rednikki

I booked this hotel through Hotwire. I read TripAdvisor reviews the reveal, and I thought, "Well, I guess they must have improved the lodgings a lot in the past year." No. In the end, I wish I had gone with the Hotwire choice that would have put us at a nearby Days Inn. Either there's two drastically different sections to the Palm Garden Hotel, or they've somehow gotten a series of guests that aren't very choosy to post rave reviews. Our experience was much closer to every negative review I read than any positive review I read. We're forgiving people, so if it had been just one of the things on the list below, we would have let it pass. The combination of all of the below is symptomatic of something very wrong at the property. Issues included but were not limited to: - someone else's hair in our bathroom - a bunch of stains on the wall throughout the room (see photos) - pervasive smoke smell in our room - housekeeper banging on our door at 7:45am - damp carpet in the outer part of the bathroom - breakfast attendant tried to take our full breakfast dishes away the moment we sat down, before we even got the chance to eat anything - curtain falling off the rod I took photos, just to document it. The one bright side is that the hotel is convenient to the 101 and various things to do in Thousand Oaks. The front desk manager did seem sad, and gave the impression that he would have refunded our money if we'd booked directly rather than through Hotwire. After this experience, I am nervous about booking through Hotwire in the future.

Actually, it was HORRIBLE. One of the worst hotel stays I have ever had. I'll post a review because people should be warned.

HOTWIRE 3* Thousand Oaks, CA Palm Garden Hotel $64 2/18, 2 adults Amenities: Complimentary Breakfast Pool(s) Restaurant(s) Laundry Facilities High-speed Internet Access Golf Nearby "We are still gathering reviews for this property." 3.5 on TripAdvisor. (All those positive TA reviewers must have stayed at a different hotel!) Was not previously on Better Bidding list for Thousand Oaks.

I apologize! The dates of my stay are 5/9-5/11. (Yes, Saturday-Monday.)

I saw someone got one of the 3.5*s for $36, so that was my opening salvo. DENIED. I added Milwaukee South and upped it to $38. DENIED. (And William Shatner looked so encouraging!) I added Milwaukee North and upped my bid to $39. DENIED AGAIN! Oh, Bill, you said my deal was almost done. How could you mislead me so? I added Milwaukee Southwest, upped my bid to $40, and prayed no one had built a 3.5* hotel in one of the other zones, because that was going to be darn inconvenient. SUCCESS! $40 for the Hilton! (Although, I'll be honest...I was hoping for the Hyatt Regency because I like the brand. Although the location seems to be a six-of-one, half-dozen-of-the-other thing.) I used the Better Bidding PRICELINE link!