El Capitan Hotel — Hotel in Merced

I was physically assaulted by DONTE, the “ security guard“ standing outside the hotell smoking his weed vape, SITONA at the front desk was witness to all that happened in the hotel lobby where there are no cameras pointing anywhere except at the front desk staff. Convenient. ||||Four very loud and very drunk people were in the fourth floor hallway for 30 minutes at two in the morning. After trying to ignore it and fall back asleep for a long time, I went into the hall to ask that they go downstairs. One of them, a 6 foot or more tall bald drunk man step toward me as if I was another 6 foot tall man. I’m a 5 foot two 112 pound woman ||||I called the very young woman at the front desk to let her know they were heading down because they were super inebriated and I wanted her to be safe. She told me they were already downstairs talking to the “security guard“ DEONTE that would not have been possible. ||||DEONTE is not a real security guard just a young guy who makes sure the homeless don’t come into the hotel and the drunk people don’t cause any big problems.||||I left my room to go down to the lobby to make sure the “security guard“ knew what was going on on the fourth floor, and as soon as he saw me emerge from the elevator and walk toward him and the group of drunk folks he was talking to, he turned around, grabbed my upper arm tightly and pushed me 20 feet toward the reception desk with his full body on my chest. ||||I told him to take his hands off me. He didn’t. He said, “it’s totally legal for me to put my hands on you.“ I asked him to cite the law and he took out his phone and said he would go look for it. So he started scrolling while I stood there, shaking having had to verbally force this guy‘s body and hands off of my body ||||I felt scared and extremely angry all at the same time. After he insulted my age telling me “I’m old enough to be your son and you should think about that“ I witnessed SITONA at the front desk calling her manager, Ryan. ||||Through the phone I could hear Ryan asking her why she was “creating a problem” and that she should “have Deonte’s back because he’s our boy”—- she started crying and asking the manager, Ryan why he was trying to make any of this her fault. She told me and reminded Ryan on the phone that she has made many complaints to management about DEONTE and that they’ve been ignored. ||||I will add the Ryan is a tall Caucasian man with red hair, big like a football linebacker. SITONA is a very young woman in her very early 20s, Hispanic I believe. She was shaken up and crying, when she wasn’t talking to me about how upsetting it was that she is ignored when she tries to communicate that it’s not safe at the hotel overnight when she is alone at the front desk with the “security guard“ getting high and taking long walks inside the hotel and around the block leaving her completely alone on the regular. ||||She called the Merced police department who took just about an hour to get to the hotel, which is around the corner from the police department. ||||Officer Dabney showed up, didn’t ask me how I was doing, didn’t say he was sorry there was an incident. He just pulled out a notepad the size of us post it and scribbled a few things in an unprofessional manner.|||| then, I told him what happened and he left the lobby with the “security guard“ for 40 minutes to go see if hotel cameras caught anything. So I was left alone with SITONA at the front desk while Officer Dabney went with Deonte who had grabbed and held my arm tightly and pushed me across the hotel lobby with his body||||. While waiting for him to return, SITONA at the front desk told me story upon story about this guy and how often she has complained to management and her complaints have fallen on deaf ears. ||||I work with folks in Merced who provide programming to 4000 students and I promised her another job if she wanted one or at some point needed one. ||||I then call the police department again and insisted that the sergeant come as it was clear Officer Dabney didn’t care about any of it and thought I was just a woman making trouble.||||Sergeant Rios showed up, and she also expressed zero concern or compassion —|||| I just received the police report. In order to get the report, I had to phone the records department and put two quarters, $.50 in an envelope and mail it there. ||||The police report has DEONTE’s name redacted everywhere and is about 90% incorrect. The officer got it wrong to such great degree. I have retained a lawyer. ||||When it first happened, I wrote an extensive detailed email to ROBIN, the hotel general manager who ignored my email at first later communicating, or pretending that it went to her junk mail. ||||She never called and she was rude in her email response and said she’d be “getting the story from the other side“… ||||Took almost 3 weeks before she credited my final night stay when the incident occurred saying, “as a courtesy, I will credit you back for this one night.” ||||there is absolutely nothing remotely acceptable about this “security guard” literally strong-arming me, gripping me, and pushing me 20 or more feet with his chest against my breasts in my pajamas at 2 o’clock in the morning or at any time, of course!||||The police report said he saw me talking to the drunk people on the inside while he was outside the hotel and that he was concerned for my well-being and came into the hotel to pull me out of the situation. ||||This is so far from the truth and there are no cameras to prove it. But SITONA at the front desk knows it and still her version of the story was so completely inaccurate in the police report that it’s clear the officer revised that moment in history. ||||I’m sure she is very afraid to lose her job. The hotel pays her only $18 an hour and she needs the job. I have promised her I will get her another job that is better, more fulfilling, and at a better hourly rate in Merced, California serving youth. She just needs to call me. ||||If you like loud drunk people returning from parties in the hotel and around the hotel, if you like to be woken two or three times in the night by the train the passes by right near the hotel, which is why they give you earplugs, if you don’t mind the stuck/broken shades in your room that are desperately needs to block all of the light coming in from surrounding buildings, oh, and again, if you like drunk, locals and abusive “security guards“ the El Capitan is a great stay, ||||and if you eat in their delicious restaurant, you might wait 90 minutes before your meal hits the table, but they’ll apologize and not credit anything. They won’t even offer dessert. But they will say they’re very sorry, it took so long. So at least there’s that. ||||DEONTE is aggressive and I would bet the bank he is abusive whenever possible and whenever he has a chance to feel taller than he is. ||||I told the officer I wanted to press charges and in the police report, he called it “simple assault and battery“… Now apparently it is up to the DAs office in Merced whether ||or not I can press charges. ||||Tomorrow I have a call with the Lieutenant to discuss all the false claims made in the police report by the cold and careless officer, Dabney, Shame on Ryan, shame on Robin, shame on Officer Dabney, who wrote a police report that is so blatantly incorrect it is fiction. ||||This is the world we live in now… A man is unacceptably and inappropriately aggressive/abusive toward a woman, and the woman is just making...

Me and my boyfriend booked for a whole week at this place and was super excited since it looked alot fancier then alot of other 5 star hotels we been to especially in Merced since it is small out here. But our stay here proved that looks can be deceiving. The place looks well but the experience has been quite the opposite. If you are here to stay for quiet and peace this is not a good option like many reviews on here the place has bad insulation so there is no privacy in your rooms if you are speaking about anything confidential don't do it here neighbors can hear everything. You also would feel walking on egg shells here since people will call and complain no matter what, we have gotten calls to our room interrupting our sleep about noise on days that we were not even present in the room. We felt uncomfortable for our stay couldn't even watch tv had it down low couldn't even hear it and enjoy wifi that we pay for since they charge 5 dollars each day of the stay, felt we were in a library rather then a hotel. The place is also on a noisy street hear trains and cars as well as people which wasnt the problem to us since we never complained even though the place is high for charges for a area as such. There also were party events really early in the morning and late at night playing loud music right outside that kept us up but we still didnt say anything could barely sleep. So we were confused to get calls about us when we used inside voices and made sure keep the TV down it was very odd and felt discriminated against. We tried to explain it to the guy on the phone and he said it us since there was different people calling on the phone complaining about us I told him it is the insulation and we were not here the other day, I literally went to work the other day before so that was impossible and went to the movies with bf the other day have movie tickets for the time of complaints. He proceeded to tell me that its must be true he can tell by the tone of my voice mind you I used manner saying sir and please listen, so got no sleep because other people can make noises and false accusations from discrimination. We canceled emmediately and booked for best western where we never had gotten any issues it quiet here and get no noise complaints from other neighboring people everyone here is respectful as much as we were. Don't let looks trick you into the expense it is not worth the headache, highly boujee people that act sidity no free breakfast for the price expensive cafe no microwave, have to call to get one, small refrigerator, sink take forever to drain, horrible insulation, loud area, party events past curfew where people cant sleep, discrimination, useless room service since dont have much to give such as ketchup packets. We are very experience going to nice high end hotels that's why we were looking foward to coming here but this was no where near the nice hotels we been too. Not even the generosity. I cried leaving this place couldn't bare the rudeness and misunderstanding. Came to enjoy our selves ended up leaving in distraught. If you don't plan on talking and being mute all day I still would not recommend this place your sink dripping droplets would be a inconvenience for them and too much noise. I will say there was some nice employees that handled our situation well and gave us a refund...

We had two rooms, one for me and my husband and one for my two adult son's. We were visiting family in Merced. We had a room with a king bed and the boys had a room with two queen beds. If we stay there again, we will upgrade to a suite (it was only a few dollars more).

Pros: The staff was very friendly and there was valet parking. The lobby area was comfortable to sit in. The rooms had a vintage feel (it was recently remodeled) and was pretty. There was a refrigerator in the room (microwave upon request). A coffee/tea station and a pot to warm water. Both the coffee and tea were in bags you placed in the cub and then poured water in the cup. Our room also had a retro record player with 4 records to choose from, and a vintage style phone. My husband enjoy the 24 hour fitness center. It is within walking distance to restaurants and shopping. The boys Queen room had a nice size bathroom with a vanity.

Cons: Our king room was extremely small. No closet, but an area next to the coffee/tea station to hang clothes. No vanity in the bathroom, so no place to put toiletries. The shower had a rain shower head and no water pressure, not a full door on the shower, it was a half door so lots of water on the floor of the bathroom every time you took a shower. The bed was a king, but it was squeaky. The sheets were fine, so I think whatever mattress cover they were using was the culprit, but made for a noisy sleep - every time you rolled over or changed position - lots of noise. No desk in either room, there was a cut out in the dresser with a chair, but once you sat in it, no one could get around you. The walls were thin - we could hear the person in the next room talking on his phone and could understand what he was saying. He banged on our wall when I was talking to my son on the phone (I do not talk loud). They charge you a $500 deposit on your room in case of damage in addition to the room charge (so that was an extra $1,000 we were not expecting). So for 5 nights, we were charged $1,400 for the king and $1600 for the queen. The $500 per room is refunded when the cleaning staff lets them know there were no damages. I totally understand putting a $500 hold on the card, but not charging my card. My mom made the reservation and thought she paid for the room in advance (her Christmas gift for us). So I was surprised when they charged us. She went to the hotel the day after we checked in and had the charge transferred to her card, but was told it would be 4 to 5 days for the charge to be taken off our cards.

Overall, we enjoyed the hotel, the staff was amazing, but do think the rooms and bathrooms should be larger...