Half Moon Bay Lodge — Hotel in Half Moon Bay

We booked a last-minute family trip over Labor Day weekend and were so pleasantly surprised by our experience! The hotel is easy to access, right off the 1, with ample free parking. The staff is friendly and were happy to store our luggage while we waiting for our room to be ready - and they texted us at 12:30pm to say it was, even though check-in wasn’t until 4pm. Much appreciated so we could let our toddler nap! They also had our requested crib all set up when we got into the room. The room was clean and well-appointed, with a cute fireplace and mini-fridge. The only two issues we had were 1) the provided “firewood in a bag” wouldn’t burn, and 2) the balcony railing was so widely spaced my toddler could fit through and fall off (yikes), so we didn’t use the balcony.

The common areas were lovely. The backyard area overlooks the golf course and has nice landscaping, a gas fire pit, lots of seating, and room for kids to run around. There’s also a small-ish but nice pool and hot tub, and several different lawn games that the kids enjoyed. In the morning there is free breakfast which was nice, but basic - bagels, yoghurt, boiled eggs, string cheese, mini muffins. On the second day we skipped it and instead had breakfast at Joe’s Diner, which is just across the parking lot and had friendly service and good (but not gourmet) food.

We were hoping the hotel would be more walkable to things, but unfortunately that isn’t the case. To get to a road to the beach you would first have to walk 1/2 mile along the side of route 1 (no sidewalk, cars whizzing by). So, instead we drove. It’s only 5 minutes drive to downtown Half Moon Bay with lots of cute restaurants and shopping, and 10-15 minutes drive to beaches. Definitely check out the Fitzgerald Marine Preserve for awesome tidepooling and Sea Horse Ranch for horseback riding on the beach!

Overall we had a great trip, and would stay...

Nothing more than a motel 6. Don't stay here! We made these reservations in June and at that time as well as 3 times prior to our arrival stated we wanted a quiet room away from families or groups which could be noisy. Thursday evening there was a VERY loud barking dog that was loose on the upper tiled corridor (echoing!) with children running after it yelling for it to come back. After this happened twice, I decided to call reception to nip this issue in the bud. I picked up the telephone and guess what? ... It was dead! I telephoned the hotel and was on hold for 5 minutes when I gave up and went downstairs to reception. She said that she knew where the dog was and would take care of it. I also asked if that tiny little wall heater unit was the only heat for the room and when she answered yes, she gave me 3 blankets. The next morning the barking dog started again and as we left our room we realized the offending room was NEXT door to us! When I checked out and the receptionist asked if everything was ok, I said no and recounted the previous nights barking dog intrusion. She said, "oh, sorry but the hotel was full"! That's no excuse with all times I requested a quiet room... and apparently my complaints were not forwarded to you. If this was a Motel 6, I'd say we got what we paid for, but not for what we paid. Actually the bathroom is so outdated it very well could/should have been a Motel 6. And then to add insult to injury your property sends out a stream of canned messages promoting future stays at the property and asking us to review the property on TripAdvisor and Google. As the stream of emails have requested I will spend the time to share our experience on Google so people won't have to suffer through a night at your motel. oops, sorry I...

I'm not sure how a hotel with no air conditioning can be rated 3 stars. It's generally been a cool 63° in Half Moon Bay while I've been here, but my room has been consistently 78° every day. I sit outside with the sliding glass door open for several hours each night trying to cool it down enough to be able to sleep and the coolest I've been able to get it is 73° but the temperature goes up again as soon as you close the sliding glass door. When I checked in the rooms was hot and muggy and I asked the staff about the lack of air conditioning and they suggested I just sleep with the door open, which is an absurd thing to suggest to someone in a first floor room. To leave the sliding glass door open all night would be both unsafe and would provide no privacy. The sliding glass door also lacks a safety latch to prevent it from being opened from the outside. There is a ceiling fan, but it barely moves the air around. There seems to be little sound insulation between the floors and if your upstairs neighbors are moving around at all it's pretty noisy. Also, some mornings the golf course staff begins using power tools as early as 7:00 am. The mattress is fine but the pillows are very lumpy. The location is away from the rest of Half Moon Bay, there's no shops near enough to walk to. Also, the "free" wifi doesn't work unless you agree to allow them use your email for marketing. That is a really unethical practice and a poor way to treat guests. I would consider this a 2 star hotel at best, for it's lack of adequate climate control, uncomfortable pillows, rundown furniture, unethical "free" wifi, and no room safe, which are some of the basic amenities you expect to find at a 3 star rated hotel. I would not...