Caravelle Inn & Suites W&E — Hotel in San Jose

I have stayed at this property this past year over 17+ visits. I host a shelter challenged family in the area and drive down from San Francisco bi-monthly to check in to make sure everything is good and they have daily essentials as needed. This property allows me to financially stay in San Jose when I’m exhausted and can’t drive back to San Francisco. It is not the nicest but it’s somewhat clean if your standards are of a street nomad and depends on the location where the front desk places you really depends on your the experience you will have. The closer to the office the nicer the room. The farther from you will get filthy stained walls and broken furniture and musky smells. If you ever check the website I would like to know when those photos were taken perhaps circa 2010? This Motel sells out every night as it being probably the cheapest in all of San Jose you can find rates at $42 per night on different travel sites and depends on what’s going on in San Jose. The name Caravell Inn and Suites is misleading as I’ve been in numerous rooms I’m trying to understand the name Suites how that comes into play probably false advertisement. I have never seen a suite as a room offering but maybe it’s those seedy rooms to the back of the motel where the pool once was before it was cover with cement and a few potted plants were placed to make it appear that it’s a garden. I understand the demographic this cost attracts and I understand the changes in deposits but I have read about the deposits being a scam and for years I’ve never had a problem as I respect properties and treat them like my own even cleaning and folding linens and stripping the beds and gathering the trash for housekeeping. The front desk is always hospitable and friendly and professional if you are checked in by one of the female clerks if you get the male clerk rude, aggressive and short fused is what you will get like the other reviews write about. Through the years the deposit on a stay has altered in many ways. Before if you checked in with a credit card they charged one dollar to make sure the card was valid and that was it folio closed if all was in order at checkout. It then went to a hundred dollars this probably hurt their normal guest demographic in my opinion so they lowered the deposit to sixty dollars. Understandable as if you stay at this property you’ll understand why and the demographic. So the shelter challenged hanging around the outside and in my opinion prostitution happening on the sidewalk on the side street you take a guess what’s happening. Now I have stayed here because the nature of my visits to San Jose and being financially conscious it’s always been a quick sleep shower and on my way of course with a oversized bottle of disinfectant and bed bug begone spray. I’ve NEVER have had problems until my last stay. I always thought someone like me who is consistent, respectful and responsible that I would always be treated the same way my stay record was proof and I thought owners valued guests like me as I do them. I digress. This last stay I noticed my deposit was not returned I called, nobody ever answers the phone and trying to find the proper phone number is like a treasure hunt. Because nobody ever answers the phone I tried for several days. I ended up stopping by the property (as if that wasn’t an inconvenience) and spoke to one of the front desk managers. He was professional and personable for once in all of my past interactions and pulled the record of my last visit. He said that house keeping had reported that I damaged linens. I owned that I had spilled Gatorade and used a towel to clean the mess up. I was willing to pay for a towel or two as that would be my responsibility but $60 was steep for towels (that are the quality and thread count of Swiss cheese) He gave me the email of the owner and told me I would have to discuss it with the owner. I have attached actual pictures of the room before and after I left and the emails with follow up sent to the owner with not one reply back. I always take before and after pictures just to protect myself from this exact thing from happening. So you can make your own judgement if this place is a scam or not! I was hoping it was a mistake. Or do they turn and burn the property so quickly and sell out daily that he doesn’t care because he’s laughing all of the way to the bank. It’s interesting a business like this can take your deposit and not have to answer for the charges they deem as damage. Well in the industry of hospitality this behavior should not be rewarded but I understand times are hard and owning a property isn’t easy but not to care says a lot as you should care so make your own judgement on what type of place he’s running and yes I know it’s a he because I have met him and was introduced to him on an earlier transaction when I booked a stay and their was no electricity or hot water he was on property and it’s rumored he lives in the...

The worst experience of an ordinary hotel! I booked the room for a total of 4days. Dropping my daughter off for college so I wanted to keep it simple plus the rates were descent. Remember that we get what we pay for $$. The first night which was Saturday 9July check in was fine, a bit of an older hotel but remember you get what you pay for. While attempting to go to sleep all I kept hearing the sound of someone walking above our room on the upper level. It was that sound of being at your grandparents house and because the house is very old, every sound is like the whole house is talking to you krickicty krickicty!! I was forced to put my earplugs in for the night. I woke up and called the front desk where I got who seemed to be a really cool kid by the name of Domonic. I requested to have my room changed to the upper level so I wouldn't feel the pain of the noise, but not to my surprise he said that there was nothing and he'd call me later. Well safe to say I never heard from him at all that day. My husband booked me another hotel for duration of my trip and when I went to check out only after 1 night I was told that I would be charged for a 2nd night because I didn't give a 24hr notice. So I spoke with a man who appeared to be Dominics supervisor and we agreed that I will be checking out the next day and hearby given 24hr notice. Not to mention when I got back to the hotel on the 2nd evening housekeeping had cleaned everything but had forgotten to clean the bathtub out, which I had to do myself!! So on checkout day I was in the shower @11ish trying to be out by 12 to get to the airport, when I got out of the shower it was 1131am and Dominic was knocking at my door. With my towel wrapped around me and all I opened the window and he said loudly it's check out time. I told him that I thought it was at noon, but nonetheless I've never had the front desk personnel come to my door. Not to mention on my cell there was a missed call from the hotel @1128 unfreakingbelievable!!!! When I went to check out I apologized for the mix up with the time, got my card ready for the announcement of the bill, when Dominic printed out my receipt without announcing the charges or asking would I like to put ot on another card. Well I guess by then I should not have been surprised, but not to fast. When I saw the receipt I was charged for a 3rd night when I only stayed 2 nights. The same supervisor came out from the back when he heard Dominic and I going on about the bill. Though he NEVER apologized for the actions he agreed that I was indeed charged for a 3rd night when I wasn't supposed to. So my cool calm colective blue haired Dominic turned out not to be so cool once I challenged him about the 3rd night charge. He actually got a tad bit hostile. The whole experience was horrible. So if your in SJC just spend a bit more and stay right up the street at 1350 n 1st street at the Holiday Inn, it's much nicer and just...

This was literally the worst, most TERRIBLE "Inn" I've been to in my entire life. The first clue should have been when they handed me a huge, actual key that fit in the entire palm of my hand . Entering the room was a shock as the furniture was dingy and OLD and creeky. 1980's T.V didn't work. Noisy (people yelling and grunting from outside. ||||Not even kidding you guys...this room was SKETCH. I was flying out early the next morning so I convinced myself I just needed a spot to land my head for the night. The bed...omg..the bed...and the pillows..GOOD.GOD.NO. As I tried to fall asleep, I was startled out of bed (11:15pm) by a homeless man POUNDING on my door and screaming to let him in so that he could shower. I'm not even kidding right now. I thought there were two men because when I shouted, "wrong room" there was a "conversation" that sounded like two men. Now, the door is so old and thin, you can see the light from the outside through its perimeter and feel a breeze. The window, paper thin. |||| I was TERRIFIED as it was only me and my daughter. I scrambled to find the phone, which was from 1980 (NO LIE)..there was no option to call the front desk. It felt like a dream where you're trying to get somewhere but cant move. The pounding and screaming continued and my daughter and I were TERRIFIED. I had to google the number to the hotel and call directly to the front desk. No answer. I had to resort to calling 911 to report two men outside my door. My daughter looked out of the peep hole and saw only one man who was talking to himself. Dispatch asked me a few questions and got off the phone with me. The man stayed for about 15 more minutes just talking to himself and trying to talk to who he believed was on my side of the room. He finally walked away. I'm not sure if they police ever even came, as they didn't knock on my door or call me. ||||DO NOT STAY HERE!!! BAD VIBES ALL THE...