We have stayed in many hotels across the world with many being some pretty confined spaces in Europe. We have stayed in cheap motels in America that we expected to be a rough stay. If the hotel has a brand name attached to it and a somewhat good location and reputation we do expect it to not be so bad.

One example is a Best Western in downtown Cancun we thought it would be a good experience because of the brand name. The doors did not lock completely and seemed to open even when the lock was pulled tight. They didn’t have a deadbolt on the door of this motel which led us feeling unsafe.

You normally do not have a frightening experience when you stay at a Marriott or Hilton hotel for the most part. It is rare you do when you stay at a Wyndham, Best Western or Days Inn brand but sometimes it does happen based on location and hotel management.

The motel that tops our list for the absolute worst experience was the Wyndham Travelodge in San Francisco. This motel is located in a safe part of the city walkable to the historic Castro. The Castro area is an area that doesn’t really have any hotels you would need an AirBnb, an actual bed and breakfast, MisterBnb, or rent out someones room. What you have left are a few motels here and there. You will not see a Marriott or Hilton in this area.

The biggest name brand lodging near the Castro is a Wyndham Travelodge. We get that Travelodge is most likely a 2 or 3 star motel and we do not expect much but what we find at this location is absolutely unacceptable.

Day One of the stay we checked in to the room and on the way to the room had someone ask us for money in the parking lot. We then get inside the room where the heat was not working we then called down to the front to see if we can get someone to fix the heater as it was bone-chilling cold and windy that night in San Francisco. The heater was not putting out any heat and no one would answer the phone it would ring and ring.

We then walk over to the lobby and ask them in person to please fix the heater in the room. They said they would send maintenance over. We did not once see a maintenance nor even a security person at this location and both were needed.

In the news you always hear about the homeless problem in California with a focus on San Francisco. You just don’t know how bad it is until you stay in a motel such as this. While we waited on maintenance to come to the room and shivering in the cold we waited and waited and noticed people coming to the parking lot and just sitting in their cars. We also noticed homeless people laying on the stairs to the side of the room and no one would say anything to them.

Looking around the room the electric plug-ins are fire hazards and may shock people as they moved around in their sockets and have sticky debris inside and around them. It was not only unsafe but disgusting. The room was so unclean in many places we felt gross. The cabinets were absolutely disgusting with filthy drawers and filled with stains and grainy things we cannot even describe. I got a splinter in finger from a faulty drawer that is molded over and falling apart.

This was a weekend that we couldn’t just move to another hotel because everything was booked. At this point we were just hoping we could get maintenance to get the heater working and we could hopefully survive this stay.

A day goes by and still no maintenance. I called again on the sticky telephone provided in the room and it rang several times with no answer. I then decided to walk back over to the lobby and ask if we can please get this heater going. One the way back I was meet with possibly crack dealers outside in cars of the parking lot with broken liquor bottles never being picked up. Broken bottles everywhere. I have never seen a parking lot that was on such a busy street in the public eye and no one was bothered with all the homeless, drug activity, broken bottles, and debris.

Then night falls and it gets worse as we walk over to the ice machine. It’s located on the second floor in the middle of the motel which appears to be well lit. Within feet from the ice machine was a homeless person sleeping on the stairs. I thought maybe this would be a one time thing but it seems to be a campground for anyone who wants to sleep throughout the weekend. Walking back to my room I then was harrassed by someone who was yelling something at me and following me.

I quickly got to my cold room without a working heater and locked the door. If someone were to break into the room somehow there is no safe in the room. One of the most unsafe hotels i’ve stayed at in my entire life and there is no safe in the room. Did I mention there is no safe in the room.

Now let me tell you how much I payed for this experience. The stay averaged out to be $269 a night mainly because like I mentioned before it was walkable to the Castro in San Francisco and there are not any chain hotels in that area. While I did get a one night credit for the stay after calling in several times about the stay they did not offer anything in addition or points from Wyndham.

California is very regulated but in many cases it does not benefit the customer. Some of the problem here is that they cannot easily tear down a property such as this and rebuild it into a hotel that possibly has more rooms and is safe but yet affordable at the same time. This could be an overall problem in places such as San Francisco that have no idea how to handle the overwhelming homeless population nor deal with businesses that need to possibly have incentives to rebuild into something better for the community. Regulation can be good but California does it in areas such as this hoping for conservation of landmarks and older structures not giving thought to buildings such as this that need a redo without the hurdles of over regulation.

The bottom line is that this motel should be liable for being unsafe with no security (if they do they certainly were not there for us the ENTIRE stay), badly cleaned rooms, no safes, unresponsive maintenance, and the list goes on. The city of San Francisco and the state of California should also be held liable for their wrongs of not having closed this place down based on health concerns, not property looking after the homeless nor policing, and improper regulation. Wyndham hotels group also needs to look into letting go of properties that should not fall under their branding.