Anahiem Hotels/Motels to avoid

[NVDisMom]

I was reading the thread about Quality Inn and it got me wondering...

Have you ever had such a horrible experience at a hotel that you absolutely refuse to go back? Do you tell all of your friends and coworkers? DO you spend precious vacation time complaining to management? Write a formal letter to corporate when you get home? Or ignore it, deal with it and vow to never return?

So many of us sing the praises of our favorites, HOJO, CCI, etc, and we should. But it might be helpful to people who are new to the whole Disney thing, or perhaps are looking for a new hotel because of a bad experience elsewhere, cost or no vacancies at their favorite to avoid the worst of the worst.

And maybe the thread will be read by somebody who can do something at these properties to solve their issues and make future stays better in some way.

 

[kiwitravel]

We have stayed at Carousel and Tropicanna and would stay at either again, however friends of ours stay at CCI and vowed never to return... They felt the Hotel totally mis-represented itself and was poor value for money.

 

[JenDisneylandlver]

We would gladly go back to the Tropicana, the DLH and GCH (of course!). All good stays there, hoping to be able to add Hojo's to that list next week.

The one we won't go back to is the Castle Inn and Suites. We had a terrible experience there, and vow to never go back!

 

[ironpig70]

well we love the ramada inn and with the garden walk going in next door its going to be even better.

 

[Lou-Ann]

We have found CCI to be a good value. What did your friends not like there? They were not cheap, but were neat and clean which is important to me.

 

[SANDIEGOFAN]

^^^ I stayed there once and they put us in a room that just had the carpet cleaned and was still wet and smelled of chemicals. We were then moved to a room that hadn't been cleaned. We finally got our room around 5pm after originally checking in at 9am. That was really the only problem, we enjoyed the rest of our stay and wrote that off to being the exception to the rule. I must add that I'm a half-full, not half-empty kind of person.

 

[Lou-Ann]

I can certainly see that would be aggrivating to have to move and not be able to settle in......(LOL....At least we now know that they do clean the carpets. Unfortunately you got there when they were wet. With the humidity in that area the smell must have been yucky).

 

[jocotter]

I have stayed at CCI numerous times and like it. However I had one stay that nearly turned me off from going back. We had asked for a deluxe room and they put us in a small room that was on the far right hand corner in the back upstairs, in a dark hall. I didn't even know such a room existed there. But since it was in a dark hall, they had a very bright light shining outside the room 24/7 and we had to hang up a comforter over the stutters to sleep. Then it was next to a maintenance or housekeeping closet and they would start banging around in there very early in the morning. We asked to move the minute we saw it, but they said they couldn't move us due to being full. It was in no way a deluxe room and wouldn't fit the rollaway we ask for. But they charged us the deluxe price and wouldn't back down. They said all the rooms along the back are the deluxe or premium price, whatever it is called. Also, the comforters on the beds looked like they needed a good cleaning.

We went to other places a couple of times after that. But my last trip, I tried them again and called several times to tell them NOT to put us in that room and they didn't. It was an OK trip, no problems. However, this next trip we are staying elsewhere again because the size of the rooms are too small for the extended family.

The best thing about it is the dedicated shuttle, but otherwise it is a nicely gardened motel.

We stayed along time ago at the Raffles Inn and Suites and didn't like it. It was way too far from the parks and looked pretty seedy a few years ago. I'm not sure if it's still like that.

 

[Leofoenget]

That's why they invented Trip Advisor.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

We had a horrible experience at the Jolly Roger about 9 years ago and refuse to go back.

We stayed at the Desert Palm about 10 years ago and loved it, but when we back to it last year we hated it and had a bad experience, so I doubt we'll be going back there.

 

[moppety]

We stayed at the Carousel this time and will never go back. The room was grimy, the sheets were stained , the television was broken and the alarm clock didn't work. Maid service was spotty, and in all it was far too overpriced for what we got. The walk was nice, but I'd stay at HoJo's over the Carousel any day.

 

[pixiewings71]

That's why they invented Trip Advisor.

Yes, but oftentimes at TA you don't get the full story. I trust feedback from this board more than TA. Altho I do use TA when I'm trying to find a new hotel.
Honestly, I don't think we've stayed anyplace in Anaheim that we would never go back to. My favorite is the HoJo and we always try there first but we've stayed many other places. I think so far the worst stay was at the Tropicana, we kept getting dirty towels, they had dried blood on them.

 

[ballarinamom]

That's why they invented Trip Advisor.

I always take tripadvisor with a grain of salt. Most people who write reviews there have had issues and that is their one venue to vent. There are a few impartial reviews but they are few and far between. I think fellow Dissers give the best info

 

[moppety]

I always take tripadvisor with a grain of salt. Most people who write reviews there have had issues and that is their one venue to vent. There are a few impartial reviews but they are few and far between. I think fellow Dissers give the best info

 

[dizneekrazee]

We have never had a too horrible experience. Well maybe. We ususally stay at Desert Inn & SUites, as you can see from my siggy. ANd I do continue to go there because the good (the walk, etc) outways the bad, which was easily fixed. One trip we had, I think in 2006, we checked in after midnight, so we were tired and just wanted to get to our room. We got in there, and there were at least 50 flies in there. Nasty. Needless to say they got in cleaned out asap, and they have no idea where they all came from, but the flies didnt come back. They also overcharged us by $10 one night, but they reversed that before we even left. Not that big of a deal. Other than that, no probs!
What keeps bring me back is the location. And the rooms are always clean when we get there, maid service daily with fresh towels each day.

 

[Jenn1116]

Holiday Inn across the overpass was fine. La Quinta was ok too. I enjoyed the heated pool, but it's too far for my tastes... About a block back across from ToT. It was annoying having to get extra towels everyday until the last day. We had 6 in our party and only 4 towels. I assumed that they can count. But I guess you have to request extras. They finally got it right on the last day. Anyway, I probably won't stay there again. But no "bad" experiences for me thank goodness. Lookin' fwd to Hojos this winter!

 

[SANDIEGOFAN]

I currently have a friend staying at CCI (sadly, I had to cancel my ressie due to my daughters' talent show - darn kids) and he loves it. Just talked to him this morning, tonight is his last night of 3 satying there.
I'm a very big fan have HoJos' and have only had 2 bad experiences (out of 20-25 stays) but the staff there were very helpful and the issues were remedied quickly.
Tripadvisor is interesting. I've found horrendous reviews of hotels that I thought were outstanding (and vice versa) so I rarely rely on that site alone.

 

[Ride Junkie]

We won't stay at the Holiday Inn across the freeway again. Everything was noisy - the toilets, the A/C, and the freeway. The handle on the toilet was broken, and the window rattled when the A/C was on. Too bad, they had a great swimming pool there.

We had a few issues at the Annabella as well. The first room they gave us was right under a janitorial room / vending machines, so there was constant banging. They moved us to a room that had a broken heater...not good in January! They gave us a 3rd room that was ok. We normally aren't complainers, but the super-loud room and the freezing room were just too miserable.

We stayed at the Candy Cane Inn once and loved it. Maybe it was a better value back then, because I think we only paid $89/night. $139 is a bit steep.

 

[JenDisneylandlver]

I think a lot of the time it's a case of your milage will vary! I don't get all the hype of the CCI. We drove by there and it just looked like an okay motel. Too far too walk (and I hate waiting for shuttles), unless they had a super big nice swimming pool (which I hear they have a kind of small one). Even with nice clean rooms, there are better options. IMO

We'll be staying at Hojo's for the first time next week. The entertainment rate, and the Disney view room was big reasons for us walking the extra distance. In the future their castaway cove will be anothe draw for us that will make it worth it. I just don't see enough good reasons to try the CCI though. Again, just varies on what you are looking for in a place.

 

[pixiewings71]

CCI is our second choice (not that that means we actually stay there, it just means we check the rates). The walk is not much farther than the walk from the HoJo (our first choice) and the dedicated shuttle at the end of the day was great. The rooms were small, very small. Much smaller than the HoJo but the shuttle and the free breakfast were perks that helped make up for that.