We stayed here for two nights during a recent trip to San Fran because we wanted to stay in an economical motel near to Ocean Beach so that we could go surfing and access the city by tram.
Positives
-Tram really convenient. Stops outside the motel front door and gets you downtown in 30minutes.
- Ocean beach area is pleasant with Surfside cafe, interesting residential houses to check out, beach very near by.
- Owner of the motel was helpful and polite at all times. He was willing to get out of bed to sort out a problem we had with our room. Owner offered to move us to room that was not directly above the pub which is situated under a part of this motel. We were not disturbed by any noise.
-Furniture in room could be considered retro. It is not entirely without charm (pink tiled bath suite and wooden sideboard have retro appeal). Unfortunately this furniture is not cared for, polished or made into a feature.
-Good amount of parking spaces.
-Seemed a relatively safe area to stay. Interesting contrast to downtown.
- Hot water and shower fine. Bathroom was acceptable in terms of cleanliness (contrast to dusty and shabby bedroom).
Negatives
- Bed bugs. We have stayed in lots of economy accommodation worldwide but have never been bitten by bed bugs so much before. My partner was bitten all over his face and we both received tell-tale lines of bites on our arms. The added problem of this was that we have now had to scrupulously launder all our clothes and suitcases back home, fearful the bed bugs might have hitched a ride with us. The bed was very old and rickety.
- The 'heater' smelled of gas and consisted of an orange gas flame behind a grill. We asked for this to be switched off fearful of carbon monoxide poisoning.
- The toilet blocked one morning and because we had been asking the owner for help to switch off the gas heater at 12pm the night before we decided to wait until we returned from our daytrip to ask for assistance with the toilet. Hotel staff discovered the blocked toilet over the course of the day and fixed it for us without us needing to request assistance but at the same time took away all our towels and did not replace. Since we were leaving the next morning and had been back and forth to the office for help we decided to use our beach towels the last evening.
- Very dark room with no natural light.
- Carpet very old, worn and dirty (could harbour more bed bugs). Floorboards underneath unsteady and rickety.
This place could be worth the $90 a night we paid if the bed and carpet is replaced and bed bugs eradictated. A deep clean of the room we stayed in was also well over due. Be totally clear in your mind what you are paying for if you choose to stay here, for us the hassle of making sure we don't transport any bed bugs to our home. I don't know anything about fires but the gas heater looked lethal to me, opt for it to be switched off to be safe. The owner does not try and pretend that he is offering anything more than he has in his motel, he let us look at the room first but I would never stay here again after our last two days. I hope that the pleasant owner spends some money upgrading this place because it could be a great motel!
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