Hampton Inn Tulare is a newer hotel and has a modern design and very helpful employees that tried to insure my stay was satisfactory. The hotel was changing over in TV services so some of the basic TV channels were not available which was unfortunate as what channels were available were mostly ESPNs. For the most part this is an excellent hotel, not too close to the highway so noise is not a issue. The room was clean and everything works fine except the sofa smelled.

We chose this hotel as a rest point on a road trip from Sacramento to LA. Great location, right off the freeway with plenty of surrounding restaurants and gas stations. They erroneously put us in a room with a king bed instead of two queens but fixed it very quickly. There was also a loud party going on across the hall from our new room and they nipped that in the bud as well. The beds were extremely comfy and they have a nice breakfast setup with plenty of room to sit and a full breakfast food selection. My only beef is that I found hairs in the tub. Makes me wonder if someone skipped the cleaning.

I booked our room through RCI, the timeshare exchange company. With a few points we were able to get a king bed suite for $25 for 2 nights. That's 12.50/night. It was a steal.

When we arrived, after I checked in and had gotten our room keys, the first thing I noticed is that the room was not as described. It was just the size of a regular room, but with a king size bed and a pullout couch where two queen beds would be. I knew there wasn't a bedroom, but I did expect everything to be spread out a bit.

The furniture looks older than the hotel itself. Especially the couch and chairs. I felt kind of icky having my kids lay on the pullout, but they didn't get anything.

This is not to say the room was dirty. It was clean, smelled like "clean". For the most part I avoided the skin crawling feeling. I was almost there once, when I realized in the shower that the tub still had dirt in it from a previous occupant. Speaking of the shower, the shower curtain was too small and kept slipping around, spoiling my hot shower with cold spots.

Lastly, I was not told that a $100 hold would be put on my card. I was told it was to keep on file for incidentals. We checked out yesterday and the money is still being held in my account in limbo. This policy could end up inconveniencing a lot of people.

the Pros:

free breakfast; bacon, eggs, do it yourself fresh, hot waffles. Good stuff.

free wifi/internet even got it on my phone

check out at noon. I consider that a late check out. Boy did I need it yesterday.

Friendly, if not helpful staff. They never did anything about my small shower curtain issue, but the girl who checked us out did give my kids a complimentary goodie bag with water and snacks. That is what bump my rating up one star, the hospitality.

Hampton Inn very clean, room nice, Buffet bfst included very good. Desk service excellant, parking good, price fair. Several restaurant nearby. Used Black Bear (chain) good variety, family oriented, hard to be disapointed with menu and price