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Howard Johnson Express Inn - San Mateo – reviews, photos

2.0 of 5
2110 South El Camino Real, San Mateo, CA 94403
Hotel amenities
Howard Johnson Express Inn - San Mateo
Howard Johnson Express Inn - San Mateo
Howard Johnson Express Inn - San Mateo
Howard Johnson Express Inn - San Mateo
Howard Johnson Express Inn - San Mateo
Howard Johnson Express Inn - San Mateo
Ranked #7 of 14 hotels in San Mateo
3.5 of 5 stars 30 Reviews
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30 reviews from our community

    Trip type
Traveller rating
    8
    9
    7
    3
    3
Date Rating
Santa Catalina Island
1 review
1 helpful vote 1 helpful vote
“Basic but clean”
3 of 5 stars Reviewed 29 September 2011
1
person found this review helpful

My room was a nonsmoking room, but people were smoking outside my room. I called Trisha at the front desk and she came over immediately and had them leave. Trisha was very helpful to us. She couldn't be nicer. It's a pretty old place. Very reasonably price. Bed was comfortable.

I was telling the lady at the front desk that if they have washing machines, they should have vending for detergent. One of the workers told me they didn't have soap and told me where the store was. Trisha gave me a small box of detergent and said that after that it would cost and from then on front desk would have soap in the drawer for guests. Two suggestions would be to post this in the laundry room and to sell rinse or fabric sheets along with the detergent.

  • Stayed September 2011, travelled with friends
    • 4 of 5 stars Value
    • 3 of 5 stars Location
    • 3 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 3 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 3 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 5 of 5 stars Service
Was this review helpful? Yes
Ask Derek D about Howard Johnson Express Inn - San Mateo
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
HowardJohnsonSanMate, Director of Sales at Howard Johnson Express Inn - San Mateo, responded to this review
27 December 2011
Dear Derek D,

Thanks for writing a review. It makes us feel good when guests like our hotel. Sorry for the inconvenience with the laundry soap, we do have detergent boxes at the front desk for our guest available now. Thank you very much for the suggestion, we will post a note about detergent in the laundry room and get fabric sheets for guests to use.

Please visit us again.

Management,
Howard Johnson Express Inn- San Mateo, CA
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yakima, wa
1 review
“5 day stay”
4 of 5 stars Reviewed 27 September 2011

we stayed 5 nights, were at a conference all day so were just here to sleep, the bed was comfortable, room and bathroom clean, staff friendly, and for a reasonable price

Room Tip: we stayed in the very back of the lot, was always nice and quiet
See more room tips
  • Stayed September 2011, travelled on business
    • 4 of 5 stars Value
    • 3 of 5 stars Location
    • 4 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 3 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 4 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 4 of 5 stars Service
Was this review helpful? Yes
Ask stephanie e about Howard Johnson Express Inn - San Mateo
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
HowardJohnsonSanMate, Director of Sales at Howard Johnson Express Inn - San Mateo, responded to this review
27 December 2011
Dear Stephanie e,

Thanks for taking out time to write about us. We are glad you liked your stay at our hotel. Please feel free to call us or stop by anytime, we will be happy to have you at our hotel again.

Management,
Howard Johnson Express Inn- San Mateo, CA
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Bentonville, Arkansas
1 review
“Comfortable and courteous”
5 of 5 stars Reviewed 10 September 2011

This is a very comfortable hotel to stay in. We had to travel for a funeral under stress and found the staff to be so helpful and flexible to our needs. The room had the most comfortable beds I have ever slept in and I have slept at five star hotels. This may not be the newest or highest of quality in products used, but everything worked as it should. The room was so quiet that we never heard any other customers and it was packed to full each night. We stayed for five days and on the first day our a/c stopped working. Upon one call to the front desk we had the manager there and fixed the issue in a matter of minutes. The morning breakfast had many choices and wonderful fresh fruit juice. We found out others from our funeral party from out of town were staying there and they have always in the past due to the wonderful service. Upon checkout a very nice professional women from england was checking out and we could not stop talking about the comfortable beds and wonderful service.
Please understand this is a very old hotel/motel that was updated so if you are looking for a shiny perfect never used room this is not your choice. But if your looking for a comfortable, safe, courteous home away from home, then your will not be disappointed

Room Tip: The rooms are large and very quiet. Plenty of room for small families.
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  • Stayed August 2011, travelled with family
    • 5 of 5 stars Value
    • 5 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 4 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 5 of 5 stars Service
Was this review helpful? Yes
Ask darkfarie about Howard Johnson Express Inn - San Mateo
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
HowardJohnsonSanMate, Director of Sales at Howard Johnson Express Inn - San Mateo, responded to this review
27 December 2011
Dear Darkfaire,

Thanks for all the good things you wrote about us. We are very happy to know that you liked our hotel and we were able to be of service during your difficult time, may your friend/ relative's soul rest in peace.

We will be delighted to have you at our hotel again.

Management,
Howard Johnson Express Inn- San Mateo, CA
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Apple Valley, California
Senior Reviewer
7 reviews 7 reviews
Reviews in 7 cities Reviews in 7 cities
1 helpful vote 1 helpful vote
“It was alright.”
3 of 5 stars Reviewed 2 September 2011 via mobile
1
person found this review helpful

The rooms are decent. The best part about the hotel was that it was close to the Hillsdale cal train station which took us to AT&T Park.

  • Stayed August 2011
    • 4 of 5 stars Value
    • 4 of 5 stars Location
    • 3 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 4 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 4 of 5 stars Service
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Ask JamisonS about Howard Johnson Express Inn - San Mateo
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
HowardJohnsonSanMate, Director of Sales at Howard Johnson Express Inn - San Mateo, responded to this review
12 October 2011
Dear JamisonS,

We are very glad that you liked our hotel. For your information, other than Caltrain station we are also very close to SamTrans Bus stops, the buses ply from Palo Alto to San Francisco. We are also close to San Francisco International Airport, a third party Airport Super Shuttle can be booked in advance if you are flying and need a ride to the hotel. In the area some other landmarks are San Mateo Event Center, Hillsdale Mall, San Mateo Downtown.

We look forward to see you again at the hotel.
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Burlington, Indiana
Contributor
19 reviews 19 reviews
Reviews in 10 cities Reviews in 10 cities
8 helpful votes 8 helpful votes
“Not even worth the low price we paid”
1 of 5 stars Reviewed 25 July 2011
3
people found this review helpful

i read a review on travelocity that said " it's like lipstick n a pig". i think that pretty much sums it up.
yes, they have some newer features (flat screen tv) and they remodeled at some point, but the pictures on their website make it look much nicer than it actually is. whoever did the remodeling did some pretty shotty work. the wallpaper in the bathroom looked like it was pieced together from scraps! it looks like they spent a lot of money putting tile on the walls in the bathroom, but they left the same whirlpool tun that didn't work and felt like it was going to fall through the floor. we had to take the comforter out of the cover because house keeping didn't tie them and the first night we slept there, the comforter fell to the bottom. the room smelled like someone's body odor. i couldn't use the blow dryer because it smelled like bo too. i looked through the room guide and ended up with something sticky on my hands.
outside of the room, the hotel left much to be desired. at breakfast, there were apples, oranges, plain bagels, 2 cereals, bread, and packaged rolls. of the 3 times we ate there, they had the area fully stocked once. the other 2 times, you had to go to the counter to ask for something. the one man i saw in there the most was a complete jerk to my daughter and me but when certain people would come in, he'd change his demeanor and be a really nice guy for a minute or two.
all in all, even considering what we paid for the hotel, i would not book here again, and i would not recommend it to any of my friends.

  • Stayed July 2011, travelled with family
    • 3 of 5 stars Value
    • 1 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 1 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 1 of 5 stars Service
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Ask nicole4790 about Howard Johnson Express Inn - San Mateo
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
HowardJohnsonSanMate, Director of Sales at Howard Johnson Express Inn - San Mateo, responded to this review
27 July 2011
Dear Nicole479,

We are sorry that your stay was less than satisfactory. We try our best to give our guests the best possible service. We have certainly put a lot of money into remodeling our rooms and public areas of our property and are still in the process – some remodeling errors might have happened but we will certainly take care of it and will make sure we give our guest the comfort and convenience they expect. We put time and effort in training our housekeeping team. Your points are much appreciated, we will train them again.
We appreciate your feedback and welcome you again to stay with us the next time you are in the area.

Management
Howard Johnson Express Inn- San Mateo, CA
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Additional Information about Howard Johnson Express Inn - San Mateo

  • Howard Johnson San Mateo
  • San Mateo Howard Johnson
Address: 2110 South El Camino Real, San Mateo, CA 94403
Price range (per night):* INR3,865 - 6,273

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