While traveling in November 2011, I stayed at the HoJo's in Blackwood and had a very nice and clean room (room 334) with a CLEAN soaker tub which I used twice. My 3rd night, unfortunately, I had to switch rooms to a room on the 1st floor (room 115). This room also had a King bed and was supposed to be an upgrade because it had a jacuzzi jet tub... Well, aside from the room smelling like stale smoke and mold, the carpet being stained and dirty and pulled up in the corner, when filled up the jacuzzi tub and turned on the jets brown mold came shooting out. Obviously, the jets hadn't been flushed and cleaned properly in ages.

So, if you make a reservation, make sure you request a room on the 3rd floor.

We stayed at this hotel for 3 days from 11/19/11 to 11/22/11. On our last night, my wife and my older daughter noticed a few red itchy bumps on their hand and wrist areas. We didn't think twice about it, as we were trying to finish up our sight seeing before we left Phlly the next day. When we got home, the bites on my wife had multiplied and there were red itchy bumps on her face and neck too. The bites also got redder and itchier. 2 days after we got back, my wife's condition deteroriated so much that her bites became swollen and inflamed. She could hardly open her left eye because of the swollen bumps around her eye. Many of the bumps ruptured and were oozing pus. In her own words, "I look hideous. How can I go back to work on Monday?". She had to make an emergency trip to her doctor instead of doing her favorite Black Friday shopping. My older daughter's condition also got worse and we had to go to an urgent care center to see her doctor after my wife was done with her doctor's appointment. Her bites multiplied too and her doctor also confirmed that the bites were caused by bed bugs. It was a hell of a day.

We specifically booked this hotel because we were trying to avoid the dirty conditions in the lower class motel. We travel many times a year and have lived in different motels/hotels much cheaper and of lower class than Howard Johnson, but none of them have ever given any of us bed bugs at all. This is unacceptable for a hotel that advertises themselves to be better than that. We know for sure now that we will not dare step into another Howard Johnson, not to mention sleep there. My daughter's friends and our doctors share the same sentiments too. They need to seriously improve their sanitary standards.

I stayed at this hotel Friday and Saturday night, scheduled to leave Sunday morning. The first night I left my dog in the room while I ran to the store, I came back and my door was open. Thank God my dog was still in the room. I thought at first maybe I didn't close the door all the way and thought nothing more of it. The second night (Saturday) right before I was getting ready to leave for a family occasion I took my dog for a walk and I see about 7 kids oldest maybe 15, youngest probably 5. The oldest was cursing and saying she was going to stab an old lady, the yougest was running around naked. AND THIS ISN'T EVEN THE WORST PART! A man on the second floor was outside playing with himself and trying to pick up the 15y/o girl!! I am a single female and didn't want to call the cops and get in the middle of this so I immediately called the front desk and told them my situation and I felt unsafe calling the cops because I was staying there alone. The guy at the front desk said he would send someone out to check on it and then asked me my room number. Not thinking much into it I told him what room I was in. Thirty minutes or so later I felt extremely unsettled for not calling the cops so I called the front desk to see what measures they took in resolving the situation. His response "I told my manager, OH..do you have a black dog? Because he got out". So not only did they do NOTHING about the situation all of the sudden my dog is out of the room? He transfered me to the lady who found my dog, I asked her to check if my room door was still open because the doors do not shut unless you pull them shut. She confirmed my door was shut and locked AND said the past two nights when she arrived back at her room her door was open!. When I arrived at the hotel (15mins later) MY DOOR WAS OPEN!! I called the cops and notified them of the entire situation and filed a police report on the man who was fondling himself in front of children. The police told me this is the most unsafe place you could stay and they would NOT recommend that ANYONE stay at this hotel. Most of the people who room at the hotel live there and cause nothing but problems. It's been almost a week and I am in the middle of a complaint with their corporate office, who I have YET to hear back from. This place is NOT safe and I wouldn't recommend that ANYONE for ANY reason stay here!!

The room was HUGE & had a great mattress. I slept like a baby. The building is old but clean. It is a very safe hotel. I parked my 1 year old BMW there & no one put a finger on it. Breakfast was small but very nice consisting of juice, coffee, breads, muffins, danish & cereal. The absolute best thing in my room was the tub. If I wasn't so tired I would have walked over to then Walgreen's across the street & bought some Epson salts. It was huge. 3 people could have sat in it. All the amenities were nice like a safe, fridge, microwave, a/c. The TV was old but there was a very nice pool & every room has a balcony looking over it in the courtyard with 2 lawn chairs on each. There was also a gym that I did not check out. I would definitely stay there again. Remember this is a HoJo, not the Ritz.