Pelican Inn & Suites — Hotel in Cambria

We have been return customers of Pelican Suites in Cambria for close to 20 years. The last two visits in June and December were unsatisfactory. Communications with numerous and various representatives were missing and/or misleading.

On June 8th, 2024 During a Pacifica Hotels promotion, I made June 18-21 reservations at Pelican Suites in Cambria for my husband and myself for our Wedding Anniversary and an additional reservation for December 16-19 my traditional birthday visit to Pelican Suites, asking for the same room we always stay in, the upper floor king suite.

When we arrived, on June 18th, they had us assigned to a ground floor king patio room. We were given no advance notice or option. This was very disappointing, but we regarded it as an isolated mistake.

Because of this atypical mistake, prior to our December visit I phoned on December 12th to confirm the reservation and room request for a second floor king suite. I was told to call back the day before we arrive which was Sunday, December 15.

I called again on Sunday as directed and was told everything was in order and we that we were assigned the upper floor suite on the northern tip of the building. I did not know at the time that I was not speaking to the front desk, but an answering service (Virginia) at another location.

Imagine our surprise when we showed up on Monday, December 16th to find the front of the building under renovation with new carpeting being laid.

We were told at the front desk that that the renovation had been going on for several weeks. Certainly there was ample opportunity to contact us in advance and the true facts were totally at odds with the information we had been given in response to our several inquiries.

The polite desk clerk said that our requested room would not be available and that we would be moved to a comparable room. There was, however, no comparable room there or at any other Pacifica Hotels properties so we were moved to a king patio on the first floor with no privacy from passersby. The front desk clerk phoned her manager, Sam, for advice. She told us that the manage claimed he had called my cell phone twice in October to tell me what was happening, but I received no such call and no left messages. If he was unable to successfully contact me by phone, why wouldn’t he email me this important information?? We were standing at the front desk while the clerk was talking to Sam and he said he would email me the discounted room information for our stay. I never received that information.

We inquired as to how and when we could speak directly with the manager and were told that he would be at the desk the following day. We went to the desk the next morning and met and talked with Sam. He again claimed that he had called me twice but not what, if any, message he might have left. He could not explain why this was the case. He also said he could not calculate for us the amount we would be charged until we actually checked out. However, when we did check out, the front desk had not been advised of any adjustments to our accommodations or our bill.

We checked out and departed without any resolution of our costs. Several hours later, while we were driving home, I got a call from the front desk saying that our credit card had not been approved and asking us to make payment arrangements. (Our credit card had been renewed since the original reservation and had a new expiration date and security code which we then told to the clerk.)

Still, we had no communication from manager Sam regarding what the charges would be. The desk clerk then contacted the manager, conveyed the charges to us.

Because of these experiences, we believe that Pelican Suites has serious communication difficulties. Communications are absent, faulty, and untrue.

We are advising our friends to learn from our experience and to decide, as we have, to avoid Pacifica Hotels in the future. We will not be staying here again and we are telling all our friends to...

The review is for an ocean view king suite (I wish all posts would indicate the room category reserved, otherwise I find them useless). Pluses: Free relatively good Wi-Fi, fireplace, pets ok (if that’s a need). Minuses: About everything else.

If you love the outdated and worn, pillows that are conducive to staying awake and sore necks, nighttime humming to lullaby one awake, and single ply toilet tissue that makes gas station restrooms seem upscale … well, what can I say, this place is for you.

Now, in all fairness, this might not be your experience, and obviously other reviewers did not have the same experience, but then they were probably in a room that was representative of what one sees on the website, and not given an outdated old one.

The PICTURES presented on the website DID NOT MATCH THE ROOM we were in. The website shows ocean view king that looks clean and well done; A patio with nice wood chairs on a nicely done patio, where ours was a concrete slab with chairs that had severely stained cushions. An updated bathroom with nicely done tile and recent tub/toilet, ours was an old worn laminate with a useless Jacuzzi tub and an awful adjustable shower spray. A nice couch and chair, ours had upholstery that was dirty and worn.

In general, our whole room was in long need of updating – the paint, the sliding glass door that’s hard to operate, etc. The refrigerator would hum, and thus you needed to turn it off at night to sleep. The pillows were the type that look good in picture but useless for comfort (I noted that beforehand from the pictures and we brought a couple of our own). And seriously, single ply tissue that dissolves at the slightest bit of moisture (you know where this is leading) … come on, that’s just being cheap and not thinking of your guests at all.

And it one of those places that do not service rooms during stays (no doubt that plus the single ply toilet tissue really ups their profit margin), unless you’re here more than 3 days - ours was exactly 3. Through, as one of the few pluses, I ran into the cleaning staff while leaving the room on day 2, and she cheerfully asked if I wanted our room serviced.

I did get that nice courtesy call at 11:05 that checkout is 11. I said I was running twenty minutes late, but would be dropping my cardkey off soon … thinking, that will be a good opportunity to voice my complaints (knowing full well that a front desk clerk here has about zero input to change and probably no incentive to pass on anyway). The clerk gave a “that’s ok, but I’m checking you out and your card keys will no longer work so prop the door open if you need to”. And when I got to the office about 15 minutes later it closed for lunch (gee, you think that’s why they were in a hurry to check me out … and … gee, you would think someone could mention that they were closing for a lunch).

Note: The complex is three two-story buildings, two of which have rooms directly facing the ocean. I gathered the website pictures represent the building to the far left (when facing complex from road), we were in the building to the far right. BUSINESSES THAT RESPECT THEIR CUSTOMERS DO NOT PUBLISH PICTURES THAT SUBSTANTIALLY MISREPRESENT THE ROOM THEY MAY BE ASSIGNED.

Tech notes: The place does offer free Wi-Fi (speed is decent but can be spotty for streaming, however 5G did work for me). As with most places still stuck in the last century (and that's most), this place is still into providing that TV box “experience” (service box for cable with its own remote), that no one under 50 wants … actually, I’m over 70 and don’t want. And there is no practical way to stream to the TV or use the HDMI connection (though the LG TV appears capable of providing). Providing the “experience” isn’t a negative but allowing use of guest’s own tech via the TV’s HDMI, streaming or Bluetooth would improve the guest experience (with little expense as the LG TV appears capable...

Carmen is the Pelican Inn & Suites crown jewel. She gave us maps, restaurant lists, local points of interest and any thing we needed (fan, towels, coffee, trash bags, etc). Regardless of our need, Carmen met it. However, with most experiences…..one bad apple ruins the bunch. We traveled 2 hours to get to Cambria. I called and asked Hugh if we could get an early check-in (2 instead of 3). Hugh took my number (even though it was in the system under my reservation) stating that he would call me back to let me know one way or the other. He never called. I go to check-in at 3 and Hugh (very obviously flustered and in a state of disarray) informed me that our room is not ready. That he is “still waiting to hear from his supervisor” and that “they system still has not updated”. At this point, we had already tried to kill 4 hours in Cambria with nowhere to go. Finally, at 3:25 pm, I went back in and Hugh was repeating the same stuff. Carmen happened to walk in and was the saving grace as usual. She informed Hugh that the room IS ready and to check me in. The room was outdated but decent, in general. We had asked Hugh some general questions (about dining or local events or points of interest)….he was useless, as usual. Flustered. Nervous. Skittish. Spewing out nonsensical irrelevant gibberish. Carmen provided us with all sorts of information with a pleasant and cheerful attitude and smile on her face! She is full of joy and truly loves her job! Day 2, we had run out of hand cream. Trying to help the staff; I took it down to Hugh. He said he would have to go to a different building. I sat down and waited. He finally came back in and brought in hair conditioner. Not what I needed. On the day we were leaving, I went into the lobby to ask for a large trash bag for our 4 days worth of dirty laundry. He frantically searched for one and there was a used one with holes in it (these are extremely thin bags). The holes of course ripped with the weight of our clothes and transporting the dirty laundry down the stairs and out to our vehicle was a mess. As Hugh kept stating that he was “new” I can give a little patience and understanding to. However, he needs to undergo more extensive training before being left on his own. I haven’t had a vacation in years and took my daughter to the Pelican Inns and Suites for her Birthday. She traveled from Ohio. Needless to say, I am so disappointed and regret staying there. Other than Carmen, our experience was horrible and I wasted a lot of money...