Americas Best Value Inn's fate hangs in balance

It’s never a good sign when someone begins to look at how many times police have been called to a motel or hotel. Salisbury’s Americas Best Value Inn has seen an average of more than one a week since 2014. Many were nuisance calls, but some were more serious – one to investigate a murder, another led to the breaking up of a nasty prostitution ring.

This level of criminal activity is reminiscent of another city hotel – the Thrift Travel Inn. The owners of Thrift Travel Inn, formerly located south of Americas Best Value Inn along Route 13, were arrested in mid-2009 for operating a prostitution ring. The Thrift Travel Inn never recovered from its criminal reputation, was targeted for closure by the city of Salisbury and was demolished in 2012.

The owners of Americas Best Value Inn were not implicated in any of the incidents that took place at that property. They may be guilty of failing to keep their inn clean and of rude, unsatisfactory customer service from employees, but that’s not the same as actively engaging in criminal activities.

Unless the owners or managers of an establishment are making their real profits from illegal activities for which the hotel is serving as a cover, which apparently happened at the Thrift Travel Inn, poor management practices will eventually lead to declining business. Thanks to the Internet, guests writing online reviews through third-party travel services is fairly standard now, and reputation is everything for most travelers seeking lodging.

This is the pariah of Salisbury hotels

Americas Best Value Inn is not rated well by customers on popular travel review sites. Some families who booked rooms for the 2015 United States Specialty Sports Association’s Eastern Softball World Series were not impressed, citing problems with a lack of cleanliness and poor customer service – the same problems cited in various reviews dating to 2004, which was before the current owners purchased the property.

The problems at Americas Best Value Inn clearly did not begin two years ago.

Using a hotel as a cover for prostitution, drug and other illegal activities is a good reason for government to intervene and shut the business down forever. That does not appear to be the case at Americas Best Value Inn.

This case does, however, rise above the level of a dispute between guests and motel management. Here’s why:

Wicomico County is working hard to build up its tourism industry. A key component of that effort is the USSSA tournament, a three-week event that draws up to 400 girls softball teams and their families to our area each July. They all require lodging and food while they are here, and it’s a tremendous boon to our economy – a $20 million economic impact according to organizers.

Wicomico County helpfully provides an online registry to help all these families book rooms for their stay. In return, participating hotels and motels pay the county a commission on each booking. Americas Best Value Inn has been a participating hotel. Although the county does not inspect these hotels, there is a sense on the part of those who seek lodging that the county is endorsing establishments on the list.

There have been complaints by families staying at Americas Best Value Inn, and the motel management has not satisfactorily resolved those complaints. This doesn’t make the county, Salisbury or our region look good. Those same online reviews that rate Americas Best Value as terrible, poor, unsatisfactory and in general, not OK, will reflect on Wicomico County and Salisbury for years to come. They don’t go away.

This is a serious problem, but it can be resolved without condemning and bringing the building down. Frequent police calls is a serious issue, but again, can be resolved without demolishing the establishment. Code violations have also been recorded, but not in unreasonable numbers.

The best thing that can be said about the situation is that the current owners of Americas Best Value Inn are, according to the motel’s parent company, in the process of selling it. Thus, it appears likely to be resolved by next year’s softball tournament.

The Salisbury Police Department is being proactive by employing “predictive checks” at the property in an effort to nip problems in the bud, before they become major incidents.

Salisbury Mayor Jake Day wants to correct the problems without resorting to drastic measures. The new owners of this property should take to heart what Day recently said: “I know the police chief has communicated (to hotel management) you don’t want to be a part of the problem. So don’t be.”

New owners could be just what is needed to fix what’s wrong with this parcel of prime real estate.