First things first. We are snowbirds from WI. I found a listing for this property on Craigslist. I contacted the Gen. Manager (Dawn) and worked out the logistics of a 1 to 2 month stay. Upon arrival at Howard Johnson the staff welcomed us like long lost relatives which made our arrival very pleasant. We are going on our third week here and have encountered no problems, the Manager of the property (Keri) is so pleasant and will go out of her way to please the guests. The staff, Megan and Jacob are the best. The room we are in is #134, it is clean, freshly painted, and everything works. We will be relocating to a suite (here) next week as the wife and I would like a little more room, however for a 1-7 night stay the regular rooms are large and accommodating. The breakfast is a little bit lacking, but basically good enough.
The present staff are working hard to bring this property up to date and accommodating. Would my wife and I stay here again? Without hesitation. Once again, this is not a Marriot hotel, if that is what you are looking for then you will not be happy here, if you want a decent place to stay a night or longer I reccommend this property.

This motel is kind of tricky to get to, expecially at night, and is next to not one but two huge highways (I-95 and JTB), so you most certainly hear a lot of traffic noise unless you run the fan all night, which is what I did. The nicest part of the motel is the lobby--much nicer and more plush that your average cheap motel lobby. Maybe at one point in time this was an upscale motel. The person at the desk was pleasant. My room was about as generic motel room as it gets, but I have nothing really negative to say about it. Some of the lights didn't appear to work, but my no-smoking room smelled fine, and things seemed clean enough, including the bathroom. The bed wasn't too bad, although the pillows were those big hard things that were kind of like sleeping with a boulder under one's head. But for $37 plus taxes, what you do expect? Not only would I stay there again, but I have a reservation to stay there one night next week.

First let me say that the young woman at the counter was very sweet. There was nothing she could do about the rooms though. The first room, supposedly non-smoking, smelled like stale cigarette smoke. The second room she showed us smelled mildewy. It being late at night with a traffic jam on I95, we did not press on to another motel, but took the first room. The rooms to the left of us were all torn up. The room to the right sounded like a brothel, the walls being thin enough to transmit the noise. In the corner of the parking lot young men were smoking marijuana. Feral cats were all over the place. The overall feel of the place and the bad air in the room made for a gross feeling night. I was surpised to see all the positive reviews of this place as they did not match our experience at all. We had come in with a supersaver coupon, perhaps the icky rooms are reserved for coupon holders?

We only stayed at the Howard Johnson for one night, thankfully. We travelled up from Orlando to Jacksonville and had to stay over before catching the Cruise Ship in the morning.

The Hotel itself is in the middle of nowhere, right next to a busy freeway. We dropped our hire car off at the Airport and a share taxi to the hotel was $20 each. We checked in and went to our room, it was on the ground floor, and I think it was no.15. The room itself is a good size - that’s the only good thing about it. The decor is from the 70s and clearly hasn't been touched since then. Our room was dirty, poorly maintained and looked like it hadn’t been cleaned for a long time. On our arrival we actually considered moving hotels - Yes, it was that bad. The bathroom was dirty, the bath plug was held in place by a rusty screw (photos included) A couple of the bulbs in the room didn't work and we were unable to use the safe. I phoned to ask if these could be corrected - the receptionist stated that she couldn’t leave the desk and there was no one else - she had spare bulbs at reception if I wanted to come and collect them to change myself!!! Regarding the safe again she couldn’t leave the desk and the owner had just left who was the only one able to get it to work – they offer no responsibility for valuable items not placed in the safe – so we couldn’t leave the room until rectified.

We eventually got everything sorted about 2/3hours after originally checking in and left to find somewhere to eat.

We had paid for breakfast but after seeing what was offered in the morning and the condition of the room we decided against it. Before checking out I decided to use the reception bathroom – it was absolutely disgusting (just see the photos for yourself)