Seaside Inn Seaside — Hotel in Seaside

A-Okay - If they let me give half stars, I'd probably give 3.5.

At $50 a night we were satisfied with our stay and would stay again. If it was up closer to their posted rack rate, we'd most likely look elsewhere.

The Good: •The woman working the front desk (probably the owner/manager) was very friendly and personable. It is so nice to encounter somebody at the front desk that actually should be in the hospitality business, it feels rare these days. •Overall, the room, bathroom, and parking lot were clean. •The mini-fridge was new and very spacious, probably the nicest one I've ever seen in a motel. •It was reasonably quiet. (We were on the one story brick building side, I imagine the newer looking two story building is noisier.) •It was spacious (with only one queen bed in the room). •The location was convenient to the freeway, and near fast food and shopping, making it a good road trip stop. •Upon check-in, they gave me the password for the wi-fi. I am so tired of needing to call the front desk after I get to the room because it turns out that I need a password, they did not offer it, it isn't in my paperwork, and it isn't posted anywhere in the room.

The Bad: •They have 17 motel rooms, and only 15 parking spaces, several of them tight - 16 if you count the handicap space, but there is no guaranty that somebody with a handicap sticker will be staying on any particular night. The owner/manager family lives on site, so they probably use at least one parking space for themselves. •They have no Do Not Disturb sign. What? I've never seen this before. This means having to chase the maid away when she starts knocking in the morning. The knocking, and hearing other people trying to discourage the maid too, were definitely the exception to the "reasonable quiet" mentioned in the Good list. •Upon check in they gave me no information about the free continental breakfast listed on their website. In the morning, I could not find it. I asked the maid where it was and she told me "in the office" which it was not, the office was too small for any such thing, but I had already gone to the office to ask, and it was locked. I told the maid, "The office is locked." She smiled and nodded and told me "Yes." •Our non-smoking room and a cigarette butt receptacle just outside it, attached to the wall next to our door, encouraging people to stand right outside our room to smoke. Gross. People who request non-smoking rooms often do not like the smell of smoke, so a smoking area away from their doors would make a lot more sense. •The room smelled very musty. I pretty much expect this in motels in oceanside towns since the higher humidity keeps things from drying out well, but I with their bathroom vent fan worked better (we left it on) and that they had chosen a heater/AC unit that had just a fan setting to help circulate air. Different shower curtains would help too.

Things I don't blame or praise the motel for, but I think are worth noting.

The tap water tasted terrible. I'm assuming this is normal for the area and not the motel's fault, but yuck. It isn't the worst I've ever tasted, but I even wanted bottled water for brushing my teeth.

Somebody was smoking marijuana in one of the non-smoking rooms. Come on people. Smoking is smoking. Please refrain from smoking in...

This was the worst customer service experience I've ever had at a hotel.||||I was in town on a work trip, and basically just needed a place to sleep. I got to the hotel and checked in at 10pm. When I check in, the person that checked me in gave me the key to someone else's room, so I walked in on a family as they were getting ready for bed. Initially, I wasn't upset because mistakes happen and I understand that.||||So they give me a new room, and the moment that I walk into the room, I smell smoke. I get migraines anytime I stay in smoking rooms. I go to the bathroom, and the sink is clogged and doesn't drain. So I call the front desk and ask to switch rooms, and literally the first thing out of the hotel managers mouth is "I can cancel and you can find a new hotel". Absolutely no attempt to fix the issue, the answer for her was to make me leave. It's 10pm, I just spent the entire day working and I just want to get some sleep, not spend it packing up, and searching for a new hotel.||||I find out that there are no other rooms available, which I understand, there's nothing you can do if there's no other rooms available. But I paid for a non smoking room, and what I received was a smoking room with a sink that doesn't drain. I'm such a cheap dude, I would have happily taken a discount and just stayed where I was, but her solution for me was to find another hotel because "she knows she can get this room booked". She said that to me, verbatim. No empathy, no attempt to work on a resolution. So some poor sap would have also booked a room at this hotel, just to find that their room is inundated with smoke and has a non-functioning drain.||||I don't take well to being pushed around like this hotel manager tried to. And I would have had no problem if the hotel manager would have shown some empathy, calmly explained that this was the last room available, and offered some sort of compensation, and AS A LAST RESORT, give me the option to cancel my room if I'm still not satisfied.||||I am one of the least confrontational people alive, and I avoid conflict wherever possible, but to be treated with such disrespect by the manager of the hotel was just unacceptable.||||I'm sure the hotel is fine under normal circumstances, but if there are any issues that ever arise during your stay with them, or if you have to interact with the staff at all, don't expect help. Expect to be treated disrespectfully and as an annoyance. Maybe you can even get lucky enough for the hotel manager to tell you to find...

This was the worst customer service experience I've ever had at a hotel.||||I was in town on a work trip, and basically just needed a place to sleep. I got to the hotel and checked in at 10pm. When I check in, the person that checked me in gave me the key to someone else's room, so I walked in on a family as they were getting ready for bed. Initially, I wasn't upset because mistakes happen and I understand that.||||So they give me a new room, and the moment that I walk into the room, I smell smoke. I get migraines anytime I stay in smoking rooms. I go to the bathroom, and the sink is clogged and doesn't drain. So I call the front desk and ask to switch rooms, and literally the first thing out of the hotel managers mouth is "I can cancel and you can find a new hotel". Absolutely no attempt to fix the issue, the answer for her was to make me leave. It's 10pm, I just spent the entire day working and I just want to get some sleep, not spend it packing up, and searching for a new hotel.||||I find out that there are no other rooms available, which I understand, there's nothing you can do if there's no other rooms available. But I paid for a non smoking room, and what I received was a smoking room with a sink that doesn't drain. I'm such a cheap dude, I would have happily taken a discount and just stayed where I was, but her solution for me was to find another hotel because "she knows she can get this room booked". She said that to me, verbatim. No empathy, no attempt to work on a resolution. So some poor sap would have also booked a room at this hotel, just to find that their room is inundated with smoke and has a non-functioning drain.||||I don't take well to being pushed around like this hotel manager tried to. And I would have had no problem if the hotel manager would have shown some empathy, calmly explained that this was the last room available, and offered some sort of compensation, and AS A LAST RESORT, give me the option to cancel my room if I'm still not satisfied.||||I am one of the least confrontational people alive, and I avoid conflict wherever possible, but to be treated with such disrespect by the manager of the hotel was just unacceptable.||||I'm sure the hotel is fine under normal circumstances, but if there are any issues that ever arise during your stay with them, or if you have to interact with the staff at all, don't expect help. Expect to be treated disrespectfully and as an annoyance. Maybe you can even get lucky enough for the hotel manager to tell you to find...