Lone Oak Lodge — Hotel in Monterey

We stayed at the Lone Oak Lodge when passing through Monterey on our west coast tour in June 2023. The motel is obviously an older motel. But it looks in very good condition and has had very good renovations. Although the property could use new pavement in the parking area. The old cracked pavement is functional. We were pleasantly surprised when we checked into our room. Most of the furniture is new including a firm memory foam mattress, which we ourselves own and prefer. The sink, fixtures and shower are very nice and modern. Plantation shutters make the window treatments much nicer than the typical shades most motels use. The walls are done well and painted in eye pleasing colors. We really liked the flooring in our room. All in all, a really good looking room. It could use a larger TV. But the smaller TV works fine. Honestly, we have been staying at a lot of hotels and motels lately and found the Lone Oak Lodge's room to be nicer than most. Our room has a lot of 120volt outlets for our needs. I went around and counted 12 unused sockets, plus a USB and a USB-C outlet for what most folks would ever need to plug in as far as devices and such. Wireless Internet was good. Our room had 2 types of rolling and swivel type chairs for use at the table or desk area. I used one at the desk and the other on the opposite side of the bed which had a lot of room. We also had a refrigerator and microwave oven. The shower is very modern with good pressure. It also has probably the softest water we have ever used. Maybe not, but it's very soft. Although there is no shelve for ladies to shave their legs. So they will have to improvise. The toilet works very well, but also makes a strong flush. This can be noticeable at night. Our room had good lighting outside the room in both front and back. The Red Roof inn directly behind the Lone Oak Lodge has a lot of lighting as well. So our bathroom was well lit at night. So no need for a night light there. Although the desk could use a light. I had to use the sink light to light up the desk. The bathroom window is frosted for privacy. And you can open both the front and bathroom windows for airflow. The sink is great and I can use it without feeling it's too far away like most motels/hotels. The mirror is heated. So it will not steam up, even if you forget to use the fan when showering. The closet section isn't great. It is kind of in the way in the sink area, and had no hangers. But it had a couple of hooks. We did hear a couple of jets taking off from the airport close by. But I only noticed a couple while there. And honestly, they didn't seem drastically loud. None of them were at night. The room was pretty quiet when we stayed. And we parked right in front of our room. We slept the best in a month sleeping on our style mattress. It being new probably also helped. We paid about $100 per night including taxes in June, 2023. Honestly, I felt it more than reasonable. We paid much more for much less quite a few times lately. That being said, I rate the Lone Oak Lodge at 5 stars, that I rarely give out for lodging. I tend to focus on what an inn gives you at a price point rather than what it doesn't. As such, I feel that the Lone Oak is a rare gem you may want to consider. We changed our plans and stayed more than one night in Monterey. That decision was heavily influenced by how much we liked the room we had at...

We were here in early May 2021 to celebrate the reopening of the Aquarium. We were happy to have two large bedrms, but the RM I was in was so cold I had trouble sleeping. The heater was so noisy it sounded like a B52 coming in for a landing, so I couldn't have it on. There were no extra blankets available either. (In a reply to this review, the owner said I should have asked for extra blankets. Yes, that is probably true. However, I was in bed, it was dark, and the office was at the complete opposite end of the buildings at the end of the parking lot.) The other thing was that there was a bit of a dust-up with the mgr who told us we could have the fire pit on past 10:00 pm because he had expected US to turn it on, and we couldn't figure out how to. So we went to the office to ask for assistance, and after he got it working he told us we could have extra time. (I do think asking guests to turn on the fire pit is a decidedly unprofessional thing as it requires taking out a propane tank from under the pit, turning that on in the proper way, then turning a system of two knobs in some simultaneous way on the pit. That should not be up to paying guests to deal with. Again, in answer to this review, the owner apologized for the whole drama that ensued about the fire pit.) Having no experience with propane tanks, we couldn't get the pit to work. The guy said we could get him to turn it off and gave us permission to keep it on til after the 10 pm cutoff. While we were sitting there, other guests came to sit around the pit. We left to go to bed leaving the pit on because other guests were now gathered around it, and the mgr had told us he'd turn it off. The next morning when we went to check out, the mgr lambasted us for leaving the fire pit on, and that he had to come out at 1 a.m. to turn it off because he saw it on from his room. We were shocked. We explained that another guest was still at the pit when we left. The idea that it is guests' responsibility to take care of the fire pit seems outrageous. We were the paying guests. Shouldn't it be the owner's responsibility to 1) attend the pit, and 2) honor his expressed intent to come out and turn it off? The experience left us angry and confused. And the lack of concern for the coldness of the room seems unacceptable when one is paying $150+ a night to stay at their motel. We were happy that the double bedrooms were available, but I don't know if we'd stay here again. I realize the whole trauma of the COVID pandemic has caused the entire hospitality industry to have to deal with extremely difficult circumstances, so I am willing to cut the place slack. And I am glad the owner addressed the criticisms in this review. If we ever do stay here again, I will revisit this review...

This motel has the potential of being rated 4 out of 5, or 8 out of 10, however, on my stay on Sep 15, I rate it a one (1) for the following reasons. The noise level coming from next door was ridiculous. It was difficult to understand how so much banging could be heard from a one level complex. Our issue was that the management did nothing about it. The shower stall was leaking from the moment we arrived and the dripping noise good be heard all night. I tried everything to get it to stop. I was disappointed that the management lied about they did not know of the problem, because you could see all the patch work that was attempted. The noise next door kept us up in the evening and early morning starting at 5am, and the shower kept us up the rest of the night. It was obvious that the sheets were not changed. I was itching at night so I moved to the other double bed which was only a little better. This is a behavior followed by the cleaning staff; if it looks clean don’t change them. But it is obvious the sheets were a little greyish, not white and clean. There was a beeping noise coming from the vending machine area that could be heard by several rooms. Again nothing was done about it. This could have been an easy fix; just unplug the beeping machine until it could be fixed the next morning. There is a big sign in the office stating they have an 8.8 rating. There is no way their rating should be that high because they are not properly staff to handle problems at night. For example, item 1 was definitely disturbing the peace. If they are not willing to call the police, they should have access to a security service. Item 2 should have previously been fixed properly by maintenance, not patched up. Item 3, the staff should be monitored more closely. Item 4, a maintenance person should be available for emergencies rather than letting that high pitch noise go until morning; this disturbed a...