From the hotel clerk, Mustag who greeted us with a friendly smile and was very polite, to the room itself we were very pleased. We found the room to be very clean and had all the comforts of home, from the comfortable bed with plenty of pillows to the microwave/refrigerator/iron/blowdryer, oh, and the massaging shower head. We travel alot, and have stayed in many hotels, we found this one to be rated an A+

We stayed at the hotel with three small children. The location is convient to I-45. Not close to the ocean, but nice considering its not on the seawall. The employees were very nice, and even offered me milk for our baby. The accomodations worked for what we needed. The room was clean. The motel is near three different gas stations which is nice if you need anything last minute. I didn't appreciate the train's wistle blowing at 2:00 am, but you get what you pay for. Other than the noise from the gas station and the train, all was good. Keep in mind we enjoyed the peace and quiet (other than the above stated) but it was off season.

My husband and I booked the Howard Johnson Express for the Saturday night of the first weekend in November at a rate of $99.99. I called back the next day and added the Friday night at a quoted rate of $79.99. We arrived late Friday and I did not realize until check out that I was charged $99.99 for both nights. The desk clerk on duty called the manager at home and handed me the phone upon which he proceeded to tell me that he never did quote me the $79.99 rate. I had it written down in two separate places and I explained to him that I would never have misunderstood him. It was not the $20 that made me upset, but the principle. He went on the say that the $99 rate was a cheaper rate due to the fact that we stayed for 2 nights. I promptly reminded him that I originally was only staying for the Sat night and had been given that rate from the very beginning. He would not back down from the $99 per night which was already charged to me. I called Howard Johnson's corporate # the day after we returned home and was told that they would contact the hotel and that someone would be back in touch with me within 7 days. It has been over 3 weeks and I did not receive a call from anyone so I called the corporate # again today only to be told AGAIN that they would look into it and someone would contact me shortly. I do not recommend this hotel and not just because of the overcharging - it is not in a very good location, bad parking situation, train track apparently to the rear of property so noise wakes you up early, ice machine not working, and basically no amenities. If you just want a bed to sleep in, then this may be for you, but be careful of the price you are quoted vs what you are actually charged.

We booked two rooms for 2 adults and 5 children for our annual Girl Scout trip, planned by the girls and using their (limited) troop funds. Upon arrival, we were told we had to pay an extra $5/child per night. The manager insisted it was hotel policy. We explained that we didn't have any indication of this charge in our reservation (which clearly included children) and that this charge would put a large bump in our budget, but he was undeterred.

We left to consider our options and were able to find another hotel, Econo Lodge, closer to the beach at the same rate and with a much nicer breakfast bar (and a pool and laundry facilities).

When we called the Howard Johnson back to cancel, we were treated to a tirade from the manager about not "negotiating" the price with him. And when we repeated that we wanted to cancel, he insisted that he would charge us for the first night since we didn't give 24 hours notice of cancellation (hard to do since we didn't know about the extra charges until we got there). One of the troop leaders took the $140 hit on this, since we didn't feel that the place was safe or suitable for family-oriented guests.

By the way, Howard Johnson has now changed its Web site to include notice of the charge per child. But it wasn't on it when we booked (the girls have print-outs of the Web pages they researched). But the hotel's corporate office says it's the manager's call.

Our advice: Don't book here unless you are desperate. There are many other much nicer places, just as close to the cruise terminal and the Strand.