Embassy Suites Mandalay Beach - Hotel & Resort, Oxnard

My best analogy of this "Resort" is this: You see what looks to be a beautiful woman - you get closer and get a good look and realize that she has the trappings of good looks but is very unattractive close up. This is Embassy Suites Mandalay Beach to a "T". The lobby has been extenstively renovated and the pool area has also been renovated. Both are pluses - also right on the beach - another plus. THEN you get into your room (we stayed in the King Suite - ocean front for $300 per night) and you realize that all is not well at this "resort". The walls are paper thin - you can hear EVERYTHING (which was really a bummer when the people next door had a party until 1:30 am and our calls to the manager were met with voice mail). There was water dripping from the vent - it was freezing in our room - we called maintenance and a guy showed up, explained he had to climb into the vent to activate the "heat" and opened up the ceiling to reveal a rusted out system. He explained that the system is very old and so he had to manually turn on the heat and he was not even sure it would work (luckily it did)! I kid you not! The bathrooms are redone in marbel - nice - but you have to overlook the cheap furniture and carpeting and the lime green chipped interior paint. Bottom line: the rooms are old, ugly, and cheap. Let me next address the quality of people who stay at this resort. This can be a cheap place to be by the beach (if you get the garden view rooms). So you get cheap kinda people here. Let's see - in the jacuzzi with my 5 year old son there was a very drunk man who could barely stand, a tatooed man talking about his eight years in prison for a bar fight, and gaggle of unsupervised children fighting with the water. Oh yes, there was also a family reunion of very quality folk who were rolling around the "resort" drunk and rude. PLEASE - do yourself a favor - DO NOT STAY HERE...the place is seedy, run down, and very badly managed. I could not even find a manager to complain to - I had to speek with a clerk. Where was the manager? No one knew. I have no idea why this place has other good review. I read them before I stayed here and felt reassured - what a huge mistake. I don't know you but I want to save you from this place. DO NOT STAY HERE!!!!!

The location of the hotel is awesome. That's pretty much the only thing that is nice about this hotel...but yet again it has nothing to do with the hotel. The personnel and the way they are managed seems to be the biggest problem. I will just summarize some of my impressions since I don't feel like writing an essay about it: 1. Restaurant food = awful. It's absolutely tasteless. The waiters and waitresses just don't care about the customers. You'll consider yourself lucky if you get a refill once and if the wait for your food is less than 1 hr after you ordered. 2. Room service = a joke. More than 1 hr wait for....A SALAD. 3. Front desk personnel = rude and awful. Hopefully you won't need anything extra. They are completely USELESS. I guess it's an Oxnard thing (I've noticed this in several other establishements in Oxnard) or a poor management thing. "Customers Are the Reason We Exist" does not register with the employees and managers at this hotel. I would choose another hotel unless you want to overpay for a hotel stay that is an example of mediocrity and third world management.

What a wonderful place to stay! I cant wait to go back! The service is friendly, rooms are big, two bathrooms to a suite, two TV's, a gorgeous swimming pool, and awesome free breakfast. The beach was BEAUTIFUL, and so close!!! I miss it already.

Hotel is dirty and smells musty. The AC in our room dripped and soaked the carpet while our twin one and a half year olds ran through it. Wendy, the Manager could care less about our complaints and there were were many. We were a group of 17 for my parents 40th anniv. Pool food had spoiled mayo, Dinner service was terrible (husband had to go to bar himslef for drinks and we were in the private wine room!), rooms not ready for half of us at 4pm and then we were double booked, and we overheard others complaining at the front desk. Emailed corporate about this and 3 weeks later- no response. Terrible chain- never again especially for the price.

The Oxnard area in itself is just one of the best places to visit -- and the fact that this hotel is right on the beach went a long way in cementing my love for the experience. My husband and I travelled with our three kids during the summer of 2006 and had a blast. The breakfast buffet was a great time and money saver. It made the cost of the hotel (which I think was pretty reasonable for what you get) much more of a great value. The rooms were a tad dark and seemed old, however it was a small concession considering the location. The on-site restaurants were very nice and served great meals (Pricey, though). I liked the pool area -- great tropical feel. One drawback was that some of the guests would stake out poolside chairs and just leave their stuff there all day. Hopefully the staff has begun to crack down on the chair-hogs. All in all, I had a great experience. I washed clothes in their laundry facility, my husband and I walked through-out the complex after putting our kids (aged 8, 10, 12) to bed. It was quite a pleasant few days.

Morning walks on the beach, breathtaking sunsets from our room, delicious breakfast to start our day, and gourmet lunches and dinners in the dining room, the happy hour every afternoon was a nice bonus too.....My husband and I spent 8 relaxing days at the Mandalay. We celebrated our 39th wedding anniversary in comfort and luxury.....and I wish we would have stayed another week....Our suite was exceptionally nice, updated, super clean, it had everything we could possibly want. The staff was very accommodating, and I would recommend the Mandalay to families too. I hope we will be able to return next year on our 40th anniversary. From now on I will stay in Embassy Suites whenever possible, their standard is higher than most large chain hotels.....

a/c didn't work. the hotel grounds where dirty and poor. the hotel had signs. the sand dunes near the hotel are bad. bathroom countertop was broken. the elevator was dirty too.

We went with our kids,& 5 grandkids & took two rooms for 5 days midweek. We took the expensive 2 bedroom suite. Location was wonderful, close to pool and beach. Breakfast and happy hour was a great bonus, and they didnt charge for parking. Negative: A horrid smell from our shower drain, that they were aware of. Smelled like sewer in our room, drifting to the entire suite. Twice they poured enzymes down the drain, a temp/fix. The ice machine for the breakfast buffet was outside against our bedroom wall, behind our bed. Every am at 4:30 and 5:30 workers scooped out ice, waking us. It needs to be moved, it was so loud. Rooms are spacious, but need upgrades for the price you pay (over 500 a night)Doors on the tv cabinet were broken and hanging, the Jacuzzi in the master bath didnt work (we were looking forward to it!)Staff in housekeeping were great, restaurant hostess was snooty. I would come back, because of the location, but not pay so much for the suite, its not worth it unless you split with someone. Way over priced for what you get. Old carpet, mis-matched furnishings and drapes, dirty patios. The one bedroom suite my kids had was nicer! Its a long walk to the beach water line, hard to drag kids, chairs, ice chest etc. A path would be nice, easier on us boomers! Mid week doesnt have the bars outside open for refreshments, but weekends looked very crowded. Laundry room only had 2 washers and dryers, tough for all the families with kids to wash towels and clothes, many arguments seen in the laundry room! Bring your own detergent, its 1.50 for 1 load of soap, 1.50 to wash, 1.50 to dry. Overall it was fun, a good getaway, just over priced for what you get.

We checked in yesterday hoping the ocean front room would be above the bad reviews in TripAdvisor. Not so. First the a/c didn't work and we are in to our second day with little sleep. since there is no cross ventilation the rooms are like little ovens. The occupants in Room 3110 were up until 3am drinking beer, smoking pot, shouting and carousing. Complaints were to no avail. As related in another review I read the rooms are repainted but not renovated and the colors are bizarre. This is true. It is eyewash renovation and very supeficial. Supposedly a tropical theme but they are all oddly clashing strange pastels that don't look a bit like any of the tropical themes we have seen in our travels. None of the furniture etc or bathroom decor matches. The hallways are similar odd shadings that don't match the tile floors. Woke up early after 2-3 hours of sleep and wandered the grounds.The gated restaurant is actually chained shut with a padlock. No coffee in the lobby comp or for sale. Outdated and tacky furniture line the lobby walls. Very little staff on site for such a large facility. The ground are poorly maintained and dirty. Signs are rusted and corroded. Beach side facilities require constant maintenance and that is the price of doing business. This place only gets a wipe down occasionally it appears. The actual beach (unlike the promotional photos) is 100 yards west of the hotel through a series of sand dunes that are also dirty and unkempt. None of the raking and cleaning you see further south on the beaches. This was to be a special getaway for my wife's enjoyment after graduating from a master's program. A romantic time that will probably end tonight in our moving to a decent Motel 6 for the last night of our 4 day excursion. We will lose money I am sure on the ocean front suite (the most expensive), but travel for pleasure kinda suggests finding nice places to stay. The Embassy Suites should send an ambassador to the Pepper Tree Inn in Santa Barbara to see how to do it right. This place is horrid. Avoid it at all cost.

We are a family that usually stays at Residence Inns, but this hotel was booked based upon its proximity to our relatives and the beach location...there were good and bad points as follows: Good: We were in a top floor suite...The room was spacious and full of amenities...the first floor grounds are very nice (waterfalls and landscaping)..it was also a good value for the room size..towels at the pool were plentiful..the food quality at the breakfast buffet was good Bad: There were problems with the heating/air conditioning in our room throughout the stay...the room location was right over the garbage dump, which was not pleasant..and for some reason, you cannot serve yourself at the hot buffet (the server seemed annoyed when I asked for more than two very small strips of bacon)....as to the location, I am not sure why the city of Oxnard times its traffic lights so you have to stop at every one, which is annoying considering the location of this hotel..finally, for some reason, you have to pay $10 a night for parking