HoJo - Should Be HoBo!
Written: Oct 13 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: I lived to tell about it
Cons: Everything!
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| longtoni's Full Review: Howard Johnson |
I needed a cheap place to stay near the airport in San Francisco. I decided on HoJo's. What a mistake! The location, 222 S. Airport Blvd., used to be a Vagabond Inn and it looked every bit of it! I got a room with a King-sized bed and a bathroom for $100/night! That was the cheapest place I could find on such short notice for that weekend.
I was told that they served Continental breakfast, but I tried not to get excited. Every place that has claimed to serve Continental breakfast has left me with one question: this is breakfast from what continent?!! The breakfast at HoJos consisted of stale bread (lemon poppy seed, banana nut, etc.), juice from concentrate dispensed from one of those little machines and old coffee. I swear they use the grinds at least 3 times before throwing them away.
The room was small and the bathroom was tiny, like an airplane lavatory. The shower didn't function properly. It was one of those bathtub-shower combos where you pull up on the knob and the showerhead is activated and the faucet is deactivated. Well, water came from the showerhead AND from the faucet. So, I ended up taking a shower standing in 3 inches of water. The towels were like sandpaper. I noticed that one of the bath towels had a stain on it. I was like: “Okay, that happens. Sometimes stains don’t wash out.” Well, this was a fresh coffee stain! To make matters worse, the toilet got backed up and I had to use one of their wooden hangars to get it working again. There was mildew on the shower tiles and the shower curtain looked like a mildew experiment gone bad … very bad!
If this wasn’t bad enough, on both mornings, I was awakened before 9am by some crazy maintenance person banging on the door to check the bathroom. Once was too much … twice was insane!
The bed was nice and large and I was able to fall asleep. But that couldn't make up for all the other shortcomings. I left this place completely exhausted. I felt dirty and cheated! I felt like I had believed the hype of the commercials only to be led into hell. I hope not all HoJos are like this one and I’m sure they aren’t. However, this was my first time staying at a Howard Johnsons and first impressions being what they are, it was probably the last. My advice, avoid this location like the plague. I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID: longtoni
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Member: Toni
Location: Pasadena
Reviews written: 62
Trusted by: 27 members
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