Flamingo Motel

I stayed here 3 times before the pandemic and had great experiences. It was family owned and about 20% of the rooms were rennovated each offseason. The beds were comfortable; AC worked well; decent showers; soda machines stocked; pools were nice; staff friendly; you were given free tickets to Jolly Rogers,with your stay.
NOW IT IS UNDER NEW OWNERSHIP AND HAVE STOPPED MAINTAINING THE MOTEL WHICH WAS IN ATTROCIOUS CONDITION. My last stay I noted was the grout around the outdoor pool was crumbling. Thee key card door lock short circuited ( we were locked out for hours and then given 1 actual key for multiple people for the last 3 days; promised a refund of $100 but it was not honored). Also AC was leaking; refrigerator was not working right; carpet was mildewy; floor was always damp; hot water did not work right ( luke warm ); sink was half clogged; towels were clearly several years old and needed replacing. Also soda machines were always sold out of most products.Of course the complimentary Jolly Rodgers tickets were eliminated. Senior staff member said he was quitting at the end of the season - cited new owners were not doing upkeep or servicing vending machines or purchasing towels; no budget for staff and all good handy men had quit. He said the new owners ( would not say who they were) had bought multiple properties . I suspect they want to let them run down and then sell to a chain. Was what happened to Sea Voyager - the motel I stayed at the first time I went to OC. They sold to LaQuinta. OC allows this to happen to their properties.

This was the worst room we’ve ever stayed at. I had to wait to write my review until our bank got our money back. When walking into the room I gagged from the smell. We had a carpeted room and the carpet was so dirty it made towels that touched the ground BLACK. The original color of the carpet was dark blue but from years of abuse and NO CLEANING EVER the floor was BROWN AND BLACK the entire carpet had a texture and stickiness to it no matter where you walked in the room. We had to keep our shoes on the entire time. The front desk women were incredible and so sorry. Had us leave for a full day to clean the carpet only for us to come back to it being the exact same just WET. the smell was so terrible we had to sleep with the balcony doors open. I have chronic diseases and woke up to asthma attacks. When we tried to just check out and cut vacation we got told all this bs that it would be fixed and it never was. Also told us they would help anyway they could then the owners didn’t even offer us a full days refund for a weeks stay. We were also told that they were aware how bad the carpets were and Stanley was out to deep clean them several times but nothing worked so they were tearing all the carpets out and going to hard floors for next season. Please stay anywhere but here.

We loved our stay and would stay again. The staff was not friendly at check in, check out, or when we got coffee in the morning. The outdoor pool was great. The view was awesome. We loved the balcony. We hung out there much of our vacation. The cleaning staff that cleaned our room was great!!! Very happy overall. Negatives were the toilet was loose as well as the toilet seat, there was a patch on the door that needed to be smoothed out and painted. The balcony door had broken parts (but still worked), and the couch had been removed and nothing put in its place. Also, no coffee maker in the room is inconvenient, as we like to have coffee in our pajamas in our room.