San Simeon Lodge — Hotel in Cambria

My family and I just stayed here for 8 nights. We also brought our dog. We were first assigned a spacious double queen room on the ground floor which faced the green lawn and the pool area. After the first evening, we realized that this would be a miserable vacation due to the kids constantly yelling while splashing in the pool and also the staff's kids two rooms down from us running and yelling around the lawn with their dog. The room itself was very outdated, and I can't even remember the last time I stayed at a hotel of this level. The next day we went to the front desk and Luis (an extremely sweet and customer service oriented) upgraded us for the same rate to two king suites on the second floor for the same $ of a queen suite. This was absolutely mind blowing and super nice of him and also the reason why I'm leaving this hotel a 4 star rating. The new suites were on the second floor, right next to the restaurant kitchen (didn't bother us and it wasn't loud or smelly) and far away from the pool. They suites were also upgraded comparing to the downstairs queen suites. "Upgraded" is the term that I would use in this case very loosely because it seemed that the beat up furniture was bought up from another hotel. Also, my sliding balcony door had a broken lock, so I had to use my Dad's walking stick to block it from being opened from the outside. I'm not sure if we are going to come back to this hotel in the future but we did have a pleasant stay and the price for two suites with a dog fee was VERY REASONABLE. But then again if we originally booked two king suites and payed double of what we paid + the pet fee, I'd call this a total robbery (based on the condition of the rooms/property). Also, they do charge a $25 pet fee per night which seems crazy expensive. I'm thinking that since this is technically a motel, nobody stays longer than 3 nights and hence the $25 per night. I think they should cap it at $100 per stay when you staying more than 4 nights. We paid $225 in pet fees total for 8 nights. Also, the beds in the ground queen suites were super hard (thankfully we travel with the memory foam mattress pads) but the king suites mattresses were nice. Not fancy but much...

Stayed here on a weekday into a weekend day. Pricing was very good. The Lodge is set up with a decent size parking lot. We were able to park in front of our 1st floor room. The main building has a large lobby, exercise room, and 1 washer/dryer outside the main building. There is also the restaurant and convenience store (which leaks in the rain) on site. The employees were very nice (in the restaurant and lobby), this is a plus!!! It's definitely a no frills room, small closet with hangers and a suitcase rack. Our room had a plug-in fan in there. The bathroom had a hair dryer, plenty of towels for 2. The room also had a small fridge and a wall heater/air unit. motel is definitely older - the furniture reminiscent of the 80s trying to do art deco. Lots of badly patched screw/nail holes in the wall. The cord for the coffee maker didn't reach the outlet it was closest to, so it had to be moved, no big. The room was satisfactorily clean, but our bathroom window did not latch and was wide open upon our arrival. Tile was also still wet from last people just outside the shower along the grout. So could use some maintenance or a room refresh. If you stay on the 1st floor and are unfortunate enough to have elephants stay above you, my condolences. This place has no sound dampening- could hear the guy next door as well. Thankfully, the zoo animals (read: loud people) went to bed at a reasonable hour (not blaming the motel for this but just saying the motel is not built in a way you won't hear neighbors if they are not courteous). The bed was comfortable, and we both slept well. No real ocean views, FYI. It's not the Taj Mahal, but it is convenient to stay here for access to local attractions like Hearst Castle, which is less than a 10...

DO NOT STAY HERE!!!!! If you are reading the reviews on the San Simeon Lodge and are thinking of staying here, think again!!!! It was the most horrific place I have ever stayed and I am embarrassed I took a group of friends with me!

First of all the staff is dismissive and complacent. They could really care less that their salaries are being paid by the tourists staying there for the night. The front desk staff treated us as if they did us a favor by letting us stay there....very dismissive.

Next, is the room. When we first opened the door we were overpowered by intense stuffiness so we immediately looked for an air conditioner to cool down the room....THEY DO NOT HAVE AIR CONDITONERS....in any room....wait....in any room EXCEPT the LOBBY...how convenient! That was not even the worst of it... Now, I understand that you own a hotel and may not be able to update it to todays standards but there is a thin line between updating your hotel and a little maintenance from time to time...the bedding, flooring and décor is from a bygone era...like the 50's, there were no working lights and the bathtub had cracks and mold all over the place. Even the ironing board was broken. But the worst....the worst was the the smell. The room smelled like mildew and mold. It was do disgusting even the person rooming with me had an asthma attack...(Thank god she had a portable nebulizer or it would have been worse.)

The sad part is we were stuck there as there was nowhere else to go....

Note: Do not stay here...and please do not mistake the one star noted...it is negative 100 stars.....I had to click a star to save this review.....RUN from this place

For the love of god even the Bates Motel would be a better place to...