Comfort Suites Carlsbad — Hotel in Carlsbad

Want an overpriced prison stay? Welcome and for $170 a night, you can be treated not as a person, but as someone to do the hotel's bidding. Don't have any special needs, because what matters are THE RULES. As a couple, having stayed in hotels for the past 13 months straight (for work), we are experts on what makes a hotel stay enjoyable. The most important thing is not that the hotel is the most updated and perfect (which this hotel is neither) but that basic respect for your needs can be met. Our needs of privacy and security are paramount to every other factor to be considered.

The request was simple. No cleaning service during our stay. Management was welcome to come and check the room anytime they wanted to, but we would be living there, and cleaning ourselves. Otherwise, no one to enter our room during our stay, except for emergencies , of course. The "Do Not Enter" sign is always on the door and since we are extremely clean and take care of our own changing of linens and exchanging towels, there would be no need to have someone enter the room. This is an issue, because one of us is deaf... the one who spends most time in the room. Having someone enter the room unexpectedly affects the sense of security.... a simple request.

This has never been an issue for any hotel and we have stayed in many. Many. But here, the rooms will be cleaned by their staff every 3 days minimum, without fail. IT'S THE RULE. Sarah, the self proclaimed general manager says, a direct quote "You lose your right to privacy when you choose to stay in a hotel". What a draconian idea.

The tension in this place is palpable as you always seem to be under the watch of one of the staff. It's like some force has a short leash on everyone. So Mark, the also self proclaimed general manager (who knows... maybe everyone is the general manager) reiterated similar sentiment as Sarah. Anyway, we don't stay in such places. We packed and moved up the street for what is already a month stay and due to be longer.

Also, since we left, a package arrived, and was signed for by a front desk clerk, has gone missing. It cost over $700 for the item which was delivered. After several calls over a week, no one has any idea what happened to the package. UPDATE - I went by the hotel several times to see if the package was there from back in November. The company who sent the package contacted them by phone and they say there are packages there from them from two months ago.

If you plan to stay for more than one night, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES REQUEST SOMETHING THAT GOES AGAINST THE RULES. Similar places that have unchangeable rules, come to mind...prisons, and the military, and a hotel shouldn't feel like either. If you want to be treated as a guest, don't stay here.

The response from the owner is a lie. I told them the other name the package could be under as well as the company it would be from on multiple occasions. There are 2 options here... Complete incompetence or not caring. They had my packages, very important packages for over 2 months. The second package was a reorder by my company because the first was...

This hotel is awesome! This was our second experience with Choice Hotels in a matter of days, as we were travelling from Omaha to Carlsbad. This hotel was hands down the better of the two.

We walked in and were immediately greeted with a smile from the gentleman at the front desk and he asked how we were. This was important because at our last stay in Amarillo, we basically received a growl for a greeting!

The hotel is super clean and modern. We stayed in a King Suite with a partition separating the bed from a sitting area. The TV placement was a bit strange, as it was placed on the center of the wall, but did not move so that one could angle it towards the bed or the couch area. Had we watched TV, it would have been hard to see. It was just my 7 year-old daughter and myself, so we had plenty of room. The bed was amazingly comfortable and I actually slept...which I have a hard time doing in hotels, even when I am exhausted.

The bathroom was great! The only problem I had with it was that there weren't any shelves or ledges in the shower to put our things on. Even though it was extremely clean, it still grossed me out that I had to put my shower items on the shower floor.

The staff was superb. They smiled, said hello, had small conversations with all the guests, including the kids. Breakfast was great. It was your standard complimentary breakfast set-up, but it tasted good! Normally I don't do anything other than cereal or yogurt in hotels, but the eggs were delicious, the bacon was crispy, and the biscuits and gravy were yummy! Even my kiddo ate the sausage...she hates sausage.

When we checked out, the woman at the front desk gave us two goodie bags, because we didn't receive them when we arrived. We are part of the Choice Privileges program, but had no idea that we would get goodie bags, as we did not receive them in Amarillo when we stayed at another Choice Hotel. She apologized for not getting them to us when we checked in, which was fine. We were headed to Colorado and would now have road snacks!

When we go back to Carlsbad, this will be the hotel we choose every time. It is worth the drive time through town on the way to the Caverns and it is right across the street from the Living Desert Zoo...

We have stayed in a lot of Choice Hotels, but this one far exceeded any other hotel. The entrance was VERY clean and inviting. The furnishings and design were a little different from other Comfort Suites and it smelled amazing. They had a small popcorn machine you could serve yourself along with drinks still available near the business center. When we got to the counter to check in they gave us a bag of goodies because we are choice members. We've been given goody bags before, but there's was large and had several items in it. A lot of hotels turn off all their cooling or turn the air way down and the rooms are hot when you come in, but they either don't turn them off or turned it back on before we got there and our room was very cool. After being in our room for a few minutes we got a call from the front desk to make sure our room was satisfactory and to let us know the bottles of water located in the room were complimentary. The room was exceptionally clean and well taken care of and every member of the staff we crossed paths with were wearing similar uniforms that were clean and nice looking. Every member of staff was also very friendly and helpful. We didn't pass anyone that didn't smile and tell us to have a good day or ask if they could be of assistance. We slept very well and the next morning the breakfast was amazing. They had a few extras we hadn't seen at other hotels and it was laid out nicely. They were a little cramped for space because the hotel was full, but they did a fine job of opening up a conference room near the breakfast area and bringing in extra tables and chairs. We were sad we had only set aside one night to be in Carlsbad. Had we known how wonderful the hotel was we would have stayed another night. If you are going any where near this hotel you MUST...