphernalia in the toilet (we actually evicted some guests earlier that summer for flushing drug paraphernalia down the toilet).



A first-floor room was plagued with water and drainage issues, which caused mold and rotting inside the walls.  I was told by the Regional Manager that these "were not mold" and that I should just paint over the questionable spots:


Upon removal of the wallpaper to inspect the insides of the walls, we'd found that there was at least one spot where the drain pipe totally breached the structural stud wall, which probably shouldn't have passed the initial building inspection:


Further up in the wall of this same room, there were some breaches in the fire wall that I was told (again by the GM and RM) were not an issue, and that I should just patch over everything using normal drywall and plaster (since it was above the ceiling and was not bound by fire code):


I was formally disciplined when I questioned the above concern - I contacted the local building department and asked for clarification, then brought their answer to the hotel GM who wrote me up for subverting her authority and costing the hotel money...her assertion was that each time we contact the building authority, they charge us.  She then took me all around the building and pointed out things that she noticed, that the building authority didn't, in a seeming attempt to show that she knew more than the code inspectors.


Other rooms had things like fire alarms being concealed by bathroom dividers:


...or leaky fire suppression lines, causing drywall damage in the ceiling and probably other mold issues:


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Merry Christmas from Tulip City!

I don't have a full article this week, but here's a little bit of trivia for you: While Holland is a predominantly Christian Reformed city, it was the early Methodists that sprung the Christmas spirit. While an 1867 Sunday School Christmas Program drew nearly 150 youngsters to Hope Church, it was several generations before the Reformed church allowed even Christmas trees into their sanctuaries, as Christmas trees were seen as Pagan symbols. Early Methodists adopted the 19th Century American spirit, and welcomed things like Christmas trees and even Santa Claus into their sanctuaries. I tried to determine exactly how long "several generations" were using Dr. Swierenga's book (and the sources he cites), but could not ascertain the exact time. It's almost certainly somewhere in the vicinity of 50 years (before the Christian Reformed Churches allowed 'pagan' Christmas symbols), which would put their allowing of such things into the early 20th century, but ...

The Cedar Swamp Village

Holland has only been a settled city for a little over 170 years. But, it's got a dense, unique history. I took an interest in local history during my college years at Northern Michigan University, and was able to take that interest back home after graduation. Recently, I began researching for this blog, and hanging out at the library, poring through the Local History section. I found an old, forboding looking book, entitled Memorials Of The Grand River Valley, flipped open to a seemingly random page, and read the passage "The Indian village, near the southeastern limits of the city,w as also a prominent landing-place. The log-houses, built by the Indians, were of great service to the newly arrived immigrants; and, as it appears, there never has been any trouble between the Red man and the Dutchman." This piqued my interest, as I live near the southeastern limits of Holland. Was there an Indian village in my own neighborhood that history forgot? Memorials ad...

The Ghost Town in Hudsonville

When the term "ghost town" is brought up, one doesn't usually think of modern subdivisions and upper-middle class suburbs. The classic "ghost town" is usually applied to a town that was abandoned when a major industry dries up, leaving crumbling shells of buildings, maybe some artifacts, and nothing but memories.  You know the drill, overgrown storefronts, smashed windows, tumbleweeds, maybe a hobo or two. Briefly, there was an interurban rail system all around Western Michigan in the late 19 th and early 20 th century. I won't go into details, as the whole system is well-documented elsewhere, but the electric train systems allowed for the transportation of people all around the major metropolitan areas in West Michigan...Grand Rapids was a major hub, and they had lines going to Grandville, Jenison, and Hudsonville along Chicago Drive; south to Kalamazoo; and as it pertains to this story, to Holland and Saugatuck. The branch between Grand Rapids an...