For the highly sought yet seldom found three day weekend my husband, two children, and I decided to pack in the car and ride to San Diego for a visit with my in-laws this Memorial day.  I couldn’t think of a better way to spend my free time! 

We got on the road at 12:30… yes, 12:30 because my husband had to make the world stop so he could go to the gym (trust me we had a few words). Needless to say we,  whammed into traffic like a fly into the inevitable  flyswatter of doom. The next two hours were spent silently miserable watching ants on the center divide pick up more speed than us.

After a few stops for food, coffee and the bathroom, we finally arrived at my mom-in-laws house four hours later.  She had her famous fried pies perfectly hot and waiting for us. Mom probably saw frustration written all over my face because she offered to watch the kids so we could have alone time.  She always knows how to make it better.

We did not make hotel reservations, Consequently,  we ended up with the ONLY room available on the coast- the RAMADA by the sea Carlsbad. Their pacific VIP room.Which brings me to the reason I am even writing this. The worse room ever!  So bad we did not stay.We checked in at 8pm to a suite the size of a quaint one bedroom apartment that desperately needed to be refurbished. The whitish-grey towels were  dirt-crusty and  hard. Resembled a load washed without soap and dried on the line. The sheets look as though they had not been changed after the previous visitor. I could tell because of the hair lavishing in dinginess when I pulled back the cover to inspect them. There were head indentations  in the pillows like someone had just taken a nap.  The kitchen had crumbs all over  the floor and the oven had burnt food stuck to the bottom. This seemed to be an employee break room that they rented out to make extra cash.  Usually, I am not one to complain but this was bad.

We knew there were no vacancies at any other hotel (because we had already called) so we tried to make the best of the situation. On our way out to catch Star Trek , we asked front desk to change the towels and sheets. They insured us it would be taken care of, so we left.

We returned around 2 am and I did my usual hotel inspection to make sure things were clean. Meanwhile, my husband was in the other room of our supposed VIP suite watching an encore Laker game oblivious to it all.  The bed sheets were clean- check.  Not the newest sheets but they had been changed. I started to get my things together for a shower.  I was so tired. I just wanted a hot shower and a pillow. I go to the bathroom and notice they only changed one set of towels- the clean towels at that, and left the dirty ones. I know because there was lipstick on one. I was very tired and did not feel like complaining… plus I feel like a jerk when I do.

I said to myself-  just use the other towels.  I was about to turn on the shower and noticed a two toned tub. White at the top and grey on the bottom. I started looking closer and.. there’s hair!… and more hair!! And as I looked around the cream colored tiled floor was speckled like granite with unidentifiable dirt and hair.   It just wasn’t getting any better. The outdated countertop had two noticeable speckles, both red. As I looked closer, they appeared to be lice. I immediately vacated the premises and requested a refund.

Geesh! What’s the standard? What is your level of cleanliness?  If I shower, I  am probably going to come out dirtier than before. That’s not a good level.

After all of that, getting a refund was almost degrading. The night guy swore he did not have the authority to issue refunds and told us the morning manager had to. Fine, so we wait! The  morning manager GILBERT swore he did not have the authority to issue refunds and proceeded to interrogate my husband and insinuate we slept in the room and caused the problems we had been complaining about. He claimed to have phoned his boss Heather Anderson for approval but she “did not answer.” No one offered a solution but rather accusations to evade recourse.

We had to wait until that afternoon, for the same guy that checked us in and called the maintenance the first time, to issue a refund. The other manager did not believe us!As if we we could not afford to pay in the first place and this is how we save money on hotels. 

So for anyone looking for a place to stay. DO NOT STAY AT this Ramada:

RAMADA 

751 Macadamia DrivePoinsettia exit off I-5