Bad experience; do not stay here! I was really looking forward to bringing my 88-year-old mom, visiting from Tucson, to Ventura for a few nights. I thought it would be a nice break from the hot summer temps. I joined the IHG membership, booked a 2 queen bed oceanview room, with breakfast, and requested a quiet room as close to the ocean as possible. I received a text the day of arrival from a manager if I had any questions, and I asked if we got there a little early, could we check in? Sure, they said, some rooms were already available. I thought we were off to a wonderful stay.
Unfortunately, I think we would have done better booking a VRBO or Airbnb. I'm so embarrassed I brought my mom here, and I am canceling my IHG membership as soon as I get home. I cannot recommend this hotel to fellow travelers. I was expecting a much better experience from a hotel that cost over $300/night. Here's the breakdown:
Positives
[ ] Nice, clean, comfortable room, looks newly painted, lots of plugs in room, had a mini fridge and microwave, enough hangers/closet space, 2 drawers, office chair/desk, and an arm chair.
[ ] I paid for breakfast with the room, and the vouchers were good at the onsite Moofish Cafe. It had inside and outside seating. The food was good, the coffee great, and the service was excellent, by Isidro & Sara, our friendly, competent servers.
[ ] Location to the beach is good. It's nice to walk along the ocean and the pier is close by.
Negatives (sorry; there are many)
[ ] The hotel could use some sprucing up and a new paint color on outside. It is dated and tired-looking
[ ] I did not know the Ventura Fair was close by, so tons of traffic...a nightmare getting anywhere near the hotel, especially upon arrival into Ventura on Sunday. Yes, I know this is not the fault of the hotel, but it added to the whole negative experience.
[ ] The carpet in the hallway on our floor (7th) near the elevator was filthy and stained
[ ] Checkin staff forgot to give me the breakfast vouchers; I asked where breakfast was before going up to our room after dinner on the first night, and she asked me, "I did not give them to you?!" I was a little offended; why would I lie about this? I showed her my 2 keys in the little packet and told her that was all she had given me. She eventually apologized for forgetting and wrote out 2 vouchers for us.
[ ] Bathroom was very small: There is 1 hook and not enough space for 2 hand towels, regular towels and to put out toiletries for 2 people...there was a faucet leaking all over our stuff so we just took our toiletries in and out when necessary. There is 1 grab bar in the shower but none where you get out...be careful. There is no handheld shower hose.
[ ] I told the front desk about the leaky faucet and they sent someone right away to fix it. He was there twice in half an hour and said it was fixed. Unfortunately, it still leaked.
[ ] One of the drawers didn't stay closed that was under the microwave.
[ ] A/C water dripped from above room onto our balcony in 2 spots....not that you can enjoy the balcony because it's too loud
[ ] I did NOT get the oceanview room I booked or requested. I feel like I was lied to, frankly. We got a room as far from the beach as possible, 2nd to last room closest to the 101 freeway, an intersection, an onramp, AND train tracks. The room we had (Room 725) should be marketed as a partial/obstructed oceanview. The balcony overlooked a parking lot (see pics) if you looked straight ahead, and you basically had to lean out on the balcony to see the ocean to the right. It was unbelievably loud. I wanted to sit and relax on the balcony; this was impossible with the traffic noise and train. You cannot hear the ocean at all. I live in Los Angeles and I swear, it is much quieter there. It was hard to sleep at this hotel with the outside noise at night; the sliding door must be single-paned. Oh, and in the first 24 hours, a train passed by at least 8 times, blowing their whistle/horn every single time! It may have been more, because we were not in our room all the time, of course.
[ ] The biggest issue: I have traveled extensively in the last 30+ years, domestically and internationally, and I think I have only complained twice to the front desk about a room; this was the 3rd time. On the first morning I went to the front desk to tell 2 staff members that the room was very loud even though I requested a quiet, oceanview room for me and my mother. The 2 women just stared at me, then one woman said, "She'll deal with you; I need to help the man behind you." He was just walking up to the desk. Hmmmm. I paused, got no response about the room, no "I'm sorry", no offer to change rooms or offer to call a manager....so, I said, "I guess we'll just deal with it for the 2nd night!", and told her about the leaky faucet. Wow, that is such bad customer service! This is not the way to treat customers. I felt unimportant and ignored, which gave me a very bad impression of the place.
Note: I got a text from a manager the first day to see how the stay was; I was asked for a rating. I rated the hotel 4/10 and explained why. A few hours later, I got a response from them, apologizing, saying higher floors were already booked because it was Sunday and was there anything they could do for us? It was too late, as we were checking out the next day and I basically said the way my complaint was handled at the front desk was not right. I was offered more IHG points, which I do not want as I will not be staying at an IHG property again. I did appreciate the contact from the manager; it seems they are trying to improve but they have a long way to go.