Howard Johnson Express Inn Stockton, Stockton

This is an older classic downtown hotel that has been modernized for the current day traveler. I didn't have the bad experience that some people seem to have had. I travel very frequently and I also stayed only for a short while and during the off season so I didn't avail myself of many of the property amenities that were available.It is easy to get to location and the parking is free. (This is a huge money saver in downtown!). When I stayed, there was plenty of parking. There are a great deal of things to do within walking distance. The river is about half blocks away and full of interesting places to see, to play. The room is very clean, very comfortable. The room I checked in (#301) has brand-new furniture, bed, linens on the bed were comfortable and the best itself was above average. It's not a "Heavenly Bed" but more like the bed in the guest room of a friend's home. In-room coffee, satellite brand-new TV with a lot of channels, and a clock radio rounded out the in-room amenities. In-room safe also available. Tastefully decorated with a warm, comfortable, friendly feel. There is pool, as well, there is fitness room (called “In Shape” ) 300 feet away. If you like swimming and gym, this is the place to go, especially, summer time. Unfortunately, I don’t swim. Every encounter that I had with hotel staff was pleasant, there was absolutely nothing wrong at all at any point in my stay, and I would return to this property.

Can't believe that the Howard Johnson name is associated with this property. We have stayed at several "HoJo's" in the past and really enjoyed them, this was the one exception that made our family rethink staying at another Howard Johnson property. We weren't expecting anything fancy since we really only needed a place to lay our heads- we were afraid to even do that here. When we arrived we noticed that the downtown Stockton area was actually fairly clean for a "big city", we got to the location at 6pm on a Thursday night, too late to cancel per our on-line reservation agreement, all restaurants in the area were closed. The property- the exterior is old and needs to pressure washed, that would take care of most of the visual appeal from the outside. An abandoned red car must have been there for at least a week. The hotel signage boasts "renovated rooms", we were NOT in one of them. After check out we joked about that since it technically would not be false advertisement if they did have only 2 renovated rooms! There was a man "dumpster diving". When we arrived on our 2nd floor corridor we found 2 dirty/stained towels just outside our doorway. The elevator wreaked of urine! The room- at first glance, visually would have been acceptable just old. BUT it didn't just "smell", it wreaked of smoke & cigarettes. A closer look- the a/c was falling apart, the temperature only functioned at one temperature, COLD! Glad there wasn't a fire because we didn't even have a working smoke/fire alarm! There was a dead moth & dirt/dust in the bathroom, and years of dirt buildup in the corners of the room and sink area. Basically housekeeping is paid to walk in and walk out of the room. The bed sheets seemed to be clean BUT were stained. The sink area smelled like a mens urinal, we hoped that someone had not relieved themselves and hoped that it was just the smell of pine-sol, wishful thinking? The light fixtures had junk in them that could easily have been cleaned out. There was no remote control for the TV. The bathtub was badly stained and tub grips were peeling away. One of our neighbors was extremely loud yelling and banging doors/dresser drawers. The a/c drowned out most of the other noise except the occassional loud motor and booming bass & music at 2 in the morning! Did we feel comfortable? NO- we slept with the lights on and one eye open, hoping the rental car would still be there in the morning. We included some of the pics, sorry but we didn't feel that fixing the beds would have enhanced the picture for you. The staff- the only good experience was at check out, the girl that worked on Friday morning was very pleasant and apologetic when I asked about breakfast. She explained that the "guy" who gets there breakfast items did not return from his scheduled vacation so their menu was limited. I only saw bulk cereal, did not even see any milk- we chose NOT to have breakfast here after the night we had. ALSO those 2 towels I mentioned outside our door- we now believe they belonged to our room. I called to the front desk, figured I'd be able to walk down and get 2 more towels. We had four people and only two towels upon arrival. The girl at the front desk(April) answered, I asked for 2 more towels and she asked me what room we were in. I said room #223, and she said, "umm...oh, we don't have any more towels available". I was of course shocked and perturbed, explained that to the family-- toughed it out and used the HAND TOWELS as bath towels for two of us! Internet, they say they have it but we were not able to get access and again the front desk was of no assistance. Advice-- if you stay here make sure you're getting a newly renovated room and don't expect ANY SERVICE. And of course definitely request not to be in room 223. BETTER advice do NOT stay here. Again if we could give a NEGATIVE 5 stars

We have stayed at the Howard Johnson Stockton numerous times as we have family in the area. They improved a lot recently since new management was there. The rooms are very clean and quiet with comfortable beds. The staff is particularly helpful and courteous. The breakfast is adequate, and we have seen the breakfast staff be extremely accomodating to guests arriving as the food is being put away. We haven't used the pool but it is a good sized one. Really nothing but good things to say about this hotel, we will definitely be staying there again!

The day we arrived it was 107 degrees. The air conditioner was ice cold, worked great. Our room was clean and pleasant. But the best thing was the gracious, friendly, helpful couple at the front desk. Across the street resturants and movies and water way. Would definately stay there again! Sparkling pool too.

oh my gaw!! the people were amazing the hotel was excellent i will stay again.I will drive up to stockton just to stay at this place!!

Terrible one night stay experience. The following morning, found out my conversion van was broken into by shattering the driver side wing wind little swivel window and opening the door that way. Reported the crime and theft to police and they said another van like mine met the same fate in the past while also parking overnite.

We have in the past stayed at a Howard Johnson numerous times. This time we had gone to drop off our son at college in Stockton, CA. All the hotels were fully booked and we felt fortunate to find a room at Howard Johnson. I was quite pleased with the booking because in the past we have had a positive experience. So it really came as a surprise and a shock when I discovered that the towels that I was supposed to use were old, stained and dirty. They were fit enough to clean the counters with but not a human body. My son who walked around the room with bare feet had his soles turn dark with dirt. The "Free Continental Breakfast" was nothing but nonsense. Everything that was stale and over ripe bananas were featured every morning. I respect American business ideals that you should treat others as you would like others to treat you. Treat your customers like a family so that they would keep coming back. What a business managemnet would not like to use or eat itself the management should not give to its customers.For the first time I felt I was treated as a lesser humanbeing, like an animal to be fed on what was the worst. I saw that my only function was to provide this management with money. I feel very dissatisfied, disappointed and cheated by this experience. We stayed for five days and the service was consistently the same despite our complaints.

I liked the fact it was in Downtown Stockton and that they had a continental breakfast. I disliked the fact that the rug in our rooms were dirty. My kids would put on a new pair of socks and walk around in the room and the bottom of their socks were really dirty (from walking around in our room). I think that they should also watch who utilizes their pool besides their guests that paid to stay there. They should also be aware of the kind of people that they sell rooms to.