Candlewood Suites Santa Maria by IHG — Hotel in Santa Maria

I rented 2 rooms during our stay in Santa Maria, CA, my hometown. The room my son & his family stayed in, room 208, reeked of urine. After we checked in to our rooms we left to visit family. Upon return there was vomit all over the door, door jam and down the hall. We couldn't even enter the room. I had the whole family stay in my room while I reported the mess to the desk clerk. No one else was available so she had to leave the desk to clean it up. Once it was cleaned up we opened the door to vomit on the threshold and a foul odor of urine, which we still could not enter the room. The hotel was booked and was told one guest still had not checked in and it might be possible to move to that room, which is on the 4th floor. After my son & his family settled in they received a call and was offered the room on the 4th floor. They declined. It was late and the 2 small children were asleep. They slept with the bedroom door closed & window opened all night. In the morning the cleaning staff cleaned the carpet. By the afternoon the source of the odor was discovered by my son & daughter-in-law. The hotel allows animals in the rooms and there were stains under the large chair and sofa bed. We reported the source but it was not looked into. The morning we checked out I asked the desk clerk if he was told about the odor stains and he said he had not so I explained to him about the stains under the furniture. No one seemed too concerned. Another issue I had with Candlewood was the fact that they do not offer housekeeping on a daily basis. Housekeeping is offered once a week. If you need new towels or linen you have to collect the dirty towels & linen and exchange for clean at the counter. No one empties the garbage either! We will NOT use Candlewood Suites...

Called twice ahead of our arrival to let the front desk know we would be arriving after midnight. ‘No problem’ was the reply both times, the 2nd while en route with an ETA of 12:30am from our GPS. When we arrived at 12:30am, the lobby entry required a key card. I tried calling the front desk, the number I used twice before, and could hear the phone on the other side of the door ringing. It kept ringing. There was a phone outside the lobby with a sign stating: Dial “0” in case of an emergency. I dialed “0” and the same phone started ringing. Still no one. A guest let me into the lobby and I noticed a sign saying ‘after 11pm, dial “0” from the desk phone’. AGAIN, the same front desk phone rang, now right in front of me. Frustrated, I started looking through emails and at my IHG credit card to see if there was a customer service number that could help me. While doing this, Dee emerged from what she later explained was the laundry room. She had been doing laundry and didn’t hear the multiple times the front desk phone had rung. It was about 15 minutes since I had arrived, she got me checked in, noting there was, indeed, a note on my reservation stating I was on the way and arriving at 12:30am. Soooo….the whole me stressing about arrival and check in could’ve been avoided.

A few days later on this road trip, we were checking in late at a Holiday Inn Express in Jackson, CA. I was relieved to see the late check in would not be an issue this time. I told the awesome desk clerk, Rachel, about the Santa Maria incident and she shared with me that she has a wireless doorbell she leaves for guests when she has to go back to laundry. Brilliant! Perhaps Candlewood Santa Maria could invest in the same low tech, yet...

We are a Diamond member of the IHG group with 840,544 points, a year had 52 weeks and I spend between 42 to 44 weeks in different hotels around the USA due to my work, I am a diamond member in other hotel groups, airlines, etc. I have never had a bad experience in any hotel, except at the Candlewood in Santa María, CA where to access the laundry area you cannot do it with the same key that you used to use to enter to your room, you must go to the front desk where unfortunately I was attended by a person lacking in education, without the minimum skills necessary to work with the public, offering me a totally mediocre service, who informed me that I had to sign up for a schedule to see "when I could" use the hotel laundry, as I said before I am here working not playing or enjoying the sights and the only opportunity I have to do laundry is at night, I was upset for not being able to use the laundry, I informed Mrs. D that I was leaving the hotel and she wished me "luck" because in other hotels I had to pay to do laundry and there it was free, I didn't go to ask for anything for free, fortunately I can pay for the services I need it, what is intolerant is that Mrs D celebrated by dancing and singing while I we are doing the checkout, that's what I thought a mockery and a lack of respect, I finally felt very sorry for her, I understood that the person responsible for situations like these is the general manager Mr. Carlos Morales who seeks people below the standard to perform positions for which they are not prepared, perhaps through Ms. D lacked a good training in learning that the customer always deserves respect and should be treated the way she wants to be...