Balboa Inn, On the Beach

The area around The Balboa Inn is popular with tourists, close to the Newport/Balboa beach area. The hotel and rooms were clean, but it’s expensive for rooms furnished with cheap furniture that need more upkeep than the owners seem willing to provide. Our first room smelled like a sewer, so they moved us to a more suitable one. Its window blind was defective, and they temporarily covered the window with a sheet for privacy, which was okay. Breakfast was free but limited to small continental items, mainly one juice, some rolls, and cold cereal. They waived the usual $60 daily parking charge, which was nice and brought my rating up to three. My wife and I won’t return.

The tall blonde woman was the hotel’s saving grace. She was lovely to talk to and remembered us and why we were there. The rest of our stay was the worst hotel experience we’ve had, even compared with dingy hotels in the middle of nowhere in Iowa. Save your money and time. The room key barely worked at check-in, and the room had big chunks of missing paint, black fuzz on the sheets, and an 80-degree temperature. Our window faced three rooms but had no blind. After we complained and went to explore Balboa, our key stopped working altogether. Staff said they’d thought we were in another room and hadn’t fixed the blind, despite us filling out our contact information. They also said they had no way to contact us. About 25 minutes later, a boy thumbtacked a sheet over the window. At least something was done. The key kept giving us trouble, and the next day the shower had only two settings, hot and boiling. We didn’t complain again since we were leaving the next morning. At check-in, we’d been told a $50 incidental charge would drop off. At checkout, the man said we’d be charged $66 total for a $30-a-day resort fee, though the room was prepaid. I said there shouldn’t be a fee after all the problems. He shrugged and said he didn’t know about any of it. I said I’d call when the manager was there, and he just said okay. While we were packing the car and talking loudly, he ran outside, said it was his fault, and told us the $50 would be removed. We thanked him. We paid $55 for parking, though the inn offers valet at $60 a day. We never saw or heard of the free breakfast.

The room was closet-sized, had no fridge, and the old television had several buttons that didn’t work. The valet took forever and seemed not to care about the job. The online booking price also differed from what the desk quoted. Two nights came to around $900, and for that price I expected more than coffee and cereal for breakfast. Don’t come here. You can find a great hotel experience for a third of the cost.

The staff were amazing, and valet has become a must-have for our family. Breakfast was available, and housekeeping did a great job. With all our activities just steps away and the beach so close, the trip was wonderful. Staying at Balboa Inn was a great choice, and we won’t regret coming back.