La Quinta Inn by Wyndham Ventura

Once we finally got the room we paid for, it was spacious and clean. And it's dog friendly. The staff was friendly and accommodating.

They didn't have the room we booked when we arrived, so we were put into a terrible double that they claimed was non-smoking but smelled strongly of smoke (and was wedged between nonsmoking rooms). The beds were canoes and the pillows were equally uncomfortable. The poor girl handling reception was apparently the only employee working at the time and the check-in line was several families strong. I had to return to the front desk because the first two sets of key cards completely didn't work. While the staff was great, they were definitely overworked. The whole place seemed mismanaged.

It was clean, but I was stuck with a smoker's room

Clean, with no apparent flaws, except for what I listed.

The rooms were tight when I arrived. When I opened the room, a stale smell of smoke greeted me. I looked at the TV cabinet and saw an ashtray. I lived with it knowing how full it was. Upon leaving I asked the front desk staff whether this room had ever been used for smoking. She replied "no, but I would give you credit to your account, but you booked though Kayak and we cannot help you". This was the frustrating part.