Best Western San Benito Inn

We went as a family and rented several rooms, however, the hotel does not have a designated space to share and talk during the day, the only space is breakfast and they close it at 9am. To be able to talk we would all have to go into a room and sit all on the bed and chairs. There are no shared spaces even at the reception.

We were not planning to stay here but due to a screwup at the Fairfield Inn, they got us a room here for one night. I cannot say the last time I have stayed at a Best Western as it’s a motel and we tried to make the best of out of bad situation. We got a room on the first floor, so a bonus was we only had to walk 5 seconds to get into our room. My daughter loves to swim and the front desk person (which was nice) warned us the outdoor pool may be cold and that was an understatement. We are used to cold hotel pools, but this was pretty bad, and we only lasted fifteen or so minutes before getting out. For the room itself, it was fine, and it included a refrigerator and microwave. The TV must have been new, as it was stuck in the ‘demo’ mode as while we would watch a movie, message would occasionally come up talking about the different features. The breakfast was not great as we are used to the selection at a Holiday or Hampton Inn, as they only had a small number of options. Overall, it was passable but if back in the area we will hit the Holiday Inn Express.

When I flew into California and drove away in a rental car, I discovered I had lost my drivers license at the airport. I had a photocopy of it, and didn't encounter unusual problems on my 5-day trip - EXCEPT at this motel in Hollister, where I had a reservation for Sept 22. The stony-faced receptionist woman told me right away - "You're not staying here unless you show an original drivers license or passport." I had lots of other ID - credit cards, health and auto insurance cards, library card, etc, even a photocopy of my passport, but she never budged an inch. And she never expressed any sympathy, or apologized that "this is company policy" or whatever. In fact, the on-line company policy says NOTHING about ID requirements. So I went to another motel and got right in. If you're looking for hospitality, stay away from this place.