The Islander Motel

The bathroom had mold everywhere, and the room smelled moldy as soon as I walked in. I wasn’t planning to spend much time there, so I tried to let it go. The curtains didn’t cover the whole window, either. They charged me for parking in their lot and for an extra space, even though two adults were checked into the room. When I reviewed the stay on the booking site, the response was, “why didn’t you notify the front desk,” as if they could come build me a new room.

I’ve never seen a worse hotel. I booked by phone, and nobody mentioned the extra $100 security deposit. Then I got to the room and found bedbugs all over. It smelled like mold and mildew, so I asked for a full refund. The staff member was rude, ignored us, punched out, and left. She said she had to call the manager, but no manager ever spoke with us, so I think she lied. I posted photos of the bugs, and I have a video showing a tiny one crawling. They use a service called the reservations desk to book rooms, which is a joke too. They refused to refund them, then refused to refund me. They promised a 50% refund, but I got nothing. I’ll post a photo of a voicemail from the lovely reservation desk.

After driving seven hours, I walked into the room and was hit by the worst black mold smell I’ve ever experienced. I have asthma and got sick right away, so I had to use my inhaler. I bought the room through booking.com and sent photos of the mold when I tried to reach them. They told me to talk to the front desk because they weren’t getting an email back. I ended up sitting in my car outside because I couldn’t stand being in the room. The office offered to show me two others, but both had mold and seemed just as bad, maybe worse. They wouldn’t refund me, so I left the keycard on the counter and went to find somewhere else for the night. After struggling to find another room, I came back and said I’d take the room with the least mold. The worker was on the phone with her manager, who said I’d get a full refund and everything back. They returned my $100 incident money and said the rest would be transferred to my card. It’s been over a month and I still haven’t received that refund. They were rude, and after this experience I’ll never stay at a hotel again. If, like me, you’re looking for a cheaper option, don’t buy here. Get an Airbnb for the same price.

Being just two blocks from the beach was great. The room was nice and clean, and the bed was comfortable. The shower was clean and easy to step in and out of, though the TV was in a weird spot for watching from bed. Check-in at 3:30 pm was a bit of a pain with checkout at 11:00 am. Vending machines, an ice maker, and a coffee maker would improve the place.