I just wanted to warn fellow Fodor posters about the Mariner's Inn By The Sea at Moonstone Beach in Cambria.

We checked on Wednesday evening and were immediately faced with disappointment. The man at the desk told us that the room had a fireplace and jacuzzi tub and was recently renovated. The room rate was $150, but with those amenities, we thought it would be worth it. Well when we got to the room, we found that the renovation was in progress, but definitely not complete.

The new tile floors had been installed in the bathroom and by the entry, but then there was a 2 inch drop down to old carpet. The room also had intense new paint fumes. Then after entering the bathroom, I found the drywall had been ripped off the wall and there were wires sticking out of uncovered holes in the wall.

We went down to the front office to deny the room. Unfortunately the guy at the front desk came back in with a bad attitude. He said that he was going to charge us $25 since he expected that we had just checked in to use the bathroom and he was charging us a toilet cleaning charge. When we politely complained that the room was not up to his description and that the paint fumes were bad, he said that he didn't appreciate his rooms being insulted and was tacking on a $25 insult charge. So at that point it was going to cost $50 for a 5 minute stay in the room. The man was verbally threatening and declined us the use of his phone. He then said that he had changed his mind and wasn't going to reverse the charge.

Needless to say, I'll be contesting the charge with my credit card company and will be contacting the local chamber of commerce and AAA. But I wanted to warn my fellow posters.

Disappointed,

Are you a troll or a disgruntled ex-employee of the Mariner's Inn?

Why would you think this was a troll posting or a disgruntled employee? It sounds like a truly bad experience. I appreciate when regulars post and advise us of hotels that should be avoided.

Personally I love spending time in Cambria, but will make sure not to book a room at this hotel in the future. Bad service doesn't make for a good vacation.

That is too bad. Drop them a line and let them know what bad press they are getting. It might help getting the money back.

A toilet cleaning charge and an insult charge?!? Now if this isn't a troll my name isn't X!

No, I'm not a troll. I would never be so creative to come up with a bathroom and insult charge on my own. That's what was so ridiculous about my run in with the front desk clerk.

I stay up on the Central Coast atleast 2 or 2 times a year. The hotels that I normally stay at were booked due to Spring Break, so I had to try some place new. I guess next time, I'll just change my travel schedule if I can't get into one of my old standards.

I just wanted to warn other travelers to avoid this facility, so that they didn't have to endure the same type of problems that I faced.

ttt

Did you give the management the chance to right the situation or did you just jump right in to complain here? I've always found all Cambria hotels to be of a very high standard. I'll be interested to hear what other steps you took. Sounds like a crazy situation. Where did you ultimately end up?

Sorry, but I'm not biting. If this really is an "insult charge" issue then the credit will be charged back so fast there's no reason to post this. Methinks mesmells a troll.

I don't think it's a troll. Sounds legit to me. Glad to know where to stay away from. Thanks!

We're a middle aged couple who travels quite frequently. We were very polite in our explanation that with my husband's asthma problem, we couldn't afford to risk it with the new paint fumes. Unfortunately some people just don't offer good customer service.

The desk clerk came down to the desk wearing an undershirt and smelled like he had plenty to drink that evening.

He wrote up the insult charge on a charge slip. Needless to say, we were able to get our credit card company to reverse the charges today.

I've contacted the local chamber of commerce. But unfortunately I wasn't able to track down the owner's name to contact them and let them know that their help is scaring off the customers.

Oh this just gets better and better...

Asthma?

Drunken, smelly, underdressed clerk?

Unable to get owner's name?

And yet you (supposedly) checked into this place!? Yeah, right...

Seems pretty stupid to me as well. Just dispute the card charge and move on.

Unfortunately I missed this post before my recent stay in Cambria. Like the original poster, I had a really bad experience at the Mariner's Inn. It looks fine on the website and from the outside. After checking in, we found our room to be dirty and in disarray. It wasn't easy to get our charges reversed. I had to call my credit card company right there on the spot. Avoid this place!