Lighthouse Lodge & Cottages — Hotel in Pacific Grove

Upon check-in, we found the accommodations as expected and were satisfied. We awoke the next morning to a full blown ant infestation in our room. Thousands. My husband was told by the front desk: “that’s just what happens when it rains.” Meaning: management is already aware of this issue and rented the “cottage” (which is not a cottage at all contrary to the booking description— it’s just another room in a building of 3 others exactly like it— no different than the regular rate ‘lodge’ rooms despite the price difference) and being fully aware of the insect issue— we were placed in this unit regardless.

Upon advisement that the appearance of thousands of ants is apparently a regular occurrence, my husband (reasonably) requested that staff take additional action to address this concern, to which he was informed it would be “taken care of” during the day when we were away from the room. He then retreated back to the room where I remained in the company of several thousand insects to share with me that the response from staff was essentially to put up and shut up about it.

I proceeded to the guest lobby to address the issue with staff myself, and I recorded that interaction for documentation purposes.

I asked to speak with a manager and was promptly advised that there isn’t one. Provided no other option, I proceeded to address my concerns with the rather unfriendly front desk woman who stated that the issue would be addressed upon our departure for the day. I asked for clarification and she confirmed that meant spraying a bunch of poisonous chemicals in the room containing all of our belongings to which I expressed dissatisfaction and concern. She stated that the insecticide wasn’t poisonous, but declined to elaborate further on what non-lethal chemical would be employed for the singular purpose of mass killing.

Upon indicating concern at the dispersal of poison upon my personal belongings, the woman stated that staff could also “wipe” the insects away. I clarified that the movement of insects in and out of the wall could not be reasonably contained by employing a wet washcloth, and then asked if she would move us into a different room to which she responded: “I can get you checked out.” I stated that was not the nature of the question that I had asked. She furiously clicked away for no more than one half of one second before responding: “We are pretty full tonight, doesn’t look like there’s anywhere to move you.”

Just to be clear: there is not a single chance that she actually checked for a room to move us to. The message was clear: the ants are not the nuisance- you are.

Astounding.

Since our $800 stay had already been paid in advance, I asked if she would remit to us a refund for the second half of our stay if we checked out early. She agreed— as long as we packed up and turned in our keys within the next 19 minutes and not a second later, since checkout was at 11:00 sharp and apparently a massive insect infestation did not constitute an exception or professional courtesy in any capacity.

We were packed, out, and keys turned in by 10:51. We departed immediately for the significantly more accommodating (and less expensive) 4-star Marriott Monterey, and according to Expedia I can expect a refund within the next 7-10 business days.

Regardless— I still paid full price for the night that I did stay here to contaminate all of my clothing, luggage, food, drinks, and other personal items, never receiving an apology, or any other spoken consolation of any kind. Not a single shred of customer service in any part of any interaction with any representative of this disgrace of an alleged hospitality business.

Provided every single opportunity to do the right thing, this business made a deliberate decision to disregard ethics and public health in favor of running an absolutely foul, insect-infested, utterly disgusting scam...

One of the worst lodging of experiences in my life. Three words describe my stay: Filthy, dirty, and disgusting. Me and my husband arrived for the second part of our honeymoon here and were pleasantly greeted by the front desk staff. However, the problems began after check-in. We were pleasantly upgraded to one of the biggest rooms on the property, which had its own kitchen and bedroom and dining area which made us both very happy.

However, once we got to the room, it all went downhill from there. When you took your socks and shoes off and walked across the floor, your feet on the bottom became almost instantly black by the dirt. It appeared as if the hotel staff had not mopped the floors in years. It got worse from there. Next, a bunch of dirt and cobwebs were over a lot of the furniture and on the floors in very visible locations. The next morning we woke up and found ants in our bathroom and also discovered that most of the windows and the sliding glass door locks did not work properly, which was a major safety concern to us.

On top of all of this it just kept getting worse. The hotel staff informed us that the heat for our unit was broken so they had a portable radiator plugged in and made our room like 80°. It was ridiculous. On top of all of this, we also noticed that the curtain rod was coming out of the wall in our bedroom, and the curtains did not operate properly. Many of the dishes and glassware in the kitchen were also dirty and filled with dust and soap scum. But the thing that was the worst of all was that we found blood on the wall in our bathroom upon check-in and also in the refrigerator in the kitchen. This is absolutely disgusting and I will never be returning to this place.

When we checked out the next day and we asked for a refund the hotel staff were very rude to us and said that they could not refund us for the night we had stayed or the following night and we would be charged for nights of our stay even though we only stayed for one night. This is absolutely ridiculous. As a customer, I expect to come to a place specially for my honeymoon that is clean, safe, and sanitary. The fact that the staff were unprofessional and rude to me and did not want to try to work with me on refunding my money just further proves that this place does not know how to manage their staff or housekeepers.

I was told that I would need to speak to the owner in order to try to get a refund. I should never have to talk to the owner of a property if my stay was subpar, especially for my honeymoon. This should be a no-brainer for any hotel property. If your guest is unsatisfied with their stay and wants to leave the property, you should immediately issue them a full and complete refund for their stay.

My husband and I are considering issuing complaints to the state of California and having this place put under a formal review. It is absolutely filthy and disgusting and the hotel staff do not know how to manage this hotel. Literally the worst experience of my life, especially on my honeymoon, which is supposed to be the best experience of my life.

*UPDATE 1: the hotel manager responded to my review below and said I was issued a five night refund. This is untrue. I was initially issued the refund but then the hotel reversed the refund on my card and now I don’t have a refund at all. I have verified this with my credit card company and have taken appropriate action...

We stayed here due to a great deal obtained through deals site "Hotel Tonight". The first thing to note is that the property has two distinct accommodations: cottages and lodges. All of the pictures and descriptions are of the nicer "Cottage Rooms", which you don't find out until you arrive. This is not necessarily the hotel's fault, but must be addressed as i found the same descriptions and images on many hotel reservation sites. As for the room: it was very small, but mostly functional. The bed was somewhat comfortable but very noisy and made a lot of noise every time you made any little movement. The room itself was very cold, and utilizing the heater to keep the room a comfortable temperature proved difficult. Also, the heater (ours and the rooms around us-you can hear EVERYTHING here) would constantly "cycle" on and off (all night long, and only for a few seconds), which was a jarring sound. The bathroom LOOKED very nice, but was form over function. It was small, cramped and difficult to get around (my guest and are are both thin). The shower required us to fiddle with the nob quite a bit in order to find the sweet spot which allowed us to get warm water at all (turning the nob to either end of the rotation produced ice cold water - only in the middle was a small band of warm temperatures). Someone thought it was funny to set the alarm clock for 3:13am (not the hotel's fault, but very frustrating) so the little sleep I was getting between the temp of the room and the clicking of the thermostat was interrupted again. We were told at check in that we'd been "upgraded" to the "chef made breakfast", which was a nice surprise. In the morning we found out that due to low occupancy the "normal continental breakfast" served to the Lodge side was actually just not being served, and all guests were to walk to the Cottage side lodge for breakfast. The room was small, crowded, but very nice looking. We were met by a hast who seated us in a small sitting/waiting area while a table freed up and was cleared. We were seated and presented with a "menu" of 7 or 8 services make breakfast choices to be "made" for us. We made selections (French toast for her and eggs Benedict for myself). The order was placed and handed to a short order type cook in the pass through, who quickly prepared our items. The food was delivered fast, and on paper plates. Her French toast and bacon was decent, my eggs Benedict was.. Exactly what I'd expect for "complementry". It was edible, but not very tasty. Prior to leaving we noticed a sign indicating that gratuity wasn't included and greatly appreciated (next to a tip jar). All things considered, if I were to stay here again I would spend the extra money for the nicer rooms "the cottages", or at least a "deluxe" room, as the basic room is just that:...