Quality Inn Hayward

The room had visible dust and stains on the furniture and sheets, and the bathroom smelled bad and had visible mold. The towels were old and worn, the smoke detectors had been ripped out, and the A/C barely worked. This was a disappointing stay at Quality Inn in Hayward, nowhere near what I expect from Choice Hotels. I wouldn’t recommend it.

The bed was comfortable enough for a decent night, but noise carries from neighboring rooms and outside conversations, so it wasn’t quiet. The shower was covered in mold, with fresh caulk over the old mold, and the only body towel I found in the morning was stained. The booking listing promised breakfast, but there wasn’t anything to eat when I went down. At 8 a.m. the lobby doors were still locked, and an employee passing by said to leave my room card and go without signing or getting a receipt. Getting in was already unpleasant. I arrived at 9 p.m. in light rain, and the newer-looking north lobby door was locked. The man inside motioned me to another door, but that was locked too. Then someone tapped at a window to my left. In the cold, dark, and rain, it made me feel like a third-class citizen just trying to check in. Once inside, I confirmed my reservation and went to clean up. The hotel calls itself three stars, but it felt no better than a one-star motel 6 I’ve stayed in. I’d read management replies from the past year or so saying they were sorry and would make changes, but I didn’t see any. To me, those apologies seemed like lip service.

The last day, we waited 40 minutes for someone to come to the office so we could check out and get a receipt. The service was awful throughout. On our first night, we had a late check-in and spent about an hour in the rain before the clerk came out of his car with our keys. The sheets, pillows, and towels were stained and disgusting, the bathroom hadn’t been cleaned, and food seemed to have exploded in the microwave and been left there. We asked for clean sheets and towels the next morning. A cleaner said there was a new owner and that the manager who’d left was horrible, ignored complaints, and didn’t provide good cleaning supplies. She brought us clean towels, and someone was sent to clean the room. But when we returned that night, the cleaner had taken our clean towels and left only two. When I asked the front desk for one more since three of us were staying, the man refused with an attitude. Save your money and stay elsewhere. I won’t be back.

They advertised a free continental breakfast, but it wasn’t served because something was broken. We also had a room that smelled of smoke, then another that was filthy, with dirty fingerprints on the doors and mold in the tubs. We had to buy cleaning supplies to scrub the bathroom ourselves. I told the front desk what was going on, and he said he’d get a cleaner. An hour later someone came and said some maids were better than others. The guy at the desk later said he’d tried to give us an upstairs room the day before, so he knew the rooms were dirty. The next room was better, but we’ll never stay here again, convenient or not.