Candlewood Suites Turlock by IHG

Clean, basic, pricey for area and value Part of the IHG group of hotels. Stayed during our visit to the annual Turlock Swap Meet. I figured being a part of the holiday Inn chain and being more expensive than Holiday Inn Express, that it would be a good place to stay. Everything else in town was sold out and I was able to secure one king room for one night. I would rate it comparable to Holiday Inn Express with the following exceptions; there is no complementary breakfast or snack of any kind. There is complementary coffee or you could purchase a tangerine for a dollar or an oatmeal canister for a couple dollars. All in all the stay was what I consider good with exception of the price, I paid $220 Per night. Expensive for the location and customer value received.

Worst customer service in decades I had reserved a room through "Booking" for Sat. 9/17, and paid the indicated amount on 9/9/22. I arrived on Sat. afternoon, 9/17, to check in, and was told that they had no reservation for me. No problem. I had made a copy of my "Booking" receipt and presented it to a heavy-set woman who identified herself as Corrina. On the receipt was indicated the amount paid, the date paid, the reservation date, the confirmation #, and the pin code. She indicated that there was nothing that she could do, As I argued my (obvious) case she became increasingly belligerent, concluding with "not my problem, call THEM if you want to". I ended up paying (a second time now) for the room using my debit card (class reunion, I had to have a room). Horrible experience. This "stellar employee" should never be allowed to interact with customers. I am now forced to take necessary steps to recover my money.

Somewhat so-so To start with the good; the staff was very friendly and helpful. I had an internet issue and they fixed it for me quickly. I like that your kitchen implements are already in the room and you don't have to request them as in so many suites these days. The location is very good. Lots of quick restaurants and a big Safeway very close by. The Wifi was so-so. Speeds definitely vary, but by and large it's better than many hotels who want to charge you $5 a day for the privilege of having better than dial up speeds. The water pressure was decent. Linens and terris were just fine, The bad: If you are used to sleeping on any kind of modern bed, beware. I can only describe their beds as "very firm" in that a spring sticking into your ribs might feel a bit firm. The computer chairs are horribly uncomfortable. If you spend a lot of time working on your computer during the work day, like I do, bring a pillow to sit on or something. It made me long for a standing desk. All around I'm sad to say I'm going to try another suite in town while I'm there for work for the next few weeks.

Horrible Stay! I stayed here for a family situation. All I can say is STAY AWAY! From the moment I checked in, everything just went downhill from there. Check in time is 3pm, I arrived at 3:40pm and was told my Room was not ready. 20 minutes later, it was. The agent told me that a $100 deposit was required for “incidentals”. He also said the “the computer system was down so he had to write my Credit Card info on a piece of paper. I was reluctant to do so since writing down someone’s CC info could be accessed. He promised me the paper would be shredded, and I took his word for it. When he assigned me my Room, he literally “yelled out” the number that I was staying in. Coming from the Hospitality Industry, I know that this is a definite NO! I requested an upper floor room when I made the Reservation weeks ago, but was given a 1st floor room by the elevator and Laundry facilities. I asked the Front Desk agent if another room was available, but I was told “NO”. The room was fairly clean but noisy. The Room above me had someone pounding the floor all night. No sleep at all. When I checked out, I saw the same piece of paper that he wrote my CC info on. I informed the AM agent(who said she was the Front Desk Manager), that I was previously told it would be shredded. She didn’t give me an answer to my question. I also told her that my card was charged 3x for the $100 deposit, which she said would be “washed out” in 7-10 days. She said “really? 3 times? Not sure why that happened.” I asked for the General Manager and she said she was working the graveyard shift that evening and was not available. After I left I called the IHG Corporate Number, who informed me the GM would be contacting me. It’s been 12 days, and still no call back. NEVER AGAIN will I stay here!! Beware!

BED BUGS The room had bed bugs which shows poor cleaning procedures for the rooms especially during this time when IHG had stated increased cleaning procedures for COVID. This hotel had cut the hours of their housekeeping staff according to the front desk even though the hotel was at or nearly to capacity. I found this out when asking for a late checkout they could not accomadate. How can a hotel increase it's cleaning procedures when at capacity cutting housekeeping by 3 hours a day? The answer is they can't, hence why they now have a bedbug infestation that was not caught due to an overwhelmed housekeeping staff, this is very concerning. Management also knew this was a problem, I had to complain several times prior to being contacted even. The hotel has a make it right policy and they gave me 5000 points or 1/4 of a nights stay, this did not even come close to making up for the nightmare I indured. My skin was on fire for a week and I had to deep clean all my belongings and car. As a spire member who spends 75+ nights in IHG hotels they treated me this poorly. I have been loyal to them for 4 years spending over $30,000 during my business travel, IHG has permanently lost my business. I also know that if I wasn't a spire member they would have fully ignored me which is what they tried to do in the beginning.