I stayed at this hotel for 1 night only, but I can honestly say...its one of the best HoJo`s I have ever stayed. the staff is very friendly and helpful....the rooms are clean and actually quite big. Didnt manage to go to the pool, but it looked very nice ;-)More
Our family recently stayed two nights at this hotel. While the buildings and rooms are older and could use updating, the rooms and grounds were clean and comfortable. Our room had a fridge and microwave, and was priced at just under $80 a night. The staff was very friendly and helpful, especially Renee, who took our orders and served us in the restaurant. The breakfast we ordered was very good, and we very much appreciated Renee going above and beyond to better our experience (thank you SO MUCH for the sweet tea, it tasted like home!!). We would definitely stay here again.
Thank you for sharing your family trip with us at the Howard Johnson Ocala! We appreciate that you took the time to tell others about your good experience with us. We may have an older property but our staff works hard to try to keep it clean and well-maintained. We want every guest to get a comfy bed, a great price and wonderful service so that they return over and over again. We sure do hope to see you again!
Becky Schaff
Hotel Performance
I have stayed at this hotel many times. I have always been happy with the hotel. Great price and CLEAN!! However, the last 2 trips in 2 different rooms the A/C doesnt cool as the unit says. Both units were set to 60 and they didnt even turn on. It was 78 in our room. If you can live with that than this hotel is for you. It is clean and the staff is very friendly. I would highly recommend this hotel but the A/C is preventing me from doing so.
Please accept my apologies for the A/C issues which you experienced on your last two visits to our hotel. We want to make sure that no guest spends an uncomfortable night in our HoJos, especially return guests such as yourself. Did you report the A/C issues to our front desk? We really value feedback on maintenance issues so that we 1) know there is a problem, 2) fix the problem, and 3) offer some discount or other compensation for your trouble. We do not want to lose you as a guest so please do allow us to follow up with you. My name is Becky Schaff and I would be happy to speak with you and see what it will take to keep your business. My number is (352) 867-1347 ext 607. Thank you.
We stayed at this hotel in Febuary, I picked it because of reviews and it's number 4 rating but after checking in found most of this information wrong. Website said each room comes with a frig/microwave there was none in the room we were given and the curtain over the window was too small for the window and I had to put some of the hooks back onto the curtain that were on the floor and missing. The ice machine was down by building 1 and we were in building 4 upstairs. If this place is rated 4 out of 34 I really would hate to see what the lower rated ones look like, I would not stay at this motel again. Lots of fresh orange and blue paint on the outside of the building but the renovations in our room were not so fresh.. Breakfast was not the best things were not kept full however the girl that checked use in very friendly.
Ron, thank you for taking the time to provide feedback regarding your stay. We really appreciate it as this will help us to improve our service, for instance, the listing of a microwave and Mini-fridge in each room. This information was uploaded to the brand website by the brand and our hotel was unaware of its existence. Because of your review, I have taken steps to get this incorrect information removed. Also, we now know that we should take extra care in reviewing the curtains in each room so that no guest will have the frustrating experience which you had. Thank you again for your valuable feedback! - Becky Schaff (Hotel Performance)
We stayed at the Howard Johnson's Ocala for a recent visit to family who live nearby.
Overall, the hotel property itself is average. The lobby is utilitarian, the restaurant is decorated more like a fast food restaurant, and the rooms are basic. It is built motel-style, with all rooms facing the outside and stairs (no elevators that I saw). The bed was surprisingly comfortable, but the linens were a bit flimsy. The continental breakfast is slightly more deluxe than usual, with self-serve waffle makers and decent variety including hard boiled eggs, peanut butter, and fruit in addition to the usual pastries and cereals. All of this met our expectations given the rate we paid (under $80/night plus a gas card for $25).
There were two unexpected issues with our stay. There was a very strong smell of cigarette smoke in our room when we first came in despite it being a non-smoking room. We also found some small gnat-like insects in the sink area--after killing them no more re-appeared.
It was the opening weekend at Ocala, so every hotel in town was sold out. We didn't feel that saying anything about the issues we had would be worthwhile, since there were no new/unoccupied rooms we could move to.
Thank you for taking the time to review our hotel. We do apologize for the problems you experienced during your time with us; the cigarette smell and the gnats. In regards to your comment, "We didn't feel that saying anything about the issues we had would be worthwhile, since there were no new/unoccupied rooms we could move to," we really do appreciate guest feedback even on nights when we are sold out. If you tell us about a problem, we can fix it so that it is not an issue for the next guest. We can also try to provide you with something to improve your stay. Even if we are sold out, we may be able to give a discount on the room or provide a complimentary dinner. We certainly do not want a guest to leave feeling they did no receive good value for their money. Thank you for your positive comments about out comfy beds and deluxe breakfast. We hope that your time in Ocala was amazing and that you will be back again someday!
I submitted a review earlier and it was removed. My boyfriend and I are officers in the United States Army, and I will advised anyone that is thinking of staying here not too. It's very nasty. If we had not been traveling all day and the other hotels in the area were not booked due to the holiday weekend we would not have stayed. The mattress felt like we were sleeping on bricks. There was mold in the bathroom and a stain in the chair that I don't want to even think about how it got there. I have other pictures to support what I have stated and I stand by everyone word that I have said in this review. Very Nasty!!!
Kim, as we said in our last response to you, we would really like to follow up with you and try to make things right. We honestly do care about improvements and we have addressed the problems which you noted. Any time a guest brings an issue to our attention, we are grateful for their input. However, unless we speak with the guest directly and get a chance to ask questions and make reparations, then it is much harder to locate problems and fix them. Please contact me in regards to your stay. My name is Becky Schaff, and I am responsible for Hotel Performance at this property. I would love to speak with you. My number is (352) 867-1347 ext 607. The owner of this Howard Johnson, Navroz Saju, would also be happy to speak with you should you wish to speak with someone even higher in MGMT. Thank you for bringing these issues to our attention.
