The Eureka Inn, Eureka, California

I’ve been planning on writing this article for a while & now seems like the perfect time. What makes a good hotel? Obviously everyone will have different opinions on this & it will certainly be different if you are not traveling with children. We are now used to staying in many different hotels & have had our share of good & bad. We cannot afford to stay in the top quality hotels but neither do we want to stay in a “dive.” Both Richard & I are more comfortable in a “Brand Name” simply because most times there is consistency of quality & service. Please note that I said, “Most times!” Every so often one of these hotels will disappoint but that is a rarity. Other times there are no brand name hotels where we are needing to stay so then we pick the best from what is available.

Most times though we stay in a Best Western, Quality Inn or a Comfort Inn? Why?

•  Most times these hotels are priced under $100 per night
• Clean & spacious rooms
• Free wireless internet
• Most have pools
• Free Breakfast
• Points accumulated for every stay earning us FREE nights

When feeding 5 of us on a trip free breakfast really is good value. If we have to go buy McDonalds for breakfast then that adds $30 to our daily budget. That can add up fast over several days. We all like a good hot breakfast of sausage & eggs when we are on the road. Sometimes we get our wish, sometimes we do not and we have proven that when the hotel is more erxpensive the worse the breakfast is. This is especially true with the BNest Westerns which doesn’t seem to make sense but if the Best Western is a PLUS rarely do they provide a hot breakfast so not quite sure what we are paying for.

SO if a hot breakfast is not available then there had better be whole wheat bread, butter & jelly available. The number of hotels now that only provide margarine is amazing. I cannot abide that stuff & refuse to eat it. The last two hotels we have stayed in have had “communal” butter & peanut butter etc. Not sure if that is just California as we have never seen that before but that is totally gross! I do not want to be taking butter from a block that 20 people & goodness knows how many flies have been using. Butter pats are not that expensive. If no decent bread & butter then waffles will have to do!

So what happened on Saturday evening? As I looked for a hotel to stay in on Saturday night the Eureka Inn caught my eye. The reviews were both good & bad but the place looked interesting enough to warrant a visit. The Eureka Inn is of course in Eureka, CA which is right on the Pacific Ocean. It is an historical hotel that was closed for several years but is now being renovated & open to the public. It sits up on a hill & is very impressive to look at:

The oldness of it hits you as you walk in the door but so does the coldness. No it is not cold temperature wise but it lacks ambience. The staff have obviously not been trained well as we were ignored for the first mninute or two whilst they carried on their conversation. That really annoys me. Saying that, the foyer is definitely just like one out of an old movie & the staff are in black striped vests.

This hotel was not cheap – $120 per night but the room was massive!

We were in one of the newly renovated rooms & I have to be honest in saying that I think they will have a hard time competing with the competition. Yes they have restored the rooms sort of but it is not done in the age of when it was built (1922) but what looks like the last renovation in the 70’s. The furniture is old & dug, our bathroom had yellow tiles around the bath etc. The paint job really leaves something to be desired. They state that they are the premiere hotel in Eureka! Sorry folks but you have that wrong. The internet was not working when we were there which was a blessing to us as I was really tired & needed some sleep BUT if I had had to do some business that evening I would not have been happy. Nor were the staff too bothered about getting it fixed.

Breakfast the next morning was OK but really nothing special & once again the room lacked warmth – just felt so cold.

Now I do realize that whoever owns this is probably on a tight budget like the rest of us. I can see that they are trying to earn some money to keep renovating & that makes perfect sense BUT they are going to have to add that extra special touch to encourage folks to come back. Even some music playing in the breakfast room would have helped. If I was the one doing the renovation & had plenty of money to spend I would redo the rooms in the period of 1922 obviously with the modern feel of electricity, TV, internet etc but let’s change out the sinks & the old brown formica tops from the 70’s & let’s get something period in there & please get rid of the yellow tiles & linoleum. That is awful – at least tile the floor!

Would I stay there again? Probably not due to the price & lack of value thereof. Would I recommend anyone else to stay there? Yes, if you are into historic places then this is one you will want to check out. The rooms are clean & the beds are comfortable & warm. Who knows? By the time you get to visit things may be different.

Liz