Best Western Plus Coalinga Inn — Hotel in Coalinga

We checked in at the the Best Western Hotel at 8pm in Coalinga, the front receptionist charged a $30 fee for our dog and asked us to sign a form agreeing that we wouldn't "trash the room." We headed upstairs and were happy with our room. We then went downstairs to cool off in the pool and had a good experience overall. The shower was amazing, with a shower head that provided a "rain-like" experience.

Besides this, I do have have two cons:

The Guest Directory states that breakfast on weekdays (Monday-Friday) is from 5 AM to 9 AM, and on weekends (Saturday-Sunday) from 6 AM to 10 AM.

On Saturday morning (July 14, 2024), I took my dog out at 7 AM and saw the breakfast area was packed, so I decided to wait. Later, my husband and I went downstairs at 9:15 AM for breakfast only to find a lady cleaning up. We asked if there would be more food, and she curtly said, "no, there's nothing left... Sorry about that!" When I mentioned the Guest Directory said breakfast ended at 10 AM, she scuffed and said that the Directory was outdated and breakfast now ended at 9 AM.

At this point, I was taken back by the lady's attitude and lack of customer service. If the Guest Directory says breakfast ends at 10 AM but it actually ends at 9 AM, she should have offered a solution. I noticed she still had cereal, muffins, and more in the back room, which she could have easily offered us to mitigate the situation effectly. The app also did not mention updated breakfast hours, so we relied on the outdated Directory. We also saw other guests going to the breakfast area only to find nothing.

I spoke to the front desk receptionist, who said she couldn't do anything about it but could ask the breakfast lady if she could give us muffins. I said yes and asked if she could also please turn on the juice machine, and she agreed. We waited until the breakfast lady turned on the juice machine but never returned with the muffins. Customer service is crucial to me, the breakfast lady could have had better customer service skills. We paid for the services, including breakfast, so please take accountability and provide breakfast till 10am. It is not the guests fault that the Directory is outdated and the app states nothing about breakfast hours.

This is a dog-friendly hotel, but there is no designated relief area for dogs, no potty bags, nothing. Be aware that you may have to walk a bit to find a suitable area for your dog to go potty.

Overall, the hotel itself is good, but there are definitely areas for improvement in customer service and amenities....

I had a pretty bad experience with the front desk clerk here the other night.

I arrived in the lobby and there was nobody at the front desk, waited for about 5 minutes then started saying, hello is anyone there. About 3 minutes after calling for someone the clerk appears, says she'll be right back, then disappears for another 5. She then comes out and says there systems are down with no prediction on how long it would be.

After another 10 or so she's says they're back up, checks me in and gives me the room key. It was past 11pm, we had just evacuated from a wildfire and drove 4 hours to get there. We moved all of our belongings from out truck into the room and then immediately get a call from her saying she had checked us into the wrong room under the wrong name and we would have to change rooms. I had given her my driver's license and debit card...really not sure how she didn't read these and notice it wasn't the right person.

I go to the front desk and she tells me that my booking through expedia wasn't logged, even though the money had already been pulled out of our account and that the only option would be to pay again. We decided to just leave and find a cheaper place at this point.

I asked for my ID back so we could leave...our room was at the back of the building, we had parked there and had to move all of our belongings back into the truck. She said I couldn't have it back until we left the room...even though she already had my information and debit card on file. At this point I'm getting pretty frustrated and said I just need my ID back so I can leave. She told me no and threatened to call the police on me for being aggressive and said I was pressuring her!! I did nothing threaten her and displayed no aggression, I just wanted my ID back so I could leave. I said fine, moved everything out, got my ID back and left.

This isn't at all typical of my experience at Best Western hotels, usually the staff are really nice and I have no problems. This person, however, was rude, apathetic, made a variety of errors and bad decisions, and made up for it not by apologizing or accommodating us in any way, but by threatening to call the police on me for being frustrated by this. Again, all of this after a ridulously long day of fleeing from wildfire. Didn't get her name, but she was at the front desk on 8/20/20 around 11pm.

All that being said, the room itself looked lovely. It's prob ok to go here, just know that some employees there...

Whoever chose the bed and pillows needs to sit in a room and think about their life choices. Actually, the stiffness of the bed was great for me, because I have a back injury. But without much exaggeration, the pillows were made for Geishas so as to not mess up their hair and make-up. It took several hours to fall asleep, because every position made me feel like there was so much pressure on my sinuses, they would explode. I tried to crumple up my bags or dirty laundry to create a pillow that didn't feel like a sack of rocks. I've used my wildland fire helmet as a far more comfortable pillow to get a better sleep than I was able to get there.

What are those smells? Why are there so many weird chemical smells? Are they using patrons as test subjects for chemical warfare? I think I found out in the morning that they use overpowering smells to cover up the smell of mold, which my bathroom smelled heavily of all night after a shower. Someone said the building leaked on them during rain, so it's not surprising that there is very likely a lot of undetected water damage and mold growth. Pretty sure the building was constructed without an inspector, or at least one that had any integrity.

I saw a lot of reviews about the night staff vs day staff, and how rude day staff was. Never really had to deal with staff, but I would be rude too if I had a visual reminder of where I was all day. 5 stars for somehow surviving, especially in the hospitality industry in this accursed town.

I will say, the hotel is probably one of the nicest things in Coalinga. The lobby is nice, the rooms at least look nice, and everything appears clean, which I guess it is on the surface, because cleaning staff start bright at and noisily before 9 am. Pool looks pretty nice, but I do get the overall feeling that I am completely resented for being there, which is fine because I feel...