Americas Best Value Inn - Gulfport

We had a nice stay in a clean, non-smoking room that didn't smell of smoke. The beds were comfortable, there were no bugs, and the staff were wonderful. Breakfast had a good selection, and the WiFi worked well. A few cable channels were fuzzy, and our shower made a strange buzzing noise, but I'd definitely stay again.

The pool area was nice, and the manager was very kind, but I can't recommend this hotel. My wife, some relatives, and I booked rooms for a weekend, and we should have joined our other family members at Best Western Plus Seaway Inn up the road. The website says check-in is at 2 pm, but it was actually 3 pm, and the rooms cost far too much for what we got. The website photos must be from when the hotel first opened, because they were very misleading. Our check-in took longer than usual, and the room smelled awful. The mini fridge was so useless that a cooler would have been better. My sister-in-law's room had no desk, chair, iron, ironing board, or bathroom light. My mother's room was also missing an iron and ironing board, and its air conditioning felt like a fan. There were so many rules that I felt staff were watching us the whole time. Breakfast was mediocre. Before I could even get properly through the door, someone asked which room I was in. The eggs nearly ran off my plate, and the meat looked undercooked. They should have a microwave there. After my son accidentally got spaghetti on the sheets, I stripped the bed so housekeeping could change them. When we got back from the waterpark, the same sheets had been put back on. Our room was right by the laundry area, too. My wife called the manager, who said someone would come replace them, but nobody showed. Disgusting.

Breakfast was dine-in only, and the area was pretty crowded. My non-smoking room had ashtrays, cigarette burns in the carpet, and a stale smoke smell. The pillows were so bad I balled up some T-shirts to use instead, which worked better. When I mentioned it to the front desk in the morning, they didn't seem to care. One of the worst places I've stayed.

The staff were very polite and helpful, and the renovated hotel was clean, comfortable, and inexpensive. The bathroom was the one problem: there was a large unfinished patch on the ceiling, the toilet paper was so thin I used nearly half a roll, and the cheap toilet kept clogging. I'd come back, but I'll bring my own toilet paper.