Magnuson Hotel Bradenton

The bed situation was awful. One had dried white spots on it and the other had blood, so I went to the desk and asked for clean bedding. The woman wanted to see the photos and reached for my phone. She came back with one sheet and said that was all they had. It was nearly 10 p.m. after an eight-hour drive from Ga, and my family, including my kids, was exhausted. We decided to leave and asked for the room payment for two nights and our deposit back. She went up to inspect the room, and I followed because my kids were there. While checking things, she took our belongings from the refrigerator and tried to hand them to my six-year-old. My AirPods fell onto the concrete. She apologized and left. At the desk, she said she couldn't refund us and that we had to contact the booking company. My husband called them, and they had to call the hotel. The desk clerk then got a manager's approval to return the deposit. We found a room at Super 8 down the road. I was surprised to see the desk clerk there was the twin of the woman at the first hotel. She was rude from the start and said we could look at the room before paying. When she came in with us, she said it was their only room and that she didn't know how to make beds. The first desk clerk had apparently already told her what happened. We came for a car show over a January weekend, and the first desk clerk had been nice when we arrived. I wouldn't recommend the first hotel to anyone. Disgusting.

At least the sheets were clean. The bed was just a mattress on a wire frame, with no box spring. In room 123, the mirror had graffiti someone had spray-painted over it a while back, and the resident roaches seemed to have a running commentary: one pointed out the broken sink faucets and lack of hot water, and another the unusable TV and internet access number that connected to no known network. I had paid in advance for a February 26, 2026 reservation. The clerk sat behind what looked like bulletproof glass, with bits of Scotch tape still stuck all over it. When I opened the room door, heavy perfume hit me, apparently masking a smoke smell in what was supposed to be a non-smoking room. Jonathan

The price was very reasonable, so I suppose you get what you pay for. The advertised free breakfast wasn't a hot buffet like at Holiday Inn or Best Western. It was a choice of a granola bar, cold cereal, or a single-serving Hostess pastry.

The breakfast setup was meager: cereal, a cup of coffee, packaged Quaker oatmeal with no hot water, and Hostess coffee cakes. There was nowhere to sit, and a large sign said food couldn't leave the eating area, a rule they seemed strict about. It was also hard to understand the staff and talk with them. I wouldn't bring children here, and if we'd been able to get a refund, we would have left. Don't trust the photos or good reviews on booking or Travelocity. The place was filthy, with rust, dead bugs on the floor and bottom mattress, crumbs everywhere, and mildew and mold. Outlets sparked whenever we tried plugging something in. The photos shown were from a different Magnuson hotel. The pool wasn't heated, and we doubted it was cleaned in winter. It was a convenient location, but the stay was short and still pretty pricey for what we got. I should have spent more.