Howard Johnson Anaheim Room, pool and jacuzzi Review

[DisneySuiteFreak]

DangerMouse... ooohhh if You *OnLy* knew what else happened It's so bad I haven't even mentioned it on the boards. Let's just say.. that i feel i've lost the Disney Magic. And that makes me so sad.

Like DisneySuiteFreak said...We also own a small business..and if we don't take good care of the people who spend their money with us...they will spend their money with our competitors.

I can so understand how you felt..it was a special ocassion.. and you didn't want to ruin it by complaining. More so than you know as it was my birthday trip.

The only good thing was that I had my good friend with me. And so it got to the point.. where they would do something wrong..and we would just look at each other and laugh like...ooohhhKaY!

 

[Leggyb]

It was a very honest hotel review. I think it is silly how people feel the need to defend a hotel.

Yes, the hot tub looks disgusting. It doesn't matter if it was detergent or what. That is still DISGUSTING regardless.

Thanks to the OP for sharing an honest review! These are things I need to know when looking for where to book my next trip!

 

[avalon451]

I'd be really interested to hear how HoJo management responds when you e-mail them about this. I'm assuming you've done so? Or at least PM Lorealle, who is a member here and posts regularly. I can't imagine getting anything other than a prompt and polite apology and a promise to get right on those bathroom vents. In my experience, HoJo management is one of the better ones around DL.

Re: the coffeemakers: wonder when they switched to Keurigs? They are the nicest of the 'one shot' coffeemakers and one of the best rated and reviewed. They're quite expensive. I love mine, which I got after a friend sold me on hers. You can buy varieties of the k-cups to go with them, and can get them for as little as 40 cents a cup when you buy them in bulk. For a one-shot of high quality coffee in any flavor you like, always fresh made, it's quite a good deal. You CAN use your own coffee, but you have to have a special basket in the shape of the k-cups. It would be nice if they provided this and the instructions for how to use it. Messy, though. The K-cups are so handy and mess-free, perfect for hotel use, and also for hot water for tea, hot chocolate, and cup-o-noodles (as my kids are well aware!)

So sorry to hear that HoJo fell down on these few things, but I'm glad you had a good time, anyway!

 

[JustAKid]

I'd be really interested to hear how HoJo management responds when you e-mail them about this. I'm assuming you've done so? Or at least PM Lorealle, who is a member here and posts regularly. I can't imagine getting anything other than a prompt and polite apology and a promise to get right on those bathroom vents. In my experience, HoJo management is one of the better ones around DL.

My point, exactly. I don't think the OP had notified HoJo directly, which is why I took issue with the original post. My thought is that you can't complain about a service not meeting your standard if they are not aware of what that standard is. If I get something wrong, tell me how to get it right! I think the PP with the small business would agree. Although we TRY to do our best, and TRY to think of everything before the consumer can, sometimes things get over looked. This is not out of a need to defend a hotel, but a business, any business, and human error. I think had the OP went to HoJo with the same honest kindness with which she wrote this review, they would have listened. JMHO.

 

[DangerMouse]

It was a very honest hotel review. I think it is silly how people feel the need to defend a hotel.

Yes, the hot tub looks disgusting. It doesn't matter if it was detergent or what. That is still DISGUSTING regardless.

Thanks to the OP for sharing an honest review! These are things I need to know when looking for where to book my next trip!

Leggy, I just wanted to tell you that I love that photo at the bottom of your signature. Priceless!

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

My point, exactly. I don't think the OP had notified HoJo directly, which is why I took issue with the original post. My thought is that you can't complain about a service not meeting your standard if they are not aware of what that standard is. If I get something wrong, tell me how to get it right! I think the PP with the small business would agree. Although we TRY to do our best, and TRY to think of everything before the consumer can, sometimes things get over looked. This is not out of a need to defend a hotel, but a business, any business, and human error. I think had the OP went to HoJo with the same honest kindness with which she wrote this review, they would have listened. JMHO.

Just a kid, it's not MY standards they should be meeting. It's their own standards they should be meeting and fell short on. I've stayed in many other rooms at Hojos (all premium DL view rooms of course) and none of them were ever in this condition. They failed to meet their own standards and in doing so, they failed to meet my expectations as a long term repeat customer. Is it too much to expect that when you stay in a hotel the room will be clean --including the air vents? Is it too much to expect that the jacuzzi would be clean? These are basic standards of cleanliness that anyone should be able to expect in any hotel. In the digital world in which we live, they know that not everyone is going to go to them with a complaint; some people will just go straight to the online review sites -- taking it to the streets -- and let the people who read it judge for themselves. They should strive for consistency in every room at all times period. According to Lorealle they read the review. Who knows if they listened?

I have a business and if I fall down on the job or provide substandard service or work, the people who are my clients will take their business elsewhere. That is a fact of life. They most likely won't say a word to us about it. They'd just go straight to our competition. And they will very probably tell everyone they know in the industry why they are no longer coming to us. That's what it's like when you own a business. To whine about the fact that they didn't give me a chance to fix it or make it right after the fact is too late. They gave me a shot to get it right when they brought their business to me. If I didn't get it right, that means I blew it, and they will go elsewhere, and my reputation and my business' reputation will very likely be compromised. That's life when you own a business. So we strive to get it right the first time because there may not be a 2nd chance. Small businesses depend on word of mouth advertising. Our entire business is based on reputation. We don't advertise, we don't sponsor web pages, we don't even have a yellow page ad. We don't have a need for it. We just strive to get it right every time, the first time, period. And we train the people who work for us to think the same way. The customer is king. We answer to them. If they walk and take their business with them, we don't have a business and they don't have jobs. If the employees don't meet customer expectations, that's our fault as supervisors because that means we didn't train them well. Obviously, something must not have clicked when we taught them what we expect out of them as employees, and we train them again. That's what it's like when you own a business and everyone who owns one knows that.

ETA: That vent was more than overlooked. It looked like it hadn't been attended to in at least 10 years.

 

[fairykin]

Exactly, cleanliness is basic. That's how I felt.

After 1 hour and half dealing with them over dirty dishes, it felt surreal that I was actually having to go through this to get them to take the dirty dishes out of the room. After the room had been empty from 9 in the morning til 8 at night.

The fact that the first contact couldn't have taken care of it. Or the second one, or the one on the phone. And then when Conceirge came down and said we could just put our dishes out in the hall when through.

I thought.... WHOA, this is not my job. I am paying rather handsomely to stay in this hotel. I am on vacation from doing dishes at my home.

It's not too much to ask for a clean room.

There are some people that you can never make happy. However.. this situation is not that case. It's a valid point.

That vent is scary to see, especially for people with asthma.

 

[JustAKid]

Just a kid, it's not MY standards they should be meeting. It's their own standards they should be meeting and fell short on. I've stayed in many other rooms at Hojos (all premium DL view rooms of course) and none of them were ever in this condition. They failed to meet their own standards and in doing so, they failed to meet my expectations as a long term repeat customer. Is it too much to expect that when you stay in a hotel the room will be clean --including the air vents? Is it too much to expect that the jacuzzi would be clean? These are basic standards of cleanliness that anyone should be able to expect in any hotel. In the digital world in which we live, they know that not everyone is going to go to them with a complaint; some people will just go straight to the online review sites -- taking it to the streets -- and let the people who read it judge for themselves. They should strive for consistency in every room at all times period. According to Lorealle they read the review. Who knows if they listened?

I have a business and if I fall down on the job or provide substandard service or work, the people who are my clients will take their business elsewhere. That is a fact of life. They most likely won't say a word to us about it. They'd just go straight to our competition. And they will very probably tell everyone they know in the industry why they are no longer coming to us. That's what it's like when you own a business. To whine about the fact that they didn't give me a chance to fix it or make it right after the fact is too late. They gave me a shot to get it right when they brought their business to me. If I didn't get it right, that means I blew it, and they will go elsewhere, and my reputation and my business' reputation will very likely be compromised. That's life when you own a business. So we strive to get it right the first time because there may not be a 2nd chance. Small businesses depend on word of mouth advertising. Our entire business is based on reputation. We don't advertise, we don't sponsor web pages, we don't even have a yellow page ad. We don't have a need for it. We just strive to get it right every time, the first time, period. And we train the people who work for us to think the same way. The customer is king. We answer to them. If they walk and take their business with them, we don't have a business and they don't have jobs. If the employees don't meet customer expectations, that's our fault as supervisors because that means we didn't train them well. Obviously, something must not have clicked when we taught them what we expect out of them as employees, and we train them again. That's what it's like when you own a business and everyone who owns one knows that.

ETA: That vent was more than overlooked. It looked like it hadn't been attended to in at least 10 years.

If you know all of this about a business, and you're a long time customer of HoJos and do indeed like them, it seems all the more silly that you wouldn't tell HoJo!!! Let them get it right for the NEXT person so that they DON'T lose any business.

This point is moot, though, because as mentioned HoJos DOES know about it through this website. I hope whichever hotel you choose next time can be all that you want it to be and more! I'm very sorry to hear that your stay wasn't what you had wished for. I know one thing, no hotel jacuzzi's for me!

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

I'd be really interested to hear how HoJo management responds when you e-mail them about this. I'm assuming you've done so? Or at least PM Lorealle, who is a member here and posts regularly. I can't imagine getting anything other than a prompt and polite apology and a promise to get right on those bathroom vents. In my experience, HoJo management is one of the better ones around DL.

Hi avalon451. No I didn't email Hojo. I figured they would see it here. I've seen many other incidences when people post negative reviews for Hojo and Lorealle responds right away. I thought I would post this and if she doesn't respond PM her. But, she said in another post when Justakid referenced this thread, that they were already aware of the thread and she had brought it to the attention of the GM. But no personal response to me yet. Now before I read that post, I figured, eh, she probably didn't see this thread so whatever. But knowing that she did and chose to say nothing kind of irked me a little to be honest. I am beginning to rethink my previously stated opinions about how wonderful their customer service is based on the lack of any kind of response. At any rate, I posted it so others could read an honest review and in the hope that Hojos will see it and fix what's wrong with the property. I'm thinking there was no response because they are hoping this thread will just quietly go away...And sooner or later it will...

So sorry to hear that HoJo fell down on these few things, but I'm glad you had a good time, anyway!

Thanks for the info about the Keurigs coffee. And thanks, we did have a good time anyway.

 

[Mouse13]

I have stayed at HoJo's many times and have always been pleased with the value I received for my money. Last October I booked one of the premium rooms for my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. Before they arrived we got the key to their room to decorate, stock the fridge, etc. Once we were in the room, I discovered that the air intake vent was really dirty. I knew my mom would have not been comfortable in that room if she had seen it so I called the front desk and told them about the problem. The responded very quickly and the someone arrived to clean the vent within just a few minutes. I agree that businesses should try to get it right the "first time" but I did want to share my experience regarding a similar matter at the HoJo.

Now if we could just get them to actually "heat" the Garden Pool. Seriously, I believe that Lorealle is looking into this issue right now. I just hope she can get the GM to go for a swim and turn up the heat before I get there.

 

[JustAKid]

Exactly, cleanliness is basic. That's how I felt.

After 1 hour and half dealing with them over dirty dishes, it felt surreal that I was actually having to go through this to get them to take the dirty dishes out of the room. After the room had been empty from 9 in the morning til 8 at night.

The fact that the first contact couldn't have taken care of it. Or the second one, or the one on the phone. And then when Conceirge came down and said we could just put our dishes out in the hall when through.

I thought.... WHOA, this is not my job. I am paying rather handsomely to stay in this hotel. I am on vacation from doing dishes at my home.

It's not too much to ask for a clean room.

There are some people that you can never make happy. However.. this situation is not that case. It's a valid point.

That vent is scary to see, especially for people with asthma.

You were treated abysmally. You let the people know, multiple times, what they did wrong, and they STILL couldn't get it right. Housekeeping not cleaning up dishes is a lot different, in my book, then an airvent not being cleaned out. I think there was no excuse for what happened to you. And I do think it different then what happened to the OP.

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

I have stayed at HoJo's many times and have always been pleased with the value I received for my money. Last October I booked one of the premium rooms for my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. Before they arrived we got the key to their room to decorate, stock the fridge, etc. Once we were in the room, I discovered that the air intake vent was really dirty. I knew my mom would have not been comfortable in that room if she had seen it so I called the front desk and told them about the problem. The responded very quickly and the someone arrived to clean the vent within just a few minutes. I agree that businesses should try to get it right the "first time" but I did want to share my experience regarding a similar matter at the HoJo.

Now if we could just get them to actually "heat" the Garden Pool. Seriously, I believe that Lorealle is looking into this issue right now. I just hope she can get the GM to go for a swim and turn up the heat before I get there.

That's great that they fixed it right away. I knew if I said anything they would fix it as we've always received good customer service from the Hojo Staff. We were hardly in the room, and by the time we'd get back to the hotel we were so exhausted I'd forget to go to the front desk. I didn't want to complain to them in front of my DH for the above stated reasons, and as such he didn't know when he checked us out. In fact, he still doesn't even know about the pictures or my review.

Yes, that Garden pool is pretty darn cold. I don't know how anyone can think of swimming in it in the winter! Yikes! My DH liked it though. He said it was "refreshing." Brrrrr....

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

Mouse13, just curious, was it the bathroom vent that was all gross or was it the A/C vent in the room?

 

[Mouse13]

Mouse13, just curious, was it the bathroom vent that was all gross or was it the A/C vent in the room?

It was the AC vent in the room. The one located on the side wall where the ceiling height drops slightly between the bed area and the bath/sink area.

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

It was the AC vent in the room. The one located on the side wall where the ceiling height drops slightly between the bed area and the bath/sink area.

Oh yuck! That's worse than the bathroom vent being all gross. If my A/C vent was all clogged, I definitely would have said something because of my asthma and allergies. I guess I should be thankful it was only our bathroom vent that was filthy.

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

It was a very honest hotel review. I think it is silly how people feel the need to defend a hotel.

Yes, the hot tub looks disgusting. It doesn't matter if it was detergent or what. That is still DISGUSTING regardless.

Thanks to the OP for sharing an honest review! These are things I need to know when looking for where to book my next trip!

Hi Leggyb,
Sorry I missed your post earlier. I just want to thank you for reading my review and for posting your thoughts.

 

[Hojoanaheim]

Hi avalon451. No I didn't email Hojo. I figured they would see it here. I've seen many other incidences when people post negative reviews for Hojo and Lorealle responds right away. I thought I would post this and if she doesn't respond PM her. But, she said in another post when Justakid referenced this thread, that they were already aware of the thread and she had brought it to the attention of the GM. But no personal response to me yet. Now before I read that post, I figured, eh, she probably didn't see this thread so whatever. But knowing that she did and chose to say nothing kind of irked me a little to be honest. I am beginning to rethink my previously stated opinions about how wonderful their customer service is based on the lack of any kind of response. At any rate, I posted it so others could read an honest review and in the hope that Hojos will see it and fix what's wrong with the property. I'm thinking there was no response because they are hoping this thread will just quietly go away...And sooner or later it will...


Thanks for the info about the Keurigs coffee. And thanks, we did have a good time anyway.

Hey Everybody!

WHEW! This thing has doubled since Friday, and I apologize that I'm just now getting to step in become a part of this conversation!

It's true that we've known about this thread when it was only a baby one page long, but I held off on commenting until our General Manager had had a chance to talk to the heads of our Housekeeping and Maintenance Departments to try to both a] research the issues raised b] find resolutions to them and c] communicate that information back to me so that I could pass it on to everyone here!

This finally happened on Friday and I sat down in the afternoon and typed out a response with all of the details. An hour and a half in, and my computer shut down on me. Now, I am normally a pretty calm person, but I [foolishly!] hadn't saved the post that I was working on, and I lost my mind a little bit! So I took a little time to find my zen and this is Take Two! Thank you all for being patient with me on this!

Jacuzzi Foam:: There are many personal grooming items [hair products, detergents, deoderant, perfumes, lotions, etc.] that we use that act as foaming agents as well as outside materials [from walking around barefoot before getting in, etc.] that are tracked into the hot tub by guests. There are also swimsuit materials that cause the foam to really soap up. Unfortunately, we just cannot control all of these things. At this time, our Management does not want to shut down either Castaway Cove or the Garden Pool in the afternoons for a second round of maintenance, but I do want to stress that our Maintenance Department is vigilant and dedicated to the cleanliness of both our Garden Pool and Castaway Cove, and they prioritize the cleaning of both of these facilities daily.

Air Vents:: I wholeheartedly agree with DisneySuiteFreak, and so does our General Manager and well, all of us actually; the condition of the vents is absolutely unacceptable. I would like to say though, that we do not prioritize the cleaning/condition of certain rooms above others. It doesn't matter to us whether you are spending one night or one hundred nights, one dollar or one hundred dollars- we want things to be absolutely perfect for you during your stay with us!

I know you've gotten a lot of heat for posting this, and I want to thank you, DisneySuiteFreak, for bringing this to our attention! You deserve a big round of applause! If you hadn't let us know that this is something that we needed to pay special attention to, it would have continued to go unattended- and that is terrifying to think about! However, because you were kind enough to tell us about it- we have been able to work within our Departments to come up with a plan for making sure that this doesn't happen again!

In a few weeks, we will be launching a new preventive maintenance program called 'Perfect Room Team'. The plan is to have this team [comprised of individuals from Housekeeping and Maintenance] enter six rooms per day to perform deep cleaning procedures [for things like air vents!], make sure all appliances are in proper working order, do paint-touch ups, etc. They will spend at least one hour per room, and this will allow us to get through every single one of our rooms- from our Standard Rooms to our Suites- about four times a year!

We're really excited about the potential that this program has to increase the quality of your guest experiences, and we encourage you to let us know- just like DisneySuiteFreak has done- about any other issues that arise during your stay that need our attention!

Lorealle

 

[DangerMouse]

DisneySuiteFreak, while I appreciate your post and the problems you encountered on your visit to the HoJo, I don't think you should expect to get a response from Lorealle on this matter until you contact her directly. IMO, a public forum is not a place to have those issues addressed by the management of the hotel. I know you said you didn't have time or didn't want to deal with it during your stay, but you have spent days on this thread here on the DIS waiting and hoping for a response?? Have you contacted any person at the HoJo directly yet? If you have, and mentioned it in an earlier post, I apologize.

EDITED TO ADD: 3 minutes later . . . Speak of the Devil! There she is doing what she does best. Awesome customer service, Lorealle!

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

Thank you Lorealle! I knew you would come up with some solutions to the challenges presented in my original post, because you and your staff have always been very customer service oriented.

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

DisneySuiteFreak, while I appreciate your post and the problems you encountered on your visit to the HoJo, I don't think you should expect to get a response from Lorealle on this matter until you contact her directly. IMO, a public forum is not a place to have those issues addressed by the management of the hotel. I know you said you didn't have time or didn't want to deal with it during your stay, but you have spent days on this thread here on the DIS waiting and hoping for a response?? Have you contacted any person at the HoJo directly yet? If you have, and mentioned it in an earlier post, I apologize.

EDITED TO ADD: 3 minutes later . . . Speak of the Devil! There she is doing what she does best. Awesome customer service, Lorealle!

Why shouldn't I have expected to get a response from Lorealle? She has always responded in the past when others have posted problems/issues with their stay at Hojo. And...I haven't spent days monitoring this thread DM, I only responded when others posted to the thread. It's not like I was bumping it up every few hours for attention. This public forum exists to exchange information about DLR, the surrounding properties and planning info. That's what I did. I didn't post it to get a response from her. I posted to share the information and hoped she would see it and correct the problems. In fact, I assumed she didn't see the thread and I was fine with that until she mentioned on another thread that she did indeed see it. Then it irked me. At any rate, she is working with her team to fix the problems so hopefully it will improve the property overall for the better.