Ok, so my husband and I decided at the last minute to get out of town because it was going to be about 102-103 degrees during the Labor Day Holiday. I went on my Choice hotel application and searched for rooms in Ventura (our go to town when it gets hot at home) Most of the rooms were already booked because it was Thursday. But using my points, this motel room caught my eye. Only $30 with 6000 points. So we figured why not. I booked it and packed our bags. Now, we stay in Ventura a lot and we know that many of the motels are straight out of the 60's surfing days. But as old as they are, they get refurbished as much as they can and make them pleasant. Unfortunately, The Rodeway Inn is not one of those. When we drove up, the exterior walls facing the street are filthy, full of dirt. I checked in. the card key envelope had been re-used so many times that it had many creases and tears and was dirty with thumbprints. We went to our room which was on the street level. Which could be a good thing or a bad thing. First clue that we should've turned around and demanded our money back was that the door to our room, we couldn't get it open, not because the card key didn't work (although it did take 3-4 tries before it bleeped) but the whole door was warped and looked like it had been kicked in a couple of times. We couldn't get the dead bolt to engage without a lot of elbow grease. They did not have a chain or a security swing lock. Upon walking in, I was reminded of something out of a bad Quentin Tarantino movie like Dusk til Dawn or Desperado. I'm surprised that they don't charge by the hour. (who knows they might). The walls hadn't been painted since the motel opened, there were many areas where the paint had chipped away. The floor was "clean" but the grout on the floor tiles had never seen any cleaner. It had a kitchenette with no running water in the sink. The stove had seen better days about 15 years ago. The little fridge was ok but I still wouldn't put anything in there. The microwave was just wiped clean but not "cleaned" The bathroom: The door handle was falling off the door (screws needed tightening); the vanity/sink had cracks in the marble, the towel rack was rusty, there were no stoppers in the sink or bath tub. The toilet was falling off the wall and the seat was wobbly and since the seat was plastic, the outer rim had splinters which would snag. The toilet had a good flush but it would make this motor chugging sound for about 5 mins. afterwards. Ok, let's go to the armoire/entertainment center, the front doors were broken and wouldn't close shut, I opened one door and the inside was full of graffiti gang signs. VERY COSMOPOLITAN!!! It had a little table and chairs, not bad, straight from the 70's. the flat screen TV was ok, some reception problems but visible. Now, go figure the bed was comfortable, the linens looked clean but the bedspread had cigarette burn marks (and mind you this is a NON SMOKING motel, LOL) We sat down and pondered whether we should stay or not, this had definitely been the worst hotel room we had ever stayed at. But it was only for one night and we were just coming in later to sleep. So we decided to stay. I made my usual round of spraying Lysol on all the sheets and pillows and all the bathroom fixtures. We went out to dinner at Brophy;s and came back around 8:30 pm. The motel was booked solid, all the parking spaces were taken, thank God the one in front our room was still empty. Since this motel is right next door to a liquor store, there were a few seedy characters hanging around in the front of the motel. The neighborhood is a mixture of residential and old businesses. There is a little strip mall just up the street with a Mexican restaurant and a pizzeria. We fought with our front door and finally made it in, we made sure that we had everything we needed out of our car because we were not opening that door until the next morning. LOL We settled in for the night. Needless to say that all the doors in the motel were also broken and every time our neighbor open or closed their door it was like a gunshot or bomb went off. Unfortunately, they were in and out all night up until midnight. I turned on the air conditioner, Hallelujah, it worked!!! Unfortunately, it had never been cleaned and there was about 2 inches of dust on all the openings. I shut it off and cleaned it with Lysol and water. After that, it worked well and drowned out a lot of the activity noise that was happening outside. Except for the occasional jump out of bed (like Sylvester the Cat jumping up to the chandelier, HA HA ) we slept comfortably, Although, we did leave the kitchen light on just in case "little critters" decided to come out at night. Ok, so would I recommend this motel??? HELL NO!!! And if you have children, definitely not. I wouldn't walk around bare footed in this room. So my summation: Pros: Innkeeper lady, pleasant and nice Comfortable bed A/C worked THE VENTURA POLICE ARE CONSTANTLY DRIVING IN AND OUT OF THE MOTEL, CHECKING FOR ANY ACTIVITY Cons: EVERYTHING ELSE!! room, neighborhood, etc. All I can say is that Choice Hotels should be ashamed of themselves to put their name associated with this motel and much less charge $179-$189 a night !!! I have always relied on Choice Hotels to give me the best in their hotels. Up until now, we have never been disappointed. Now, I will have to think twice about it. My recommendation is to shut down this motel, give it a total refurbishment or just demolish it and put up a new one.…
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.