Very clean room, we had ocean front deluxe, 7th floor. TV, picture was fuzzy on most channels, didn't have hd, so some stations were not available...but no big deal. Location was great, had Brass Balls next door for dinner, and has Brothers Bistro right in the building, so didn't have to drive much. the room was a lot larger than some rooms, had a nice seating area. The main thing we didn't like, and we heard a few people complain about was the elevators. They seemed to jump a lot and scared a lot of people when they stopped, it was like a big drop. Did not like them at all.

I stayed at howard and Johnson with my husband for a night on 9th Oct. It was over all a very satisfactory experience.
Good Points:

1) Location !! Location !! Location : its located right at the beach. We didn't take a sea view room but it didn't matter as it took a minute to get to the beach. Also, its right in the middle of activity with many restaurants around.

2) Price: Not sure what the season rates are but we got a standard king for $60 as it was off-season. It wasn't a sea facing room, and the view we had was of the parking lot located behind the hotel. We spent the entire day on the beach so didn't matter to us.

3) Room: The room was very big,clean and bright, just how I like it. Lot's of sunshine and natural light and colorful decor. It also had all the basic amenities, microwwave, refrigerator, hair dryer, coffee machine, clothes iron. Much better than I have seen in some hotels with better rating.

4) Indoor swimming pool: It has an indoor swimming pool at the ground floor, looked very nice and clean though we didn't actually use it.

5) Enviornment Friendly: I really liked how they had taken steps to make everything enviornment friendly. Not sure how well all the practises are actually followed, but it did seem to be a nice effort on their part.

6) Friendly staff: I spoke to 3 people on the front desk, all of them were polite and friendly. The house keeping staff was also very co-operative.

Not so good points: There was nothing bad

1) Bathroom: It was spotless, no problems there. However it really needed some sort of mats or something for absorbing the water on the floor. It got totally wet after I took a shower and was like that for most of the duration of the stay. I do not like using towels for cleaning the floor hence it remained messy throughout.

2) Lighting in the room was very poor: The room was a very good size but there were only 2 lamps, that too located at odd corners. It was poorly lit by the night and I wouldn't have enjoyed reading in that much light.

3) The pillows: The pillows were more like cushions and a little comfortable.

Over I was 100% statisfied with the experience. The rates were good, it was clean and location was great. Wasn't expecting more.

We stayed here when we decided to grab an extra night at the beach. We like to eat at the italian place on the bottom-- so we thought we would check out the prices and see if we could stay here. We were here on a Sunday night in early October, we paid about 60 dollars for an ocean view room--- and we were right on the boardwalk...

The room was so clean, they provided nice amenities, the shower was very spacious, and the bed was super comfy. French doors to the balcony were very cute. We loved it. Great experience.

We wanted to get in one last beach weekend before we conceded fall had arrived - and got a good rate at the Howard Johnson OF Plaza. Upon arrival a little early on a Friday afternoon, Jenn and her male counterpart (sorry, I didn't catch his name), greeted me in a very friendly way and happily advised our room was ready and checked me in.

The room was very clean and cheerful - bright floral matching bedspread and drapes - and the carpet appeared to be new (and after walking around barefoot throughout the weekend, my feet remained clean). We had a partial view room and were able to see a nice strip of beach and boardwalk from the very comfortable adirondack-style chairs (also clean) on the balcony.

The bathroom was small, but appeared to have been recently redone. One thing I wanted to mention here is that in the space there would normally be a tub, there is now only a shower. The bottom was very slippery, so be careful or take a bathmat. The sink is pedestal style - and they've added a small shelving unit with a door (maybe 2 foot high) where they place the towels, spare TP and tissue).

Small touches were made to make the room a bit more upscale/boutique. The towels and washcloths were folded to look like packages, which was really cute - and the TP had a foil seal at the end - pillows were all stood on end instead of laid flat (we're seeing this everywhere, so it must be the latest rage in hotel-decor and I have to say it does look nice).

We were only there 2 nights - and had no mechanical issues - though the door to the balcony stuck badly, requiring some force to open and shut. Humidity is high at beach locations, but this was worse than the norm. The room had a flat screen TV that was mounted on the wall, which was very nice. However, the sofa was on the same wall as the TV, so you had to watch TV on/in bed. It would have been much preferable to have them on the opposite walls. I realize this is a fairly minor issue in the grand scheme of things - and space may be the determining factor - but it would probably deter me from staying at the hotel for a longer stay unless I got a sweetheart of a deal.

There is a very tiny "market" in the lobby next to the reception desk that sells chilled soda and individual size OTC items and a small selection of candy. We found this very convenient, as the soda machines we come across in OC are often empty or malfunctioning - and this saved us a trip to a convenience store or a journey to find a vending machine that worked.

We were very comfortable during our stay at the Howard Johnson Oceanfront Plaza Hotel. All common areas - the ground floor entrance, the first floor lobby and our third floor hallway were all clean and had a pleasant smell. We heard little noice from the hallway and no noise from other rooms. All of the staff we encountered during our stay (several, as we bought soda from their market three different times) were all friendly, accommodating and professional In this area alone, they stand head and shoulders above many of their competitors - it gave me a feeling of a well run organization. We would definitely return to the hotel on a future visit.