I try to travel on a budget so that makes some of my experiences understandable. This place surprised me (negatively) though. It looks like an average motel, the check in experience was like an average motel and on the positive side it was quiet at night and reasonably so in the daytime. When I checked in I was given an upstairs room and as soon as I opened the door I knew the desk clerk and I would be talking more often than he liked.
The room was narrow and the desk had an armchair awkwardly stuffed under it that didn't fit under and blocked about half of the already narrow walkway to the rest of the room. An assortment of screws on the wall above the beds indicated that at some time there were 3 pictures in the room instead of the current 1. It was late so I decided to talk with the manager in the morning. Turns out the clerk is actually the resident manager, and maintenance guy, who says the housekeepers don't keep him informed. Maybe he should walk around and open a door once in a while.
The next day I heard/saw several interactions between guests and a very expressive and rather loud housekeeper. She complained about the way they were keeping their rooms and I got the impression this is an ongoing situation. At least two of the rooms seem to have people living semi-permanently . The woman in the room next to me (after I was moved to a nicer room downstairs) that plays her radio loudly enough to be heard through the wall, actually went to the housekeepers cart, got the vacuum and vacuumed her own room. Then there was the group of 3 or 4 men that worked on the motor home in the parking lot for an entire day trying to get it started. It was parked here when i got here and 3 days later still there, still not running.
It's not my business how people live but this is definitely not what I expected from a chain, even a cheap budget chain. I'll do more homework before booking next trip.
- Econolodge Santa Clara
- Santa Clara Econo Lodge
