Crowne Plaza Ventura Beach by IHG — Attraction in Ventura

I was really looking forward to bringing my 88-year-old mom, visiting from Tucson, to Ventura for a few nights. I thought it would be a nice break from the hot summer temps. I joined the IHG membership, booked a 2 queen bed oceanview room, with breakfast, and requested a quiet room as close to the ocean as possible. I received a text the day of arrival from a manager if I had any questions, and I asked if we got there a little early, could we check in? Sure, they said, some rooms were already available. I thought we were off to a wonderful stay. ||Unfortunately, I think we would have done better booking a VRBO or Airbnb. I'm so embarrassed I brought my mom here, and I am canceling my IHG membership as soon as I get home. I cannot recommend this hotel to fellow travelers. I was expecting a much better experience from a hotel that cost over $300/night. Here's the breakdown:||Positives|[ ] Nice, clean, comfortable room, looks newly painted, lots of plugs in room, had a mini fridge and microwave, enough hangers/closet space, 2 drawers, office chair/desk, and an arm chair.|[ ] I paid for breakfast with the room, and the vouchers were good at the onsite Moofish Cafe. It had inside and outside seating. The food was good, the coffee great, and the service was excellent, by Isidro & Sara, our friendly, competent servers.|[ ] Location to the beach is good. It's nice to walk along the ocean and the pier is close by.||Negatives (sorry; there are many)|[ ] The hotel could use some sprucing up and a new paint color on outside. It is dated and tired-looking|[ ] I did not know the Ventura Fair was close by, so tons of traffic...a nightmare getting anywhere near the hotel, especially upon arrival into Ventura on Sunday. Yes, I know this is not the fault of the hotel, but it added to the whole negative experience.|[ ] The carpet in the hallway on our floor (7th) near the elevator was filthy and stained|[ ] Checkin staff forgot to give me the breakfast vouchers; I asked where breakfast was before going up to our room after dinner on the first night, and she asked me, "I did not give them to you?!" I was a little offended; why would I lie about this? I showed her my 2 keys in the little packet and told her that was all she had given me. She eventually apologized for forgetting and wrote out 2 vouchers for us. |[ ] Bathroom was very small: There is 1 hook and not enough space for 2 hand towels, regular towels and to put out toiletries for 2 people...there was a faucet leaking all over our stuff so we just took our toiletries in and out when necessary. There is 1 grab bar in the shower but none where you get out...be careful. There is no handheld shower hose.|[ ] I told the front desk about the leaky faucet and they sent someone right away to fix it. He was there twice in half an hour and said it was fixed. Unfortunately, it still leaked. |[ ] One of the drawers didn't stay closed that was under the microwave.|[ ] A/C water dripped from above room onto our balcony in 2 spots....not that you can enjoy the balcony because it's too loud|[ ] I did NOT get the oceanview room I booked or requested. I feel like I was lied to, frankly. We got a room as far from the beach as possible, 2nd to last room closest to the 101 freeway, an intersection, an onramp, AND train tracks. The room we had (Room 725) should be marketed as a partial/obstructed oceanview. The balcony overlooked a parking lot (see pics) if you looked straight ahead, and you basically had to lean out on the balcony to see the ocean to the right. It was unbelievably loud. I wanted to sit and relax on the balcony; this was impossible with the traffic noise and train. You cannot hear the ocean at all. I live in Los Angeles and I swear, it is much quieter there. It was hard to sleep at this hotel with the outside noise at night; the sliding door must be single-paned. Oh, and in the first 24 hours, a train passed by at least 8 times, blowing their whistle/horn every single time! It may have been more, because we were not in our room all the time, of course.|[ ] The biggest issue: I have traveled extensively in the last 30+ years, domestically and internationally, and I think I have only complained twice to the front desk about a room; this was the 3rd time. On the first morning I went to the front desk to tell 2 staff members that the room was very loud even though I requested a quiet, oceanview room for me and my mother. The 2 women just stared at me, then one woman said, "She'll deal with you; I need to help the man behind you." He was just walking up to the desk. Hmmmm. I paused, got no response about the room, no "I'm sorry", no offer to change rooms or offer to call a manager....so, I said, "I guess we'll just deal with it for the 2nd night!", and told her about the leaky faucet. Wow, that is such bad customer service! This is not the way to treat customers. I felt unimportant and ignored, which gave me a very bad impression of the place.||Note: I got a text from a manager the first day to see how the stay was; I was asked for a rating. I rated the hotel 4/10 and explained why. A few hours later, I got a response from them, apologizing, saying higher floors were already booked because it was Sunday and was there anything they could do for us? It was too late, as we were checking out the next day and I basically said the way my complaint was handled at the front desk was not right. I was offered more IHG points, which I do not want as I will not be staying at an IHG property again. I did appreciate the contact from the manager; it seems they are trying to improve but they have a...

Upon arrival the two front desk staff were on the phone and did not acknowledge our standing at the check in line for about five minutes before saying that they would be right with my family, we had multiple rooms. I requested a room that was somewhat quiet as I am a disabled veteran with sleep difficulties from service connected disabilities. They gave me a room right next to rooftop a/c. I requested a change of room and was informed that the hotel would not allow multiple changes of rooms, even though this was my first and only request. So after checking in and settled into our room we decided to go get some late lunch on the pier. Walking through the double doors there was a guest walking a very large Doberman walking her dog into the hotel’s double doors. Since her dog was leading her with about 8 ft. of leash and we we’re passing through the doors at the same time I politely asked her if she would pull her leash in a bit and put her dog on the non-human side of her body so there wouldn’t be an accident. I’ve owned a Doberman before and know the etiquette for such guard dogs in you feel the need to take them out in public locals are to have them at a heel position especially when passing strangers. Well she told me that her dog was very friendly and non aggressive. I suggested that all dogs are friendly until they attack an adult or toddler then everyone is sad or confused about their dog’s behavior. She informed me that she wished her guard dog could have unleashed roaming about the hotel. After my wife and I had our meal on the beach, I informed the front desk of the situation and could they inform the guests about the proper handling of pets in a public setting. They told me that this was a pet accepted hotel and there was no local law in Ventura that prevented the guests from having pets. . I asked them to just ask the guests with pets to just be mindful of others. I told them that I should be able to feel comfortable and not have to give a wide girth to people who don’t respect other’s boundaries . Not everyone wants your dog to sniff you and become their friend. The next day as I was getting my car from valet parking I walked past the Bat and I noticed this same guest with her large Doberman at the bar. She had her face towards the bartender and the dog was sitting opposite in an alert position watching all of the patrons sitting at the tables. I don’t know if the dog was leashed is not but I knew I wasn’t going to be anywhere near the bar. When we returned from shopping. After getting cleaned up for dinner I went downstairs to wait on my wife ,son and his fiancé I observed the lady and her dog once again leaving the bar area. I kept quiet as I didn’t wan any more contact with this entitled person. I was sitting on the sofa not even looking her way and then I saw her by the front desk with her dog staring at me. I thought oh no here we go again. So she slurs to me “See my dog is a friendly dog”. I was still not looking at her but looking at her in case she commanded her guard dog to alert on me. “He wouldn’t attack anyone “. I looked at her and said He looks like a very nice dog, but all are dogs nice until they’re not then we are in court and I’m getting rehabbed on puncture wounds from your nice dog. I pulled my shirt up to show her my previous attack and scars left from the wound and rounds of rabies shots because the dog had to quarantined and my doctor didn’t want to take any chances of a non vaccinated canine. The staff who witnessed our back and forth was asking me to calm down but didn’t tell the guest anything. Security came and stood by her just waiting for I guess something to happen. After our back and forth the front desk wanted to talk to me? I informed them that they witnessed this lady engaging me with her drunk talk and they need to talk to both of us and we can all go over not infringing on others rights for peace and to be a respectful dog owner. All the lady at the front desk said is that I cannot disturb guests in the hotel. I told her she’s singling me out as the bad person as she witnessed the whole incident and saw the lady standing and staring,then engaging me. I’m too old to be baited into a situation as such and have way too much to lose. I have attorneys to handle any conflicts or legal issues that may arise. I spoke with the manager about this situation. I think he understood the situation and what it could’ve potentially became. I’m writing this review in case he didn’t understand....

You are really rolling the dice here, based on the type of room you get ... and know that there is no way to figure out if you will get a high floor with true ocean views ... or a lower floor with parking lot views, which they call an ocean front view.||If you do have a high floor room toward the ocean, it's going to be a 3 - 5 star experience. If you have a low floor room, or one towards the back if the building, your view will not be good and you will hear highway noise all night.||The staff here are incompetent and uncaring. We booked two rooms the morning we were coming. I called around 10 a.m. and told them I was familiar with the hotel and was a top tier status IHG member. I asked IF we booked the rooms, could we be given a high floor ... and mentioned that we would not book the rooms if we were given a low floor near the highway.||The lady at the front desk said that she didn't see an issue with assigning us a high floor. We even booked on of their most expensive category of rooms because she said we'd almost be guaranteed the best view. We booked direct and arrived 5 hours after that. I think you can guess what happened.||Upon arriving, we were given rooms on the first floor, directly above the parking lot (the more expensive room) and on the other side of the building on the 3rd floor. When I complained, they said there was nothing they could do. Literally, I booked the rooms directly with someone at the hotel 4 - 5 hours before we arrived!! What happened to 'it shouldn't be a problem? We were given the exact OPPOSITE of what we asked for.||Sitting on a balcony looking at a parking lot and a gross roof full of air conditioning ducts and cigarette ends in one room. The other room hearing traffic noise all night and having people drinking coffee right below us at a restaurant. Completely ruined our intention of booking an oceanfront hotel.||The hotel has a lot of teens who appear to be a part of some kind group ... and rowdy adults that all seemed to be wheeling in coolers. The clientele seemed to of the cruise ship variety. The rooms had okay furniture but it was clear the hotel was built a while ago as they layout of the rooms was pretty old fashioned and small, as you'd expect from the 1980's or 90's.||The bathrooms were super small and the towels were cheap. We were glad we were staying for only one night. The only good things to say about the hotel are that there is a walking path outside the hotel's doors which goes along the ocean and has pretty views. At night, its not really safe to walk around outside the hotel but during the day, its nice.||Overall, I have stayed here a few times for business because it was right off the highway, when I didn't care about the room view. After this last trip, we won't be returning probably because the staff basically lied to us to get us to book and then failed to deliver by placing us in the worst rooms possible. You'll either love this hotel, or hate it, based on what your room location is but don't trust them to honor...