We recently made the trip as a family to San Diego to see my grandson graduate from the Marines. My son-in-law booked a package deal thru Expedia for the airfare and a "suite" at the Sunshine Suites at Midway that showed to be minutes from the base. The photos of the place on the website looked nice enough, nothing fancy. When we arrived late in the day on Wednesday we drove to the 'suites' that were advertised as an 'Art Deco lodge' with amenities.
What we found was a 1970's apartment building that was being rehabed with two murky looking pools. We were shown to a two bedroom one bath (we'd asked for two baths) apartment on the 3rd floor with a window A/C unit in the living area only - nothing in the bedrooms. At first we thought, oh well it's not what we wanted, but it's only for a few days and it's close to the base. So we unloaded the car and settled in then left for dinner. Driving thru the area looking for a nice resturant, every other business on the street was a bar, massage parlor or a strip club. (we had children with us and were very uncomfortable)
Upon returning, the aparment was still not cooled down but it was late so we got ready for bed. I went to take a shower and the shower head was installed extremely short, I had to duck to get my head under and I'm only 5'2" tall. My daughter pulled back the sheets in their room and found loose skin, part of someones 'weave' and what looked like hair from 'down under' so to speak all over the mattress. After calling, it took them 45 minutes to bring up clean sheets which they just handed to my daughter and she had to change the disgusting dirty sheets.
We finally made it to bed only to be woken numerous times during the night by sirens and people talking, laughing and just generally making themselves a nuisance just down below where our windows were. (I also found that the window in the second bedroom did not lock).
We had to get up early on Thursday to go to Family Day at the base, but as soon as we got back to the 'suite' we all agreed we could not stay there another night. My son-in-law called them and explained that we were not comfortable nor was the 'suite' as advertised and we would be checking out and requested a refund.
They stated that we could check out at any time but that they would not be giving him a refund. After much discussion, he called Expedia and explained the situation hoping they might have some pull with the owners, but to no avail.
While he worked with Sunshine and Expedia, my daughter got on the phone and found a Raddison that was a bit further out, but in a much more family friendly location and we went there. It was clean, the windows locked and we stayed there the next two nights.
My son-in-law continues to work with AmEx to try to get a refund on the three nights we declined to stay.
Sunshine Suites leases a few of these old rundown apartments in terrible areas, does some superficial redecoration and then rents them to unwary travelers. (As we say in Texas, you can put lipstick on a pig - it's still a pig)
Oh, and besides the room charge, they also charge you parking and cleaning.
They had a gate and a padlock arrangement on the vending machines - I think that pretty much sums it up about the area.
Sunshine Suites At Mid City Reviews
We recently made the trip as a family to San Diego to see my grandson graduate from the Marines. My son-in-law booked a package deal thru Expedia for the airfare and a "suite" at the Sunshine Suites at Midway that showed to be minutes from the base. The photos of the place on the website looked nice enough, nothing fancy. When we arrived late in the day on Wednesday we drove to the 'suites' that were advertised as an 'Art Deco lodge' with amenities.
What we found was a 1970's apartment building that was being rehabed with two murky looking pools. We were shown to a two bedroom one bath (we'd asked for two baths) apartment on the 3rd floor with a window A/C unit in the living area only - nothing in the bedrooms. At first we thought, oh well it's not what we wanted, but it's only for a few days and it's close to the base. So we unloaded the car and settled in then left for dinner. Driving thru the area looking for a nice resturant, every other business on the street was a bar, massage parlor or a strip club. (we had children with us and were very uncomfortable)
Upon returning, the aparment was still not cooled down but it was late so we got ready for bed. I went to take a shower and the shower head was installed extremely short, I had to duck to get my head under and I'm only 5'2" tall. My daughter pulled back the sheets in their room and found loose skin, part of someones 'weave' and what looked like hair from 'down under' so to speak all over the mattress. After calling, it took them 45 minutes to bring up clean sheets which they just handed to my daughter and she had to change the disgusting dirty sheets.
We finally made it to bed only to be woken numerous times during the night by sirens and people talking, laughing and just generally making themselves a nuisance just down below where our windows were. (I also found that the window in the second bedroom did not lock).
We had to get up early on Thursday to go to Family Day at the base, but as soon as we got back to the 'suite' we all agreed we could not stay there another night. My son-in-law called them and explained that we were not comfortable nor was the 'suite' as advertised and we would be checking out and requested a refund.
They stated that we could check out at any time but that they would not be giving him a refund. After much discussion, he called Expedia and explained the situation hoping they might have some pull with the owners, but to no avail.
While he worked with Sunshine and Expedia, my daughter got on the phone and found a Raddison that was a bit further out, but in a much more family friendly location and we went there. It was clean, the windows locked and we stayed there the next two nights.
My son-in-law continues to work with AmEx to try to get a refund on the three nights we declined to stay.
Sunshine Suites leases a few of these old rundown apartments in terrible areas, does some superficial redecoration and then rents them to unwary travelers. (As we say in Texas, you can put lipstick on a pig - it's still a pig)
Oh, and besides the room charge, they also charge you parking and cleaning.
They had a gate and a padlock arrangement on the vending machines - I think that pretty much sums it up about the area.