Rodeway Inn Magic Mountain Area — Hotel in Santa Clarita

cracks knuckles

First of all I do not recommend Booking[dot]com or it's sister companies, you'll see why if you keep reading.

Our criteria for this trip was the hotel had to be cheap, have breakfast, and be close to Six Flags. This hotel was it. We didn't have luxurious hopes by any means. We travel often and usually stay pretty cheap, as we know we are only sleeping and showering at the hotel and out doing activities the rest of the time. We booked 3 nights though Priceline ( which is actually booking[dot]com ). The hotel requires a $60 deposit which we chose to do in cash for easy return.

The good things I can say: It wasn't loud at night which I was worried about. We didn't really encounter any extremely shady or creepy seeming guests during our stay. The staff was as nice as they could be given their circumstances. It's close to Six Flags. The waffles by themselves are yummy. Fake syrup and no milk or beverages. We didn't attempt to use the wifi so I have no opinion on that.

THE BAD: When I first walked into room 200 I thought it didn't look bad. It soon became apparent this was the worst hotel conditions we've been in. I saw the nightstand had something sticky on it, there was hair in the tub, the curtain had not a stain but something dirty spilled on it about the size of a soda can around. There were what looked like bleach stains on the bedding, and there were cigarette holes in the bedding, the pillows were very thin & very lumpy. But we brought some of our own pillows and blankets to use. We brushed it off and chalked it up to a cheap hotel and went to bed. The next morning the toilet clogged which I guess is neither here nor there. It took maintenance and office staff over an hour to obtain a plunger for our room. We went to the park and beaches all day. When we returned to the hotel in the evening my husband said "I just killed a roach in the sink" We kept our cool for the kids, but I knew I needed to see the bathroom. Turned the light on and I am not exaggerating when I say about 20 bugs scattered the floor and they kinda just kept scattering cuz there's so many they couldn't just disappear.... I'm now traumatized, I want to see if there's bugs in the tub. I pull back the curtain and see that the tub is full of dirty water...?? I don't know if this is from our showers that morning many many hours prior or if this has backed up into the bathtub? Regardless, they switch us to the room next door, 201 for the second night.

btw, the upstairs walkway is very lumpy and bumpy and soft feeling. There was a section right at the top of the stairs they had a large piece of wood covering a hole in the ground of the walkway and had caution tape around it. It really added to the roach hotel aesthetic LOL. The ice machine also deposited a bunch of black stuff into my hydroflask with the ice.

We didn't see bugs in the second room. The fridge door rubber was ripped off. The beds were smaller and even more uncomfortable. At this point I am planning to cut our trip short a day to avoid staying here one more night. The next day we go back to the park and we all agree we'd like to drive the 6 hours home instead of staying another night. I let the front desk staff know I was checking out of room 201. He confirmed I had originally checked into room 200. Since we did a cash deposit they gave it right back to me. The gentleman at the front desk did not give me any print out, no receipt, nothing showing I checked out, and I never got an email receipt or anything either. We wanted to get out of there so I figured it would be a no-brainer refund I'd handle later, especially for the 3rd night, which we did NOT stay.

I'll have to add a second review to finish....to be...

Had a confirmed reservation (it was the only hotel with vacancies in the area I needed to be in for work), but still had to wait about half an hour while the guy at the reservation desk called other employees asking if rooms were ready /clean (at 3 in the afternoon).

Finally got a room. The first thing I noticed was the lack of bolt on the door (to a woman staying alone having a bolt on the door is important). The second thing I noticed was that there had once been two bolts, but one had apparently been ripped off, the damage simply painted over, and a second bolt installed above the screw holes of the first bolt, but since removed and never replaced. Then I saw the large stains on the carpet in front of the door. What happened there?

The room was clean as far as I could tell and, as I said, I had to stay in that area for work, so I pulled a heavy chair in front of the door and kept my stun gun on the bedside table. Granted, the Rodeway Inn isn't the Ritz, BUT NO ONE SHOULD NOT HAVE TO DO THIS IN A SUPPOSEDLY LEGITIMATE CHAIN HOTEL.

I stayed at this place out of necessity, but will next time drive the additional 50 miles to stay someplace else. Proximity to a job site isn't worth it.

Also, there was a loud party in a room below me, but I wasn't invited and had to get up at 4:30 a.m., anyway.

*UPDATE: the colleague who was with me on this trip, and who stayed two rooms down from me at this place, came in this morning and told me that she picked up lice while we were there. She didn't have lice before that night but found them after she got home the day we checked out.

Also, having read some of the other reviews on Yelp, my non-smoking room also smelled faintly of cigarette smoke, there were still piles of debris and broken furniture in the parking lot, the abandoned blue car someone posted a photo of was still there but now has male genitalia drawn in the dirt on the rear window; and I've stayed in less expensive, but cleaner and more well-maintained hotels, so "you get what you pay for" is incorrect and just...

Dangerous tourist trap. Drug deals happen in the middle of the day in the parking lot. The staff live on-site. They use their children, furniture, and toys to block parking for their partners' eventual return in the evening while glaring angrily at any new "customers." Card games are a huge favorite at this location, elderly men congregate under the stairs at all hours playing. Once the men come home in the evening is when the card game passion comes out! Tables everywhere they can be fit, and people are suddenly partying, and getting loud, broken glass shattering reminded me to take pictures of our vehicles! I'm unsure if there's gang affiliation, but groups with 6-12 men took over the parking lot, blocking access in or out. With tons of people hanging in the wings, hanging around all the first story rooms, which seemed to only belong to the staff. Clothes hanging out to dry are the main decor here. The second story seems mostly unused, and where they put overnight customers. The walkway is scary, cheap looking plywood floors, and the stairway is clearly hazardous, I'm wondering if they ripped off the caution tape when we made the reservation (see pics!). The pool had stuff in it, dirty and definitely not well kept. The room itself wasn't too shabby. Besides the wooden floor being a bit grimy, the room seemed clean. The TV and A.C. worked. The A.C. button was stuck on heat settings, but we finally got cold air. The beds themselves were two fulls, fairly firm with firm pillows. Only two toilet paper rolls are provided, and the bathtub has no way to clog it up for an actual bath. It states there's an ice machine, and I was way too uncomfortable to go looking for it. Upon leaving, there's a waffle station in the lobby, which is the only attractive part of this facility. They offer juice and coffee , as well as the means to make your own waffles. I also noticed upon leaving that there's weird stains in the parking lot, a broke down van with trash piling around it. This was a series of...