The Cove Hotel — Hotel in Long Beach

BED BUGS AT THE COVE! First pic is a bed bug I saw on my boyfriend’s shirt as we were laying in bed!

We are incredibly bitten up by bed bugs, itchy, down about $700 in hotel fees, and currently trying to find another hotel because of bed bugs at The Cove Hotel in Long Beach, CA.

Sometime between 7-9 a.m. this morning, I noticed what I thought was a bug, scurrying across our bedsheets. I saw it moving, and thought it was lint because once I put my phone’s flashlight on it put, it stopped moving. I brushed it off the bed thinking might have been a one-off.

At approx. 10:06 am, I noticed a bug on my boyfriend’s shirt as we were laying in the bed and I told him. We immediately pulled back the sheets and looked in the bed, and found several other bugs of varying sizes!

My boyfriend went down to the lobby to notify the front desk. Ester, the receptionist, offered a delayed refund, which she said could take up to 7 days, and did not offer other solutions or accommodations, or even acknowledged the inconvenience for that matter. She also said we would need to leave and find another hotel because the hotel was at capacity.

My boyfriend wanted to speak to a manager about the incident. And Ester said the hotel manager does not work on the weekends and will only come in the event of an emergency. She said the only way she could speak to the hotel manager is if she called the police because he can’t be contacted on the weekend and he lives over an hour away.

My boyfriend offered to call the police in order to speak to a manager. Ester ended up calling the police because the hotel manager is “only accessible” on the weekends if the police are called.

At approximately 10:45 a.m. this morning, the police officers arrive. Ester repeated what she said to the officers about not being able to call manager unless the police were called.

HOWEVER, Ester, told the police that she TEXTED the manager about the incident and the manager said to call the police before she called them.

Earlier, she told my boyfriend that she couldn’t contact the manager unless the police were called.

At 11:30 am, we get a checkout receipt from Ester, and ask for documentation of notes that she took about the incident. In her notes, she lied and said that we immediately received our refund, which we have not.

We’re currently driving around Long Beach looking for other...

An Unforgettable Nightmare: Avoid The Cove Hotel

I stayed at The Cove Hotel on August 15th in room 203 for what was supposed to be a special birthday weekend with my family, but it turned into a complete disaster. Our experience was marred by a series of appalling issues that left us deeply disappointed and frustrated.

Upon returning from a day of excursions, we were horrified to discover bed bugs in both my bed and my niece’s bed around 11 pm. My niece even had visible bites on her arm. We immediately contacted the front desk, where Mauricio advised us to document the situation with photos and videos. Unfortunately, his assistance ended there. Mauricio offered us either free parking or a breakfast voucher as compensation, which was wholly inadequate given the severity of the situation. His dismissive comment that the bites on my niece's arm looked like hives rather than bites was not only unhelpful but incredibly insensitive.

After we were moved to a different room, we were told that the manager, Deone Dempcy, would contact us the next day. However, Deone never reached out. When I sought him out later that evening, he was short-tempered, rude, and dismissive. His response to our complaint was abrasive; he insisted that past complaints of this nature were irrelevant and rudely cut me off mid-sentence to check in another guest. This behavior was both unprofessional and disrespectful, particularly in a hospitality setting.

Deone's claim that he was the highest authority at the hotel and his refusal to engage in a constructive conversation was bewildering. When my niece requested a refund, he simply handed her a partial refund invoice without explanation and walked away. The lack of communication and follow-through was astonishing. He did not follow up with us about the K9 inspection of the room, which he had promised, and in hindsight, it seems he did not even quarantine Room 203 before assigning it to new guests.

This experience was by far the worst I've ever encountered as a frequent traveler. The Cove Hotel's hospitality was not just lacking but hostile, and Deone Dempcy’s conduct was deplorable. I strongly urge families to avoid this hotel and seek accommodations elsewhere. The level of customer service we experienced was abysmal, and Deone Dempcy clearly lacks the skills and demeanor necessary for a role in...

The Cove Hotel in Longbeach, CA is a very nice, lovingly kept hotel. The grounds, courtyard and pool and beautifully maintained, and the whole place has a luxurious feel for a very reasonable price. They have a lovely fire pit and a gorgeous night time terrace, and serve a basic, continental breakfast until 9:30, a bit early for those vacationing, but fine for early birds or people on business. Housekeeping and grounds staff are extremely competent and friendly. There was a microwave, fridge and Keurig in our room, and laundry on site. The shower had an absolutely gorgeous rain shower fixture with a stick attachment. Very luxurious! Some areas need improvement:

The carpets in our room were filthy. Walking around the room with bare feet for an hour made the bottoms of our feet black. I know it wasn’t the floor, because housekeeping washed it daily. This is gross. I hope management addresses it. No ice machine. Ice was only available at the front desk and you have to ask for it. They give you a small ziploc bag of it. They do this to minimize the noise, which I understand, but the tap water never ever gets cold so you either have to keep a water bottle in the fridge or go to the front desk. It wouldn’t be such a nuisance if the tap water ran cold. Once our fresh towels seemed to have not been rinsed properly, as after using them I found a strange, chalky film all over my body. Re-showered with a different soap and a different towel and found the same thing. Odd, and itchy, but only happened on our last day. Probably a one-off.

Things to be aware of: The sheets are soft and silky, but 100% polyester. Which is not a big deal for most, but as a person who gets hot easily I found they made me sweaty and then stuck to my bare limbs. Each room has a fantastic blackout blind and a sheer blind. The sheer may look like it’s not transparent from the outside, but it is. Dress in the bathroom or close the blackout blind. The hotel itself is beautiful, but not in a very nice area of town (but it is gated and we found it quite safe) and most of the restaurants within walking distance are fast food chains.

Honestly other than the carpets (disgusting!) most of this is knit-picking. The hotel is lovely and reasonably priced. I’d stay again just for the...