Americas Best Value Inn, Oceanside

This place is not worth the time or money! I was charged $417.00 for four nights 7/24/08 to 7/28/08. When my husband and I arrived with our "small children" we were given a room on the top floor. The room smelled like mildew was dark and unsafe for the baby. being that NONE of the rooms we were in had a chain lock and the children could walk right outside the door in the middle of the night. When we advised the gentlemen at the front desk that we would prefer a first floor due to safety, he charged us and additional $10.00 per night, so now our total came up to $457.00 per night and average of $114.25 per night for this place. We took it and moved to a room n the first floor. We mainly chose this place because they were promoting, wireless Internet, they even have it posted on a sign outside, and my husband had to do some work while we were vacationing. Well the Internet did not work either. So we moved our troops and our bags once again to another room downstairs, third room now. The WIFI only worked here if we had our window open or laptop next to the window, on top of our daughter's luggage bag. We even saw another man who was on his laptop later that weekend stating that he could only get signal by the pool, and it was not even Pacific Inn's signal, it belonged to the Motel 6. The owners, (of this family owned establishment), said that something must be wrong with their signal. But, they still did not refund us any of our money for the major inconvenience. The bathroom was small and the fan did not work, which made the small room extremely hot when all of us took our baths and showers. After coming back from the beach one night, we see the owners, the entire family, yelling at a young couple hat was renting a room there, we are not sure what happened before we got there, maybe they were being a disturbance but they were telling them to get back in their rooms and stay in there. They then proceeded to walk around the property and ask other paying customers if they needed help with anything, because they were hanging out on their balconies, etc., basically telling you to get in your room and stay in there. The breakfast is a joke, it is bottled orange and apple juice and convenient store donuts, but we packed some to go to Legoland and to the beach and at least had a snack for the kids. The parking lot is very dim and we definitely did not feel safe leaving our car there overnight, but there was nothing we could about that. The shampoo, conditioner, lotion had to be requested up front and the ice was sold at 25 cents for a half of an ice bucket full. Th worst mistake I ever made was not listening to all the other reviews about this place. I figure for $114.25 per night I should at least get some good customer service, but every time we went up front for anything the people acted as if we were inconveniencing them, by interrupting their t.v. watching TV and online shopping. The owners all live there too, on the property behind the office. We loved Oceanside though. The people are welcoming. The beach is family friendly and the ambiance is relaxing. We loved Johnny Mananas Mexican restaurant, great burritos and beer at a low price; it is on Mission Avenue right by the beach. 308 Mission Avenue. Legoland was amazing. They have buy one adult get one child free coupons at the Burger King at 1420 Mission Avenue and that saved us $100.00 with the two kids we used the coupons for. Oceanside was amazing and we can't wait to go back......to Oceanside. The hotel was one minute drive to the each, but so are several others right next door. But this MOTEL was a waste of a lot of money. I made the biggest mistake a traveler could ever make, and disregard someone else's review. The next time we go to Oceanside, we will spend more and just rent a condo or cottage by the beach. After all, I was on vacation and felt like I was working the whole time there just to get a little comfort.

Bathroom was dirty at best. Towels were thread-bare. Most days they had an unidentifiable odor. Wireless Internet connection was weak and unreliable. TV/Cable worked but frig did not. No microwave. No clock. No coffee maker. Parking is very limited. It cost 25 cents for a quarter of a bucket of ice out of a machine. Only stay here as a last resort.