A great convenient location -- lots of room, great rates, quality breakfast.

we stayed in this hotel and went to disney and knotts, and that worked out great! the shuttle van dropped us off anf picked us up close to the gate. (the driver was really nice) rooms cleaned and sheets changed everyday. the breakfast was fine. staff friendly and the location was walking disance to target and fudruckers also a wonderful breakfast at pauls place ham,eggs hashbrowns,toast $5.50. thank you howard johnson from my husband and i and our 2 lillte grandaughters

Online, this "inn" sits with a sun-shiny backdrop, all a'glow and inviting enough to inspire a brief stay.

Unfamiliar with the "OC", I thought to myself, "Well, it's near Knott's and Disney. My four-year-old turns five in several days, and there will probably be a shuttle. It'll be perfect!"

Even a brief tour of the exterior passed the initial eye-inspection. I mean, the outdoor barbecue seemed ready for ribs; the front desk/check-in area was well-appointed; parking was ample. On the way to our room, we even let out an "ooh" at the onsite laundry facilities.

Maybe it was also the way I came into the OC, from the 91E. At Orangethorpe, we went through a business park that had a shiny FedEx Business Center and an El Torito across the street.

Then I put the card into the slot and walked into a domicile that would make Scooby Doo's Velma cry "Jinkies!"

My foremost reason for booking this was its offering of a kitchen, but the stove and the bed were like kissing cousins: eww!-close. I could just foresee bubbling spaghetti sauce all over the comforter. "I can't make my vegan-chili-that-kicks-any-meat-chili's-*ss here!" I exclaimed. (Fine, I didn't say those exact words, but I was a'thinkin'!)

Though guest services changed our room, I discovered that all of the rooms had pillow-top kitchens.

This is the kind of place that makes you feel uneasy about walking on the carpet. Bring your flip-flops. I woke up the next morning with that overwhelming itch that signaled the nasty truth: SOMETHING invasive was making out with my skin, sucking face like teens intent on not going past first base. And I had the love bites to prove it, too.

The front-desk person was accommodating in providing me an immediate refund for remaining nights for which I had paid, as I had paid upfront and in greenbacks. He even offered me a different room (yet another). However, it--too--had nappy blankets.

There was just no way that I was going to have my precious offspring subjected to such a hell-hole for one more night.

On my way out, I asked a cleaning lady if she changed the blankets as well as the sheets in each room. She tried to pull the "no speak íngles" routine on me, but I retorted in español.

Turns out, there weren't any clean comforters on or near bug's crawl of her cart. In fact, I now notice that most hotels that do not boast white comforters DO NOT CHANGE THE COMFORTERS between patrons.

This led to several new hotel rules:
1. Never stay at a hotel with a full comforter/blanket/coverlet. No way!
2. Never book more than two nights at a time with a new hotel, for I just never know what hell I may enter.
3. AAA Diamond ratings mean zilch!

To this dankalicious spot's credit, the staff was super-friendly, but--then again--they better have been! (Finger snap!)

I made the reservation online, traveled to the hotel and should have found another place to stay when I walked into a lobby desk clerk that spoke very little English. Our room was dirty, the breakfast was terrible, the noise level in the room was loud as the room was on an alley with lots of traffic. I complained the next morning and my complaint fell on deaf ears. I wrote to HOJO Inc. and was offered a partial refund by the owner of the facility -- It never came. I will never go back there again.