Shore Cliff Hotel — Hotel in Pismo Beach

Beware of shockingly rude and abusive treatment by a psychopathic, sexist graveyard shift front desk manager (very tall unkempt trollish Penn-Jillette-lookalike named Andrew). We were promised an ocean view; instead got just a pool and other hotel rooms (arrived late at night; turns out there's a tiny glimpse of the ocean if you crane your head far enough). When I returned and said politely we were unhappy with the room, Andrew (certifiable late night front desk guy), who had been extremely unfriendly from the start and had kept with condescending voice calling my wife "dear", inexplicably, without provocation, raised his voice, and said in a bizarre, word-by-word aggressive way: "It. Is. An. Ocean. View." When I respectfully disagreed with him, he kept repeating that, and added: "That's what you paid for. That's what you get. I will not argue semantics with you." I said, calmly, not antagonistically, "That's bull**. We only see other rooms from the window." He kept his voice raised, assumed a belligerent wide-armed stance, and said: "I will not tolerate that kind of language." I asked if there were other rooms; staring me down with beady eyes, he said there were none. When I pointed out that the vacancy sign was lit, he said: "Oh, oh, so now you're calling me a liar?" I was dumbfounded and shocked, already exhausted from having driven for hours late at night. I said, "You're very rude." He then said: "If you say another word, I will evict you." Yes, he said that. He then said, "You're not even a registered guest." (My wife and I both checked in together, but he somehow deemed me illegitimate because my wife had registered the room in her name.) After hearing of this exchange, my wife called the front desk from the abysmal room we had been placed in, to see about getting a refund and finding another hotel, but the psycho Andrew immediately sneeringly called her "dear" again. She said, "Can you please not call me 'dear'?" He blew up at her, and said: "You can leave." We were dumbfounded. We tried to find another hotel room, but it was too late and other available options were few and beyond our budget. We were exhausted and in shock, so we just stayed the night. That night, we tried to call national customer service at Best Western, but were advised to call back in the morning. The next morning, a lethargic national customer service agent told us to talk to the day manager, who wouldn't be able to speak to us for another hour. I waited, and met the manager (Barbara) at the front desk, and explained our experience. She was oddly blank on hearing of our treatment. Rather than express shock or sincere apologies, she was skeptical, and said that she knew the night manager well, and would need to get his side of the story. She did offer a measly compensation, but her response smacked of indifference. Overall: the false advertising "ocean view" room was bad enough; the abusive treatment from the manager was shocking, almost unbelievable. We didn't feel safe staying there after that. The lack of an adequate response to our complaint from the day manager added insult to injury. Needless to say, we will never set foot in this hotel again, let alone any Best Western.

P.S. Notice how Barbara (the day manager) has responded to this review with a classic "non-apology apology", laughable but also insulting. Andrew was without question intentionally rude and disrespectful, so to claim otherwise is dishonest. We were there; Barbara was not, and hence could not presume to know Andrew's intention. Moreover, it's also flatly dishonest to suggest that we were "satisfied" the next day. We did have to stay the second night out of necessity (and for logistical reasons), but let's be clear: it was a horrendous experience. Non-apology apology...

The pros Amazing 2 bedroom suite with 3 beds, a great livingroom 4 bottles of complimentary water, real silverware and dishes. Kurig -(They say they have Seattle's best coffee kcups- no. It's the bed bath and beyond junk so bring your own) 3 sinks, a big fridge/freezer, and best of all- 2 balconies.

One was off the living room and the view was the pool and ocean. The second was accessed thru sliding glass doors in both rooms that showed the whole ocean view- because we weren't on the first floor we left the doors open a bit to listen to the waves all night.

Full length mirror in the hallway, 1 mirror and 1 magnifying mirror outside of bathroom.

The breakfast was basic fair, waffles, fruit, fruit cups...nothing to write home about, but it was ok.

Meandering walking paths interspersed with flowering plants with a gazebo on the Cliffside was beautiful and relaxing.

Another small nice convenience was Ivy, the text messager automated helper- you text her with requests and housekeeping will deliver them.

I have to tell you the restaurant next door, Ventana Grill, was delightful! Pork chop , burritos, and killer fish and chips - so take advantage of it being so close.

The cons. They don't tell you the gym and hot tub are closed down. I wish they would because I would have looked elsewhere to stay- nothing on their website at all about it. Don't tell me you have the amenities then when I show up have them closed off.

Then there is the old bathroom. It's small but was functional so 🤷. The rest of rooms look decently remodeled- just not the small bathroom.

The thin walls! The neighbors were fighting, above us the kids were running and thumping, below us a baby was crying. Thankfully almost all of it was during daylight hours.

Nice mattresses, I slept good, my child didn't, and BFF slept amazing - so it could go either way, but the pillows were abundant and great.

The air/heater - it was those mounted window units that they had in each room- built into the wall- the one in the room with two beds was obnoxiously loud, glad we didn't need heat or air all night.

The price. While I think we got it for a decent amount (670ish plus 100 deposit) the night before was only 300, so I do wish the price was a bit better.

All in all It was nice. It was a massive room with awesome stuff. I will be coming back when hot tub is open, for sure.

The view was great. 100 in my eyes...

We have stayed at this hotel before, when it was a Best Western. It’s nice to see they upgraded the rooms with modern decor, paint, and carpet. The view is spectacular if you upgrade to a partial or full ocean view. The buildings themselves are older with a small slow elevator and outdoor stairs. Our room was a good size but it was tilted from the doorway to the patio. We had a terrific view of the pool and the ocean. The A/C and heater is a loud wall unit but it works. Our pillows were very lumpy and uncomfortable, they need to be replaced. The bed was comfortable and I was thankful for the extra blanket in the closet. The room came with both a small refrigerator and a microwave. The pool is large and there is a good size jacuzzi. There was a $35 resort fee that included free internet and breakfast, (wellbeing and yoga classes, beach chairs, umbrellas, beach toys, e-bikes, lawn games, and discounts non of which we used in a one night stay) but it did not include the parking. Parking was an additional $15/night. You have to scan a card by 10:00 pm to pay for your parking, it would be more convenient if this was included in the resort fee, just up the fee to $50 instead of asking guests to go through the steps to pay for parking. Breakfast was average, nothing spectacular although they did offer tamales which I’ve never seen before. The bacon was wafer thin but the breakfast staff were friendly and very helpful, they worked hard to keep everything filled up. There were a lot of birds, seagulls and pelicans, both on the property and along the shore, hundreds of them. We walked out to the gazebo and they were perched all along the rocks of the cliffs and on the hillside. Several came to the gazebo as we were standing there. There is poop everywhere on the walkways, the cliffs, the cars parked in the parking lot. The birds favor several parking spots and no matter who parks there, they poop all over their car. I know some of that is to be expected at the beach but I’ve never seen it as bad as it was this time. I don’t know if there is something that could be done about that. This hotel has a wonderful view and friendly staff, it is in a good location, but it is not 5 star worthy...