Magnuson Inn And Suites Gulf Shores

This place isn't suitable right now, and I'd tell people not to stay. I heard they were trying to renovate, but other comments suggest that's been going on for a while. The first room had a bug in the bed, so I asked for a refund to go elsewhere. The employee couldn't approve it, and we were moved to another room that was only a tiny bit better. I swept the floor in the first room myself. There were no phones, hairdryer, security lock, or ice anywhere in the hotel, and breakfast options were poor. Read several reviews before spending your money, and check the address carefully because there are two of these hotels. My experience was at the one on W. 1st Street, not Fort Morgan Road.

The only decent things about this hotel were the location, the pool, and a gray cat that hung around. It smelled awful, so we called him buttcheeks, and he kept darting into our room whenever the door opened. My family stayed for two weeks, but the staff wouldn't give us more than two towels for four people, even though a laundry room window along the way to the lobby was full of towels. Other guests told us they were having the same problems. The place was falling apart and missing basics: no refrigerator, microwave, telephone, ironing board, snack machine, or hair dryer. The ice machine never worked. Whenever I asked, staff said it would be fixed by the end of the day. The beds were stained and smelled of pet odor, the floors were always dirty, and there was no washer and dryer access. Holes covered the walls. The bathroom door jammed, the mirror and towel rack fell off, and after the toilet clogged about six times, they told us to keep the plunger in there. Desk staff were often away and didn't want to help. Construction next door kept us awake, and creepy men staying there kept trying to get my daughters to go into their rooms. If you have kids, do not come here. They wouldn't even refund me.

The location was the only good thing about this place. It's run down and disgusting, and the staff didn't seem to care about it. They weren't friendly or even greeting guests, and didn't mention that the ice machine was broken. The coke machine was dirty, and the parking lot smelled like poop and had lots of stray cats. Whoever owns it is losing money daily while charging far too much. Our room was awful. The carpet turned our feet black, the shower curtain was missing, there was mold on the walls, and the carpet and room smelled moldy. The sheets looked slept in, not clean. The towels looked like they had bleached-out blood stains, and for four people in a room with two double beds, we got only two towels and two Styrofoam cups with bugs in them. The TV worked sometimes, the lights flickered, the shower didn't drain, and spiders crawled into the bathroom. We had to watch our car from the window because local guests kept eyeing it. Since nearby hotels were over $300 a night at the last minute, we stuck it out and tried to make the vacation work. We avoided the room except to sleep, turned the sheets and pillowcases inside out, and washed everything from our bags in hot, bleached water as soon as we got home. It left us with a bad vacation memory. Never again.

I'm disgusted and unsatisfied. We paid $182, and this place wasn't worth it, especially when I've stayed at Marriott hotels for less. It was the only place we found that took our small dog, but the room was awful. The beds were small, there was no phone or remote, and when a remote finally arrived, tape was holding the batteries in. There was a funky smell through the room, the bathroom smelled like death, the carpet was wet, and there were unfamiliar bugs in the bed, though not bedbugs. Roaches crawled up the wall, and the ceiling had water damage. We accidentally went around to the back of the hotel and saw everything going on there, with people actually living there. The front rooms are what they sell. This place is garbage and nothing like it presents itself online. They claim it's comparable to Best Western, but I felt misled. I could've gotten better accommodations at a truck stop. I want a full refund, though I know they won't give one. They need to pay me for staying here.