Mariners Inn at the Beach, Cambria

A friend of mine told me that on a recent trip returning from Monterey to LA he and his girlfriend decided to stay one night at this hotel. He called the day before (less than 24 hours before arrival) and booked a room. On the drive down he got a call that his elderly mother had become seriously ill. When he reached Cambria, he stopped at the hotel to explain to the front desk that he would not be staying the night. The girl at the front desk told him that she would have to charge him for the night's stay since they had a four day cancellation policy. [This policy was not told to him when he made his reservation.] He explained that he made the reservation the day before, so he didn't have four days to cancel. Then she told him that she would have to charge him at least $25 because they had a 24 hour cancellation policy (so which is it, 4 days or 24 hours?) He explained that he had made the reservation less than 24 hours earlier, so he could not have cancelled it within that time period. Besides, this was an emergency and he really had to get going. Finally, the girl at the front desk agreed not to charge him, however, when his credit card bill came in, he had been charged over $100 for the full night's stay. When he called the hotel and spoke with the manager, the manager said that he knew about his story and didn't care. That my friend was mistaken if he thought he wasn't going to get charged, because that is the hotel's policy. Naturally, my friend is pursuing this with his credit card company and if that fails, will be suing the hotel. Save yourself the aggravation of staying at such a nasty place. there are much nicer hotels in Cambria, with much nicer staff's. Try the Cambria Pines Lodge. They are wonderful there and the hotel is beautiful.