Tell me more about the kids suites at HoJo

[soaringirl]

I've been reading reviews at trip advisor, and even though in overall it's a very good rated hotel, it seems a lot of people is complaining about how old the rooms are, and how noisy when facing the highway.
Can someone who's been there tell me if the kids suite also has that old feeling, or is it a renovated room?
Also, I've read that HoJo is doing some soundproufing to those rooms, how's the noise?
Thanks!

 

[BayAreaMom]

We have stayed there twice- early Nov (before soundproofing) and late Jan (post-proofing).

The rooms are definately renovated. The bathrooms aren't- they are smaller and cramped but you get two so that's nice.

The newly added soundproofing is a HUGE improvement! It makes a big difference.

 

[jham]

I believe all the kids' suites are fairly new. They have been installing additional sound proofing in the kids' suites as well. I'm not sure if it has been completed in all of them or not but I would highly recommend Hojos. We just had to downgrade our ressie from the kids' suite to a less expensive room but we are just glad we didn't have to change hotels.

 

[Midnightred]

We stayed in one of the HOJO's kid suites last July, and we all agreed, it's one of the best rooms we have ever stayed in anywhere. The only problem we had in the parent's room was that the sink drained a little slowly, not a big deal. We were on the first floor and heard no noise from the freeway. The rooms were very fresh and clean, no age whatsoever. The closets were super big, and the kids loved the stackable furniture in the room as well as the bunkbeds. My two boys rested well because we could shut their door to keep the light and noise out. Highly recommend!

Midnightred

 

[poohnpigletCA]

The Good:
~2 bathrooms So nice. After swimming we could easily change and get ready to go back to the park. We would bath the kids at night and then hubby and I would shower in the am.

~The pirate water play area. My kids loved this. Heads up the hours are very limited and it also closes from like 1:00-2:00 for the lifeguards to have lunch. They shut the entire area down. So ask about hours and break times when you check in so that you do not walk all the way back and it is closed.

~refrigerator, microwave and keurig coffee maker

~ small grocery on site that had flavored creamer and kcups for sale

~the walk is not too bad, cross the street at Mimi's so you are on the side of the street that has no hotels. You can enter through the bus entry area and shorten your time by a couple of minutes, plus you will not be mashed in the huge crowd of people. I believe it is a 7 minute walk each way.

~ While the HoJo does not provide breakfast you can bring your own or go next door to Mimi's. You can phone in a breakfast order to go and take it back to your room and the muffin on the side is big enough for breakfast the next day or snack. Sign up for the Mimi's eclub and get a free breakfast.CAFE FUN | ECLUB


The bad:
~the noise. You can bring an individual noise machine. I thought we would just run the heat or air (more on that latter.) The traffic noise is very loud. There was two balconies off our rooms but they were unusable.

~the rooms are a little shabby. The carpet on the kids side had a big rip in it where the carpet did not join together.

~the hotel staff was not super helpful.

~ there was only 2 or 3 luggage trolleys for the entire hotel. We had to wait in line for a trolley or make several trips.

~The staff told us on check in that several cars had been broken into in their parking lot. That was just a worry in the back of my head.

The deal breaker:
We checked in and went up to our room to unpack and ordered pizza. The front desk had pizza coupons and they delivered to the room. We turned on the air in our room and the heater in the kids room. The air turned on in both rooms and although it was blowing in the kids room it was not warm. We called the front desk and an hour latter maintenance was there. He felt the air and verified that yes it was cold air. He said someone would come to the room the next day.
Day two when we came back to the room to go swimming we found the air in the kids room on full blast, but it was still cold. Call to the front desk and they said maintenance had been to our room. We said yes but the heater is still blowing cold air. An hour latter and maintenance was back in our room.
Finally the maintenance man admitted that the heaters had not been turned on for the season~it was October. He said corporate would tell them when to go to the basement and turn the system on. My husband pleaded that the kids were cold. He said he would take care of it but the heat never worked our entire stay.
I don't care if I only paid $99 I expect heat and air to work.

We usually priceline a room for around $45. and get the doubletree suites or Hilton or we stay at a Disney Hotel. We are staying at the Paradise Pie in March for $156. a night.

The HoJO was not horrible but it was not twice as nice as a priceline room. So we will either do Priceline or onsite.

I hope this was helpful feel free to ask questions.

 

[soaringirl]

Thanks everyone! I have to admit that I'm having trouble to warm up to the HoJo, but already booked the kids suite with the Ent Rate card, so I'll cross my fingers and hope to find everything OK.
Don't like the idea of the highway noise, but I knew beforehand so I'm warned..
poohandpigletCA, thanks for the excellent information!! I guess I have to be happy that I saved a lot of money booking here instead of onsite.

 

[disneyfan4ever54]

Thanks everyone! I have to admit that I'm having trouble to warm up to the HoJo, but already booked the kids suite with the Ent Rate card, so I'll cross my fingers and hope to find everything OK.
Don't like the idea of the highway noise, but I knew beforehand so I'm warned..
poohandpigletCA, thanks for the excellent information!! I guess I have to be happy that I saved a lot of money booking here instead of onsite.

As far as the Freeway noise,
I haven't seen any complaints on here about it since the soundproofing was done (about 2 months ago???). Every post that I've seen says that the noise has been dramatically reduced. The poster above your last post had a problem with the noise, but their trip was in October, before the soundproofing was done.

 

[hojogm]

Thanks folks for the comments and criticisms! My staff and I do "listen" closely to all the HojoAnaheim comments on the boards so that we can praise our staff for the good things and address the things that cause you frustration.

Noise in Building #1
As several folks have pointed out, our soundproofing sliding doors on freeway rooms have completely solved our freeway noise issue on floors 1-6 (including the Kids Suites). We're still working on the 7th floor, as it is much more complicated with the arched ceilings.

Room Updates
The Kids Suites were completed a couple of years ago. You can view our videos for a complete tour. They really look fabulous and feature Pirates concept artwork from Marc Davis, one of Walt's original imagineers.

Building #2 was recently refreshed with new furniture, paint, carpet, bedding, etc. We are getting ready to refresh rooms in B1-B6 with a neat paint color treatment and Small World concept artwork from Mary Blair. All rooms will have received new carpet by Spring. We're rolling out larger 37" LCD televisions throughout the year (I've been waiting for the delayed LED backlit commercial model).

Room Heat in Building #1
Many years ago the boilers were set to activate on a set outside temperature. We found that folks wanted heat throughout the year and abandoned that practice long ago. We did have an issue with a circulation pump and a boiler that affected rooms on the upper floor. That has been fixed.


Please make sure that your concerns are elevated to a Manager if something is causing you frustration. We will take care of things to your satisfaction. Your family vacation must not be tarnished by an issue with your hotel stay. It is our mission to make things right so that you can get on with making Family Fun Memories.

Jonathan
GM

 

[soaringirl]

Thank you very much Jonathan! Excellent explanation that puts my mind at ease. We'll be staying 5 nights at the HoJo, how can I assure not to be on the 7th floor? I would prefer to have the noise-free kids suite.
About the video, I tried to do that, but it will only show me the other suites, not the kids suite

 

[poohnpigletCA]

Thanks folks for the comments and criticisms! My staff and I do "listen" closely to all the HojoAnaheim comments on the boards so that we can praise our staff for the good things and address the things that cause you frustration.

Noise in Building #1
As several folks have pointed out, our soundproofing sliding doors on freeway rooms have completely solved our freeway noise issue on floors 1-6 (including the Kids Suites). We're still working on the 7th floor, as it is much more complicated with the arched ceilings.

Room Updates
The Kids Suites were completed a couple of years ago. You can view our videos for a complete tour. They really look fabulous and feature Pirates concept artwork from Marc Davis, one of Walt's original imagineers.

Building #2 was recently refreshed with new furniture, paint, carpet, bedding, etc. We are getting ready to refresh rooms in B1-B6 with a neat paint color treatment and Small World concept artwork from Mary Blair. All rooms will have received new carpet by Spring. We're rolling out larger 37" LCD televisions throughout the year (I've been waiting for the delayed LED backlit commercial model).

Room Heat in Building #1
Many years ago the boilers were set to activate on a set outside temperature. We found that folks wanted heat throughout the year and abandoned that practice long ago. We did have an issue with a circulation pump and a boiler that affected rooms on the upper floor. That has been fixed.


Please make sure that your concerns are elevated to a Manager if something is causing you frustration. We will take care of things to your satisfaction. Your family vacation must not be tarnished by an issue with your hotel stay. It is our mission to make things right so that you can get on with making Family Fun Memories.

Jonathan
GM

Hi Jonathon,
Thank you for the explanations. Upon further reflection of our stay I do believe that the true problem was not the lack of a working heater but the lack of access to a manager. We stopped by the front desk every morning on our way into the park to report that the heat was not working and request a manager and every time we were told the manager had just stepped into a meeting, was on the other side of the property, on the phone or otherwise unavailable and that a message would be left. We never heard from a manager during the length of our stay. In all fairness we were on property during a Holiday weekend in October so it was probably a very busy time. However, if we did have some contact from a manager even if it was to let us know that the heat could not be fixed, it would have improved our stay.

My review was not to "bash" your hotel but to list our experiences both positive and negative. Our kids still list the kids suite as their favorite hotel stay. However, for my husband and myself it was too much of a hassle, waiting for maintenance, stopping at the desk, requesting a manager and never receiving one.

Thank you for reviewing the boards to see your costumers actual experiences.

 

[hojogm]

Check out the "Suites" video on our gallery page http://www.hojoanaheim.com/take-a-tour/video-gallery for a tour of the Kids Suites (it's near the end).

You can contact our in-house folks directly at 714.618.6036 to request a lower floor. We'll do what we can to accommodate you!

JW

 

[soaringirl]

Check out the "Suites" video on our gallery page http://www.hojoanaheim.com/take-a-tour/video-gallery for a tour of the Kids Suites (it's near the end).

You can contact our in-house folks directly at 714.618.6036 to request a lower floor. We'll do what we can to accommodate you!

JW

Thanks!!!