Motel 6 Carpinteria, CA - Santa Barbara - South — Hotel in Carpinteria

Just as a disclaimer, I booked this room a week before graduation weekend in Santa Barbara because there wasn't anything else available. I'd never been to a Motel 6 before, but I thought, "How bad could it be?"

The day my girlfriend and I were supposed to check in, I called the motel in the afternoon just to make sure we could come later since my reservation confirmation didn't have a check-in time. "Best Wester -- Motel 6?" was how they answered. Strike one. Then, as I tried to ask my question, they cut me off and bluntly said, "We don't have any cancellations for tonight. Is that your question?" Strike 2. I tried to let them know that we were coming in later and I wanted to make sure that was okay. They responded with, "Listen, I've got a line full of customers here. We will be here when you get here!", and then the phone went dead. I was so stunned at how rude this person was. Strike three.

We ended up arriving at 11:30 that evening because we had spent the whole day in Santa Barbara with my family. We got the key and the person at the front desk let me know they charged my card already at 6:00pm. So, we went to the room, opened the door, and it reeked of cigarette smoke -- even though I specifically reserved a non-smoking room. Strike four. My girlfriend has asthma and she was already feeling the effects from the stench. We tried to open the window to let some fresh air in, but it only opened three inches. Once we found the cigarette burns on the bed spread, we decided there was no way we could stay here. Strike 5.

We went down to the person at the front desk, described the situation, and the best they could offer was a partial credit for a "no show." No show? Not only did we show up, but we didn't have the non-smoking room that we paid for. Strike 6. They didn't have any other rooms available, so we ended up driving back up to Santa Barbara and sleeping on our friend's floor at 1:00am.

The next day I called the General Manager, told him the situation, including my girlfriend's health concerns, and he said the best he could offer was a 50% refund. I couldn't believe it. He wanted me to pay $58 for a room that was not only sub-par, but that I didn't even stay in! Strike 7. So, I called Guest Services of the Motel 6 Central Booking System to see if they would be more understanding. After being on hold for a few minutes, they said that there was nothing they could do, and that the refund was at the full discretion of the manger at the property. Strike 8. You would think that if a company wronged a customer it would be in their best interest to make sure I didn't feel ripped off! I was so furious with them because part of me knows that they could have done something to help me out.

Later that day, I went back to the motel to try to speak to the manager one more time. Of course he wasn't there, and since I had to leave to go back home, I reluctantly took the 50% refund. As a young person with many more years of possible Motel 6 stays, you would think that $58 wasn't worth their reputation being tarnished by my bad experience. In the end, I felt like I was taking the loss when they were the ones that made the mistakes. I called my bank and disputed the charge (thank you Chase!), but in the end, I realize I was the one that made the mistake of booking a room at the Carpinteria...

Room advertised by the check-in clerk as "only 3 months old" was full of toxic mold. The air filter grill was cacked with these mounds of dust? Mold? Dirt? Whatever, clearly never been cleaned. The a/c vent grill and housing was covered in black mold, and all kinds of other molds, dirt, etc. The bathroom vent/fan was so encased with dirt and mold that it wasn't even functional. The office staff offered to move me to a different room. The 1st room they offered didn't even have a filter in the "air filter". It appeared to have a towel and washcloth or something in it. Not really sure what that was. And it was filthy. The 2nd room at least had a filter, but the grill was again covered with those same thick wads of dirt/dust/mold/whatever it may be. The 3rd room....I wouldn't stay in that room if they paid me to. Same disgusting scene on the air filter, but add thick growth of mold in the sprinkler housing, black mold on the door trim, filthy filthy bathroom floor with shoe stains all over it... I demanded my money back and me and my dog with liver cancer left at 1:35am with nowhere else to go. But I could not have my dog breathing this stuff all night. I took at least a hundred pictures and am looking up the phone number to the County Health Dept, Code/building enforcement, and whoever else regulates motels. I asked the clerk who instructed them to say this room was only 3 months old, as clearly this stuff has been building up for a long time. She stated that it use to be the managers apartment. So, this means that when they revamped the room to convert it to a rentable room, they HAD to have seen the state of the bathroom fan/vent, the air filter grill, and most important the a/c vent with black mold and several other types of mold. How could you NOT see that. But they left it as-is and started renting it out to poor innocent people and taking their money, advertising it as a brand new room, and NOT disclosing the fact that it has some nasty stuff growing in that room and the 3 other rooms that I...

You are over charging for your rooms. I honestly do not feel like I got my moneys worth. -The floor was dirty. -The walls are dirty. -There is some paint missing. -Rust on the hinges. -The TV remote was dirty and missing the battery cover. (That didn't bother me much, just added to everything else) -There was ANTS in our room. -The shower head fixture is terrible. -I don't even know if the A/C worked or not because I was too scared to turn it on with how the room was. The vent looked like it was dusty. -The bed was horrible! So terribly uncomfortable. it took us forever to finally get comfortable to fall asleep.(and boyfriend can fall asleep anywhere) The mattress kept slipping all over the press board that is keeping off the ground. There is nothing for it to grip on to. -There's no refrigerator (I couldn't bring any food back with me because I had no place to put it to help keep it fresh. So i was forced to waste food when we went out) No dressers to put clothes away in. The only complementary thing you can give is too little bars of soap and coffee/tea? really?.... and you charge for your wifi on top of all of that??? Thank god I have unlimited data. we had to put a movie on to help us fall sleep. (which cost less than my room, just saying.)

you are chagrining over $100.00 for what, the area? I've stayed in much better conditions for far less. I would have paid, maybe, MAYBE, $50.00 for that room. I hope that it was just our room, Room 145 and that they are not all like that. I am very thankful that you do military discount though. That did help to take some of the annoyance off of the room. And yes, I did see that you guys tried to spruce up the room to try and give it a "modern feel" to it, but it just did not work with everything else that was wrong with the room.

I feel like i was cheated out of my money. I don't complain much about places I stay, because usually you get what you paid for... That is definitely not the case here....

I think it is very safe to say that I am not...