Lincoln City, Oregon is a coastal town without major chain hotels. Yes, you can find a chain like a Best Western without a problem, but no Marriotts, Starwoods or Hiltons. We opted, instead to find a nice independent hotel through Google and Booking.com. We stumbled across The Coho Lodge, which looks like a motel on the ocean. Definitely a motel (v. hotel), but it had pretty good reviews online and the price was right, so we booked it.
The GPS had no problem finding this place either, unlike the lodge near Crater Lake, of course. We arrived around 18h30 and the lobby was packed with other guests. Most people were looking at the movie rental book, the lodge/motel has a large three ring binder listing DVDs that are available to borrow while you are staying. Interesting idea — but not something I would do. If I’m on vacation, I don’t want to sit around and watch movies in the room. Probably a good idea for people with kids though.
One couple was ahead of us to check in. The front desk clerk was very skittish — she was one of those people if you yell “BOO” she would probably yelp and maybe cry. I didn’t yell “BOO”. The check in process was thorough…a little too thorough. It took the couple in front of us about 15 minutes to get their keys. The clerk explained (in excruciating detail) where to find your room, where to park, how the movie rental system worked (find a title in the book and tell the clerk the corresponding number…not rocket science), where the pool was, when the included breakfast started and what was there (pancakes, fruit, waffles….blah, blah, blah), how the ocean front fire pits work.
Once this couple was finished checking in, it was our turn. The clerk asked if we heard the check in speech, which we had. She laughed and said “Oh good, this will be fast then!”, she then proceed to tell us the exact same thing she told the prior couple. The 15 minute check in lecture begins.
Since I didn’t have enough time listening to this nice, but verbose woman speak, I asked for recommendations for dinner. She was almost at a loss. Her number one recommendation (in an ocean front town surrounded by fishing boats) was to go to a new pizza place that she’d never been to or heard a review of. Hmmm, not the best, eh?
The clerk was also excited that we were given the room we were. She said we’ll really like it because it will be quiet. It will be quiet she further explained because they NEVER let kids or dogs stay in the room. Hmmm, how would the fact that previous guests not being allowed to have kids or dogs in that room make it quieter for us. As long as they aren’t still in the room, it shouldn’t matter. I just don’t follow.
Now to the room. It was very huge, clean and HOT. The room had a nice king bed and a seating area near the large sliding doors. Outside of the sliders was a small seating area overlooking the ocean. Just below our seating area was the fire pits (which we got very detail instructions on how to use).
The room had a TV and a DVD player, which is probably why the in house video rental was so popular. A mini fridge, sink and coffee pot were in the corner as well. In the far corner of the room there was a fireplace – which was putting out an enormous amount of heat – even with just the pilot light on. We had to open up both the front door and the sliders to get a cross breeze and drop the temperature to be a bit more manageable.
The bathroom was large with a separate tub and shower. There was ample hot water and the water pressure was pretty good. The bathroom also had shutters that opened the room into the living area. I don’t like this, I think the bathroom should be private and sealed off. I understand people might want to have a view of the ocean or hell, even the TV from the tub, but other things go on in the bathroom and a shutter doesn’t provide proper privacy in my mind.
This room did have two of my hotel pet peeves though: No power outlets at the nightstands and a stained/dirty duvet cover. We had to plug our phones in across the room (not a major issue, just a slight annoyance). The duvet looked like it had a grease stain – not as gross as the blood/nail polish stain at the Westin, Alexandria Virginia. All in all, definitely something we could live with.
The real question: Would we stay here again? Absolutely. The rate was good, the room was pretty nice and the sunset views were amazing. We can look past my hotel pet peeves and the shutters in the bathroom and would stay here again. When you visit Lincoln City, where do you stay? Do you have a list of hotel pet peeves that you often run into when traveling? Are you as surprised as I am at how often you see stained duvets and bed skirts? How often to you borrow movies from the hotel when on vacation? Be the first to know when a new post is published: sign up to receive them via email or directly in your RSS Reader. Follow me on Twitter or Google Plus too!
