Best Western Plus Bayshore Inn — Hotel in Eureka

An Investment on the Precipice

My wife and I just spent four nights at the Best Western Plus Bayshore Inn in Eureka, CA. We booked a non-smoking room with a single king bed and a jetted tub.

The staff were VERY helpful and friendly when we checked in and our experience with them was consistently positive throughout our stay. They were wonderful!

In particular I want to call out Robert, Silvia and Maria, who all, repeatedly, went out of their way to help us on multiple occasions. It's these exceptional staffers who made our experience a positive one, despite the many issues we encountered (below).

When we first entered our room I was immediately struck by the strong odor of mildew and/or mold. It took me no more than 30 seconds to locate the source, which was a rotten baseboard that ran from the edge of the jetted tub to a door frame. This baseboard was so rotten that it was mushy when I pressed my finger into it. See picture. I immediately went back to the office and asked if there was any alternate room that we could have, as I'm sensitive to mold and didn't want to spend four nights sleeping in a toxic environment. The staff immediately helped us to find a new spot and we were quickly relocated to a room which I'm grateful to say had no mold issues. It did, however, smell strongly of urine in the area in front of the vanity sinks adjacent to the bathroom (an area which is carpeted, and likely shouldn't be). At this point I was just grateful to have a room without mold and decided not to mention the urine but to deal with it by airing out the room when present. That's when I discovered that the locks on both the sliding door and it's screen door were broken. The sliding door has two locks, a bolt at the top which DID work, and a lock on the handle which was broken. The screen door also has a lock on its handle which was also broken. Being able to secure our room was something of a concern to me and so I figured I'd mention these issues to the front desk. I began walking towards the front door of our room and passed the fireplace which I noticed had a printed sticker stating "Fireplace nonfunctional." I proceeded to the door where I then noticed that the deadbolt on the front door was actually missing its latch and hence was completey useless. At this point I realized that the sheer number of issues I was seeing weren't a coincidence but were rather part of a larger pattern of neglect.

Over the course of our stay the source of this neglect became apparent to me. It's simply that this inn lacks sufficient personnel. There were multiple times when I observed the exceptional staff working at a frantic pace in order to keep up with their workload. These people are each doing the work of what should be done by multiple. I believe that this inn is therefore at a critical juncture where it can quickly improve or quickly degrade. If it was my investment, I would immediately hire at a minimum four additional personnel: an additional member of the front-desk staff, an additional member of the buffet staff, an additional housekeeper, and an additional maintenance technician. But if I wanted the investment to thrive I'd hire even more maintenance staff and come up with a solid plan to immediately address what is likely a large backlog of issues as well as to proactively improve the property. I wish the owners good luck in this. They can definitely succeed, if they take action.

Now for some simple pros/cons lists:

Pros:

Amazing Staff, Decent Buffet, Fantastic Coffee Machine and Water Machine, Easy Parking, Great Location for Redwoods

Cons:

Mold, Urine, Broken Locks, Door access cards constantly lose their programming, Bathroom Fan Barely Works (mist doesn't move at all when fan is on), Beds like a Hammock (not great so don't be surprised if your back aches in...

I patronized this hotel in February I believe it was the 17th or 18th; The room was adequate; smelled nice and clean. The view was okay, there was a propane company outback and another company making noise very late at night next door to that. But yeah you could see the water a little bit. The service was outstanding as there was a semi tractor only in the parking lot running and it smelled plus was noisy. The front desk clerk immediately took care of the situation which provided a better night sleep. The courtyard is very appeasing and tranquil with a special extra delight of frogs and daffodils. I was not a fan of the smell in the elevator nor the entrance to the building I had a room in because it smelled like human urine. You can kind of hear the 101 through reflection noise off the buildings in the back but nothing that is too dramatic or troubling, more like white noise. I felt my car was secure and they said they had patrol out back as well. The buffet breakfast provided very few vegetarian/ vegan options but overall was satisfactory. I was taken aback by all of the prepackaged choices since they are so close to the ocean and in California we pay for plastic bags apparently to keep them out of the ocean yet some businesses don't seem to Get on board with recycling and using more environmentally friendly approaches. I'm sure this hotel is not the only one and I'm sure they have their reasons Why they have certain items on their breakfast menu that are not or don't represent environmentally friendly waste. The windows and door were open in the breakfast room which I found to be rather intrusive to the cold air and rain coming in, again, probably some reason why they do that but I don't know what that is. Overall, this was an enjoyable experience for being a hotel discounting of course the advertised price was not the price I paid nor have I received any invoice via email as promised as of yet. I used to work in this area and remember when this hotel was built, I understand it is a rainy area but I also feel maintenance is crucial to attracting the desirable clientele to a "three-star" hotel. Again the front desk clerks I believe Jeremy and Justin were very helpful and I appreciate their knowledge about where an actual "semi-quiet" room would be. I would like to suggest That maybe it is more environmentally friendly and profitable for the hotel and local businesses of choice just to offer a percentage off a local restaurant that can provide a variety of meals rather than encumbering the cost of overhead correlated to offering so much food to your guests. Perhaps maybe a continental breakfast type arrangement would...

This place does not live up to the Best Western "Plus". We paid almost $600 a night for 2 bedrooms, not worth the price at all. The outside really didn't look too bad so no complaints there. While checking in I noticed the lobby and breakfast area looked newer and I had the same expectations of the rooms, however once we arrived to our rooms my dad's accessible room smelled like a veterinarian clinic. It was like someone tried to cover up the wet dog smell with deodorizer which only made it smell worse. I was told that his was only 1 of 2 accessible rooms and the other was occupied. We were not aware that this was a pet friendly room, my husband is allergic and could not even enter the room to help my dad get settled in. Our second room also smelled horrible. It reminded me of a old Las Vegas motel room, like stale cigarette smoke and bad decisions. It's like they just slapped on new paint and called it a renovation. the carpets were nasty and reeked. Neither A/C worked properly, both were set at 65 and it was still around 72 degrees. it was colder outside. Our room's pluming wasn't working like it should, our bathtub drained VERY slow and our toilet needed to be plunged multiple times. I am assuming there is a deeper clog somewhere down the line. The bathroom fan nob in our bathroom was cracked and hard to use. Remotes in both rooms were acting up, we had to unplug both TVs in order to get them to work. Also, multiple semi-trucks running making it very noisy. We could not find a working ice machine on the first floor so we had to go up to the 3rd floor. You think they would tell you that upon checking in, why should we have to run around looking for working amenities. Speaking of working amenities the spa toward the koi pond wasn't working and had no heat. The pool was nice, it was indoor/outdoor and the spa was not as hot as it should be, but was still hot enough to enjoy. We also thought the breakfast was decent. Overall I would probably not stay here again unless they renovate the rooms. We stayed at a Best Western right outside of the Yosemite National Park and it was by far a better stay with more amenities and it was way less money. I did discuss my issues with the front desk and she said unfortunately the manager had just left and said she could not adjust my price, however she did try to help by giving me 5,000 bonus points. It's better than nothing, but still not worth the stay. Another thing to add is this is the first best western we've been to without a little convivence shop. not a big deal, but being a "plus" you'd think they'd...