Continental Lodge

I just needed somewhere to sleep, not a luxury stay, and Continental lodge was perfect. It’s easy to get to a simple but comfortable room. The proprietor takes real pride in this gem of a motel. He showed me rooms upstairs with clean carpets and ground-floor rooms with clean hardwood floors; I picked the ground floor. Everything worked, including the outlet by the bed, WiFi, blackout curtains, and upgraded sink. Exquisitely clean. Five stars!

The room was clean, quiet, and comfortable, which was a relief since I hadn’t expected much given the low price. There’s a small free parking lot, but we never saw it fill up. The employee who checked me in was friendly, as friendly as you can be through a glass barrier. The office door was locked whenever I went by, but they buzzed me in promptly when I rang. I’d stay again.

The room looked great for what we paid and was very clean. The staff did a good job tidying it up, though there were no shower towels and barely any water pressure. There wasn’t a do not disturb option, so housekeeping came in the next day and brought towels. At the desk, the booking turned into a long, frustrating wait. We’d booked through Expedia seven hours before arriving in Oakland, but the woman said there was nothing in the system. Another man said it would take 15 minutes to show up. I explained that we’d already paid hours earlier, but he interrupted me, got frustrated, told me to wait, and walked away. It was 3am after traveling all night, and we were stuck waiting in the lobby. I tried to clarify that the reservation was under my name but paid on another group member’s card; he got annoyed again because that cardholder’s name wasn’t in the system. Eventually, after a lot of wasted time, he found the reservation and we went upstairs. The room was nice, but the man at the counter put me in a bad mood.

The bed and pillows were incredibly comfortable, and everything was immaculately clean. No trouble at the front desk. We arrived and left in the dark, so I couldn’t really see how sketchy the neighborhood was, but I felt safe. There was some street noise, though it wasn’t too bad, still better than my husband’s snoring.