Something weird is going on at the Travelodge La Mesa. I thought our experience was absolutely bizarre and horrible, but if you look for other comments on Google or travel sites they describe exactly the same scenario, going back years! I found more than 40. Everyone says "I can't believe what just happened!" I looked at other Travelodge reviews, to see if this kind of thing just happens at budget hotels, but no. Only this hotel has dozens of these nightmare reports in multiple reviews on multiple sites.
Here is what happens: You check into the hotel, or try to check in, and then they "catch" you doing something. This might include parking 2 cars in their empty parking lot (one car violation!), or having a baby and 4 adults in a room (four persons max!), or having a visitor (sneaking in!). In our case my wife checked in, sent an adult and two children up to the room, and then went to get a pizza. When she came back, the manager confronted her at the entrance and said "Get out, you can't stay here!" Apparently her crime was sending someone else in with the key and intending to put 2 adults and 4 small children in a room. Surrounded by belligerent hotel employees she never made it past the lobby. Then they tried to keep our other 2 children in the lobby while she cleared out the room (What, hostages?!). They intended to put 4 children out on the street at 10PM, but she insisted on getting the number of another hotel. So they sent her to an even worse SRO hotel where the night clerk offered her drugs at check in and the hooker next door had a busy night. Nice job Travelodge! To be fair, I booked the hotel online and it just listed two adults. It is not unreasonable to want to clarify the reservation. At a normal hotel they might want you to pay an extra guest charge, or pay for a roll-away bed, or offer you another room, or, being jerks, insist one adult and child stay somewhere else.
Is the risk of a paranoid manager ruining your vacation worth a two star hotel room?
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