This was the last hotel in our trip around California. We booked and pre-payed through bookit.com. Upon arriving, we were dismayed to see the pool was the size of a bathtub- heater was broken. The lobby was dingy and dirty- looked like the area carpet had not been vacuumed in weeks. Despite this, we checked into our two rooms where grandma took one child to first room to use the bathroom. Upon entering the second room, my husband was surprised see an exterminator in the room spraying. He told him to "make himself comfortable, he would only be a minute".
The exterminator finished up in the room and proceeded to the lobby where I was still using the computer to check in for our flights the next day. To my horror and amazement, he started to spray his chemicals around the lobby around the baseboards! When I expressed my concern, he said "don't worry, it doesn't smell!" The receptionist had to ask him to stop, at least while I was in there. At this point, my husband told me that he had just been spraying in our room.
Horrified at the experience and not wanting my children to breathe in chemicals- not to mention thinking of what creatures they were spraying for- we left. We were told that we would still be charged for both rooms. We left Santa Monica and stayed at a hotel near the airport- cutting our sightseeing short by a day.
After we got home, I tried to get a refund for our troubles. Book-it was friendly, but told us that they would not refund our money. They contacted the hotel manager who also refused. My husband also contacted the manager who FINALLY agreed to refund part of the first room, but would not give us money back for the second one as my four year old daughter used the bathroom while all of this was happening.
Also, there was a man leaving one of the rooms in a $500 000 Bentley with three "ladies of the night" on his arm...definately not a place for families!
I am entirely disappointed with our whole experience and will NEVER pre-book a hotel through a second party web-site again. It was not worth the extra "savings". As far as this hotel goes, PLEASE do not go there! It was disgusting...both the quality of the hotel, as well as the manager's attitude.
- Best Western Redondo Beach
- Redondo Beach Best Western
