WorldMark Long Beach — Hotel in Long Beach

The two star are for the great location and quality of the resort. You really cannot do better than here in the area. However, the missing three stars are due to a few things.

When we showed up at 4pm our room was not ready. We waited nearly two hours after a long drive to make it here. This is unacceptable. Two movie rentals were offered as penance. Kinda hard when you want to take a nap, use the restroom and cook yourself some dinner.

We were offered an "owners update" presentation. It was never explicitly said that this was a sales pitch. I only discovered that when I read the back of my appointment slip. Let's be upfront about this, ok guys? It was said that it would be 90 minutes. It was 2 hours. In this sales pitch we were told we would not be pressured or anything. Well, we were pressured and I even had the pleasure of being called fat by the sales rep. Classy. Passive bullying is not an appropriate sales tactic. I won't mention the names here as the salesman may have just been having a bad day. He doesn't deserve to be disparaged in return. The salesman also said impulsive decisions are a good idea. What?

It also looks like they ran a credit check on me? I never agreed to that and I read the fine print. That wasn't mentioned anywhere. Leave my credit alone. Check that once I say I want to buy.

We were told we would receive our choice of an AMEX gift card or Wyndham rewards points for coming. I verified this with the sales team when we showed up for the presentation. When I finished the presentation I was given the rewards points. I guess the choice was made for me.

I could go on, but won't. This resort is lovely. The town is wonderful. The Worldmark Club is fantastic. In 14 years of coming to these resorts we have never had a bad experience. Today changed that track record. I am very disappointed. Long Beach was previously a top 3 resort for us. We will spend our time in Discovery Bay or Birch Bay...

Upon arrival, we checked in and was given our wrist bands (that felt like they were made for children) for the room. As we proceeded up the elevator to our room, the elevator would stop at our floor and begin to violently shake like it was going to fall. As the door opened, we were greeted with a landing with pieces of paint/texture falling from ceiling from water damage. For the most part, the room felt clean. The windows, deck and shower on the other hand were different stories. The latches on the windows were so corroded that it made it difficult to open. The window sill in the bedroom has remnants of some paint being removed due to water damage. The patio was outdated and was covered in cobwebs. We opted to not use the grill, especially with the pathetic excuse for a grill scrubber with two small prongs brushes the end left to clean a grill that had seen better days. The drain plug in the shower wasn't attached and just pulled out of the drain. If you expect a hot shower lasting 15 minutes, well... You might want to start to adjust to 10 minute luke warm showers. Lastly, when we arrived, we discovered dishes still in the dishwasher. With everything else needing to be done to tidy the room after the previous guests, I could understand the dishes being forgotten, but for some reason, all the glasses left our drinks tasting like soap. The water out of the tap was not good for us to drink and the ice from the ice maker had the same outcome.

All in all, the bed was clean and tolerable to sleep on for a week, the living room was also clean and our view from the north side of the resort gave us beautiful views of the ocean. We were able to cook a meal in a clean kitchen and relax. If you could overlook the aforementioned issues like we're did, your stay here...

This review has two parts: the hotel and the Worldmark presentation.

The hotel is very nice, in an outstanding location, with good amenities and great staff. Everything is in good repair.

The Worldmark presentation (we are not owners) was another matter. The registration process REQUIRES guests to meet with a "Concierge", who encourages you to attend a presentation about Worldmark ownership opportunities. The incentive is a certificate good for a one-week stay in a variety of hotel and resort properties. Wyndham rewards members (we are) are promised a significant number of points added to their account.

The sales reps were friendly and professional. However, they received no support from other staff. Our sales person wasn't told that we weren't owners, which forced her to modify her presentation. The environment is horrible, with everyone in one room, leading to extremely high ambient noise. We declined to become members.

We did receive our Wyndham awards points. However, the vacation certificate cannot be used without paying an upgrade fee -- which ranges from $199 to several times that number. I contacted the Resort Vacation Certificate folks, who administer the program. The advisor confirmed what I saw on the website. In the entire United States, there are ZERO weeks available, unless you pay the upgrade fee.

There is no way to characterize this as anything other than a SCAM. Wyndham had to know that their "free week" is a false claim.

I continue to enjoy the Wyndham collection of hotels, and would consider another stay at this property. However, Worldmark (owned by Wyndham) is a corrupt organization. I'm very glad that we declined to give them more money. Who knows what other ways they would find to...