Got back a few days ago, stayed at Hojo w/kids' suite

[jenpace]

We were at Hojo's, staying in a kids' suite for four nights starting on 4/30. My two DD's (12 &8) and I had stayed once before about 18 months ago...this trip my 27 y/o son joined us as well since my husband had to stay home for work.

The staff at the hotel was either super friendly and helpful or rude and somewhat annoyed to be bothered. Very hot and cold.

I was looking forward to the 4 of us having lots of space to stretch out in the kids' suite so we wouldn't feel crowded while at the hotel but it didn't quite work out that way. On the 1st night when my son opened the pull-out sofa to get ready to go to sleep it was a surprise to see that there was no mattress! The front desk sent up a rollaway bed right away and he slept there but since it ate up just about all the open floor space with the sofa shoved up against the wall everyone congregated in the king room to relax so we missed out on the fact that there were two rooms. Lots of togetherness, for sure! Pretty much defeats the purpose of having two rooms.

The walk along Harbor was a huge drag this time. On one of the days my son was propositioned in a really graphic way by a homeless guy. He wasn't too freaked out but my 12 y/o daughter was since she was walking with him when it happened (she was in tears talking about it that night). Another day while we were walking back to the hotel mid-day I stepped on something that felt weird. I looked on the ground and didn't see anything so I continued walking. 10 or 15 paces later A CONDOM FELL OFF THE BOTTOM OF MY SHOE! Gross...I wasn't planning on having to explain what a condom was with my 8 y/o daughter, at least not so soon and not at Disneyland.

DL and DCA were wonderful as always and we had another fun trip with more great memories

Although I do appreciate the positives that Hojo's has to offer, I don't think we will be staying again. We might have to wait longer between trips as the budget allows but onsite is where we will be staying from now on.

 

[mermaidwannabe]

Glad you had a good time at DL and DCA. Sorry you had that experience at HOJOs and do appreciate you posting about it as it might help some make a choice about staying there.

 

[Feistygirl916]

I was at the HoJo the exact dates you were! My bad experience happened each day in the pool, though. I cannot believe how many naughty kids were there! Not to be mean to Australians, but it was their kids that were BY FAR the worst! Teasing and bullying my daughter (who was on the vacation with just me, no other kids/friends), trying to steal and pop her floatie, and chasing her around... Not good. I spoke with a couple of them and told them to leave her alone, that I would be watching. The same children were encouraged by their dad (chaperone? IDK) to slide down the slides, and then climb back up them while the lifeguard was on break from 2:30-3:00pm. Those same kids were also rolling down the hallway in building 1, screaming! It was absolutely maddening the lack of respect these kids (and parents!) had for others... It was in no way the HoJo's fault, but the 90 degree weather every day didn't help.

Long story short, I feel your frustration.

 

[LisainCalifornia]

I found the walk along Harbor (especially all the way to Hojos) to be similar to what you are describing. I know that many people find it perfectly "safe" at all hours, I didn't particularly find that to be true. It felt safe closest to the park, but as you walked further (and Hojos is quite a trek)--it made me feel more nervous. My daughter and I were followed by a man who talked to us the whole way back to Hojos (he was obviously mentally ill), and by the time we passed the Fairfield Inn the walk was very dark and deserted at 11:30 at night. I have also heard of people being mugged along that stretch at night.

As far as the mattress being gone from your suite (the pull out couch) I would call to complain now that you are home. I think you are entitled to some kind of refund for that.

 

[LisainCalifornia]

I was at the HoJo the exact dates you were! My bad experience happened each day in the pool, though. I cannot believe how many naughty kids were there! Not to be mean to Australians, but it was their kids that were BY FAR the worst! Teasing and bullying my daughter (who was on the vacation with just me, no other kids/friends), trying to steal and pop her floatie, and chasing her around... Not good. I spoke with a couple of them and told them to leave her alone, that I would be watching. The same children were encouraged by their dad (chaperone? IDK) to slide down the slides, and then climb back up them while the lifeguard was on break from 2:30-3:00pm. Those same kids were also rolling down the hallway in building 1, screaming! It was absolutely maddening the lack of respect these kids (and parents!) had for others... It was in no way the HoJo's fault, but the 90 degree weather every day didn't help.

Long story short, I feel your frustration.

That is terrible! I am so sorry you and your daughter had to go through this.

 

[jenpace]

As far as the mattress being gone from your suite (the pull out couch) I would call to complain now that you are home. I think you are entitled to some kind of refund for that.

You know, I did speak with the manager (Matt was his name) on the phone after we got home because I had a question about my credit card. I told him about our experience with the mattress not being there and how adding the rollaway made it impossible to enjoy the 2nd room. I also shared with him how frustrating it was that they ran out of towels at the pool on Tuesday evening for so long that we were sort of stranded in the pool area for over 1 1/2 hrs longer than we wanted to be there waiting for some towels to be brought in because my kids were swimming. We didn't get back to our room until after 9 pm. He didn't really seem to be impressed with my comments

 

[Katiepotatie]

Oh dear! I've heard such great things about hojos everywhere else and have booked to stay there in the kids suite in Nov. Now I am worried - are we staying at the right place?? What do you recommend? We are two adults and 3 kids, aged 9-11. We particularly wanted the two rooms and it looks so great on the website. Any advice?

 

[granismith]

We experienced some strange people out on the street too and I would not want to have to walk back & forth there if I wasn't with my husband. I wouldn't stay there if it was just me & my kids.

the other negative experience with HoJo was that we arrived at 10 AM and they wouldn't give us our rooms until 4:00. We were so tired and we had been up since 3:30 AM.

The other thing I noticed was the girl who worked at the pool slide area was really grouchy with the kids. She yelled at them and never smiled even a little bit, when my daughter tried to talk to her she was really unfriendly.

Other than that we had a great experience!

 

[jory29]

Oh my gosh, sorry you felt that way about the space in the kids room in the kids suite - we have stayed there in the kids suite several times and found it to be extremely spacious - the cots are very compact (you can fit one in a premium room right next to the bed, between the bed and the balcony door, perfectly!) and so even with having had a cot in that room, there should have been plenty of space. The suite itself is a humongous 538 square feet, far more than you will find in that area.

The coffee table could have been moved into the adult room had you felt that pressed for space, but really, the flip out out twin sofa is a very small arm chair when not folded out, and once moved out of the way, the room would have easily accommodated a cot.

We have 4 in our family, and our son, having asperger's and an anxiety disorder absolutely needs his own space for some 'down time' after a busy day in the parks, so my spouse and I, and our daughter, tend to congregate in the room with the King bed to give him his own space for a while, and there was plenty of space everywhere. It's a family vacation in a family space, so we just go with the flow. The 2 washrooms are great!!

We have become so spoiled with Hojo's that we wouldn't be able to stay anywhere else now.

Re: Towels, we would have just got out of the pool, rung our hair out, and walked back to our room if there were no towels. Not a big enough deal for us to stay there 90 minutes waiting for towel. We've never experienced a lack of towels; I have seen towels running lower and then I see housekeeping bring them in when they are so warm, and that is awesome!

I just can't see how the second room was considered to be not able to be used, due to needing a cot since the flip out arm chair bed didn't have a mattress. The chair itself does not take up much space, and could even have been moved to the main room I suppose, and then the cot would take up the same (or similar) space that the flipped out sofa would have? It's great that the cot was brought out right away to you.

I have been fortunate enough not to have stepped on a condom while walking to Disneyland; for that, I would also have a certain ick factor ( A LOT of ick factor!) going on, and I am sorry your kids felt scared (your daughter) when the person spoke to your son. That isn't good at all.

Katiepotatie, no worries at all, you are in good hands in Hojo's.

 

[Katiepotatie]

Thanks, that's reassuring. This trip is such a big deal for us I want to make sure we've picked the right place to stay. We are coming from Christchurch New Zealand, which has had two major damage causing earthquakes in six months, so its life has been very scary here lately and its so great for us to have this trip to look forward to, it means a lot to us. And we are unlikely to be able to afford a trip like this again for many years.

Any and all tips, advice and comments are very welcome to help us get the best out of our trip, and to enjoy the countdown too!

 

[jory29]

Thanks, that's reassuring. This trip is such a big deal for us I want to make sure we've picked the right place to stay. We are coming from Christchurch New Zealand, which has had two major damage causing earthquakes in six months, so its life has been very scary here lately and its so great for us to have this trip to look forward to, it means a lot to us. And we are unlikely to be able to afford a trip like this again for many years.

Any and all tips, advice and comments are very welcome to help us get the best out of our trip, and to enjoy the countdown too!

Wow, very sorry to hear you are from that area! That was a very tragic event.

We don't spend money on extras during the year - we budget on a daily basis to be able to make the extra money needed to get to Disneyland for our family. I stay at home to be able to school our son, as the public school system isn't the best learning atmosphere for him. These trips are essential to our family as they create such fantastic, life long memories. I will tell you this- I am a self professed 'germ-freak.' Hojo's housekeeping sets such a high standard I find it very yucky to stay anywhere else, anywhere. They have maintained the same staff for many years, we have seen the same housekeepers, and enjoy their friendly smiles in the hallways. The beds are SUCH a treat, they are so so so comfortable, it is luxurious. In room safe is cool, Keurig coffee is great. Sign up for Mimi's coupons, and Denny's coupons 2 weeks prior to your trip!! Mimi's has great prices on super quality food. Also, take out, to take back to your room. The Pirate's Cove is awesome for the kids! The gift shop has everything you need. Von's can deliver groceries (think water, snacks for in the park, etc.) Fridge and microwave in the room. 2 bathrooms. CLEAN sheets/bedding/towels. Part of the fun of packing for our trip is thinking of little gifts for housekeeping. The shower/tub/etc. are so clean. It really is an 8 minute walk, and we feel safe when walking with out family of 4 we see soooo many tourists walking our way. McDonald's makes a great late night snack place before you head back to your room for the night.

Worry no more. Seriously, best stay ever at Hojo's, every time - it is honestly our second home, and we can only get out there once a year.

 

[chickyann]

I was at the HoJo the exact dates you were! My bad experience happened each day in the pool, though. I cannot believe how many naughty kids were there! Not to be mean to Australians, but it was their kids that were BY FAR the worst! Teasing and bullying my daughter (who was on the vacation with just me, no other kids/friends), trying to steal and pop her floatie, and chasing her around... Not good. I spoke with a couple of them and told them to leave her alone, that I would be watching. The same children were encouraged by their dad (chaperone? IDK) to slide down the slides, and then climb back up them while the lifeguard was on break from 2:30-3:00pm. Those same kids were also rolling down the hallway in building 1, screaming! It was absolutely maddening the lack of respect these kids (and parents!) had for others... It was in no way the HoJo's fault, but the 90 degree weather every day didn't help.

Long story short, I feel your frustration.

So sorry to hear about the obnoxious Aussie kids, all I can say is there are jerks everywhere, even in Australia. I can't believe that way some people let their kids behave
Your poor little DD really met some shockers, I promise it's not the case with all Aussie kids

 

[chickyann]

We were at Hojo's, staying in a kids' suite for four nights starting on 4/30. My two DD's (12 &8) and I had stayed once before about 18 months ago...this trip my 27 y/o son joined us as well since my husband had to stay home for work.

The staff at the hotel was either super friendly and helpful or rude and somewhat annoyed to be bothered. Very hot and cold.

I was looking forward to the 4 of us having lots of space to stretch out in the kids' suite so we wouldn't feel crowded while at the hotel but it didn't quite work out that way. On the 1st night when my son opened the pull-out sofa to get ready to go to sleep it was a surprise to see that there was no mattress! The front desk sent up a rollaway bed right away and he slept there but since it ate up just about all the open floor space with the sofa shoved up against the wall everyone congregated in the king room to relax so we missed out on the fact that there were two rooms. Lots of togetherness, for sure! Pretty much defeats the purpose of having two rooms.

The walk along Harbor was a huge drag this time. On one of the days my son was propositioned in a really graphic way by a homeless guy. He wasn't too freaked out but my 12 y/o daughter was since she was walking with him when it happened (she was in tears talking about it that night). Another day while we were walking back to the hotel mid-day I stepped on something that felt weird. I looked on the ground and didn't see anything so I continued walking. 10 or 15 paces later A CONDOM FELL OFF THE BOTTOM OF MY SHOE! Gross...I wasn't planning on having to explain what a condom was with my 8 y/o daughter, at least not so soon and not at Disneyland.

DL and DCA were wonderful as always and we had another fun trip with more great memories

Although I do appreciate the positives that Hojo's has to offer, I don't think we will be staying again. We might have to wait longer between trips as the budget allows but onsite is where we will be staying from now on.

We loved our stays at the HoJo, but I know how you feel, a few times the further we walked from Disneyland the more uncomfortable I felt (near the HoJo & in the other direction towards Target)

 

[Katiepotatie]

Wow, very sorry to hear you are from that area! That was a very tragic event.

We don't spend money on extras during the year - we budget on a daily basis to be able to make the extra money needed to get to Disneyland for our family. I stay at home to be able to school our son, as the public school system isn't the best learning atmosphere for him. These trips are essential to our family as they create such fantastic, life long memories. I will tell you this- I am a self professed 'germ-freak.' Hojo's housekeeping sets such a high standard I find it very yucky to stay anywhere else, anywhere. They have maintained the same staff for many years, we have seen the same housekeepers, and enjoy their friendly smiles in the hallways. The beds are SUCH a treat, they are so so so comfortable, it is luxurious. In room safe is cool, Keurig coffee is great. Sign up for Mimi's coupons, and Denny's coupons 2 weeks prior to your trip!! Mimi's has great prices on super quality food. Also, take out, to take back to your room. The Pirate's Cove is awesome for the kids! The gift shop has everything you need. Von's can deliver groceries (think water, snacks for in the park, etc.) Fridge and microwave in the room. 2 bathrooms. CLEAN sheets/bedding/towels. Part of the fun of packing for our trip is thinking of little gifts for housekeeping. The shower/tub/etc. are so clean. It really is an 8 minute walk, and we feel safe when walking with out family of 4 we see soooo many tourists walking our way. McDonald's makes a great late night snack place before you head back to your room for the night.

Worry no more. Seriously, best stay ever at Hojo's, every time - it is honestly our second home, and we can only get out there once a year.

Hi, thanks for the kind words, the quakes were terrifying but our house is ok, although my parents and thousands of others have had their homes destroyed. One of our kids was also severely traumatised which is an ongoing battle - but there are thousands like her so we are not alone.
That sounds great about the cleanliness!! Yay! Also what do you mean about getting coupons? How do we do that? We'd love to get some coupons if we can, its hard to know what to budget for food, in NZ takeout food is expensive but I know its cheap where you are so different to what we are used to. All tips welcome!

 

[skiingfast]

We'd love to get some coupons if we can, its hard to know what to budget for food, in NZ takeout food is expensive but I know its cheap where you are so different to what we are used to. All tips welcome!

Go to the Denny's and Millie's websites.

You can also search on here for the coupon thread.

 

[jenpace]

Oh my gosh, sorry you felt that way about the space in the kids room in the kids suite - we have stayed there in the kids suite several times and found it to be extremely spacious - the cots are very compact (you can fit one in a premium room right next to the bed, between the bed and the balcony door, perfectly!) and so even with having had a cot in that room, there should have been plenty of space. The suite itself is a humongous 538 square feet, far more than you will find in that area.

The coffee table could have been moved into the adult room had you felt that pressed for space, but really, the flip out out twin sofa is a very small arm chair when not folded out, and once moved out of the way, the room would have easily accommodated a cot.

We have 4 in our family, and our son, having asperger's and an anxiety disorder absolutely needs his own space for some 'down time' after a busy day in the parks, so my spouse and I, and our daughter, tend to congregate in the room with the King bed to give him his own space for a while, and there was plenty of space everywhere. It's a family vacation in a family space, so we just go with the flow. The 2 washrooms are great!!

We have become so spoiled with Hojo's that we wouldn't be able to stay anywhere else now.

Re: Towels, we would have just got out of the pool, rung our hair out, and walked back to our room if there were no towels. Not a big enough deal for us to stay there 90 minutes waiting for towel. We've never experienced a lack of towels; I have seen towels running lower and then I see housekeeping bring them in when they are so warm, and that is awesome!

I just can't see how the second room was considered to be not able to be used, due to needing a cot since the flip out arm chair bed didn't have a mattress. The chair itself does not take up much space, and could even have been moved to the main room I suppose, and then the cot would take up the same (or similar) space that the flipped out sofa would have? It's great that the cot was brought out right away to you.

Our room might have had a larger pull out twin (more of a loveseat) and with the rollaway bed in the room, I assure you that the floor space was gobbled up in a big way. I wasn't interested in moving furniture, the coffee table or the loveseat from one room to another being that I was on vacation. The other factor was that my 8 y/o daughter's wheelchair was in the King room so really, the swapping of furniture suggested wouldn't have worked anyway.

I'm glad that you have found Hojo to fit your needs so well as it has fit ours on previous stays. I was fully anticipating this experience there to be more of what we had come to expect which is why it was so disappointing.

I completely understand that a lot of people are very loyal to Hojo's and have experienced great accommodations and customer service. Up until this last trip I felt the same way. Something felt very different (obviously) this time....after poking around here on the DIS boards and a couple of other places online I discovered that as of a few months ago Lorealle is no longer with Hojo's or at the very least, not involved with guest relations anymore which is really too bad, she made a big difference in the 'warm fuzzies' a lot of us have loved about Hojos

 

[nana50]

Count me in as one who is not a Hojo fan. I stayed there once for two days and never again. I find it old and shabby. The kiddie pool is great....if it's open or you are a kid. Being as I'm 60 I want to swim in a real pool. Wait you say, there is a real pool, so I just leave my grandkids and go over to the other pool by myself, not too practical. Oh I guess I could sit in the hot jacuzzi with all the drunk parents and their glass glasses, ( a no no by the pool, but no one was there to stop them). We went out to catch the ART in the morning. I asked at the front desk where it picks up, he said "out there" pointing to the area outside the office. So we sat there with other guests waiting. A bus arrived....down at the bus stop. It came and went and we realized that was the ART. We went in to ask the guy behind the desk and he said "Yep, that was it, comes every 20 minutes or so"> So we went down to the stop to wait for the next one. Not ART's fault, but the front desk. Ever had to wait an extra 20 minutes with young kids who are super anxious to get to the park? I was not happy with Hojo's attitude. The rooms were O.K. but really nothing special. No room service which we love as we order our breakfast early and eat while getting ready to go. Then when we leave our room we are ready for Disneyland. The walk is longer than I thought, but really quite easy.....in the morning. I would NEVER, NEVER walk back at night. I'm a long time resident of California and can't imagine walking back in the dark even with my husband and older kids. Nope, I just save even more of my pennies and stay onsite.

 

[Feistygirl916]

Something felt very different (obviously) this time....after poking around here on the DIS boards and a couple of other places online I discovered that as of a few months ago Lorealle is no longer with Hojo's or at the very least, not involved with guest relations anymore which is really too bad, she made a big difference in the 'warm fuzzies' a lot of us have loved about Hojos

Wait, what? Lorealle was definitely the best person over there at the HoJo! I hope she hasn't left; she is fabulous!

 

[skiingfast]

Wait, what? Lorealle was definitely the best person over there at the HoJo! I hope she hasn't left; she is fabulous!

There is a whole thread on the subject.

Hojo has been getting more negative comments, and less response from management. Hence why I would not risk staying there unless you get the ENT rate or really plan to use thier great kid pool. Otherwise it's just a mediocre property.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2660157

 

[metta4]

ok..I am totally second guessing HOJO's after reading this thread