Howard Johnson Inn - Panama City (US98)

Budget hotel facing the bay with scummy beach

Typical hotel room, had dirty bathroom w/exhaust fan that didn't work with a dusty cover. A glance at the ceiling revealed a heat lamp with 3 bulbs that were partially covered with black mildew. The sheets and comforter appeared to be clean at first glance but the blankets which were of a beige polyester material had the telltale round burn marks where someone used them as an ashtray to snuff the life out of a few cigarettes. The view outside of the hotel room was beautiful and faced the bay – I decided to take a step outside which required the lifting of an aluminum security bar on the sliding glass door at the rear of the room. I reached down to figure out how the latch mechanism on the sliding door would work to unlock it and noticed that whether it was locked or unlocked it would still open. The “catch” on the frame of the door was loosely held by two rusty screws and didn’t do its job. This is a security risk for a female staying alone.
As I walked outside of the patio, which had two plastic patio chairs, I headed towards the beach and noticed that there were beer bottles and other rubbish that were just behind the green-topped gazebo and deck that were nearby the beach. The beach itself was filthy and there were cigarette cartons and a submerged bottle of Jack Daniels could be seen about 4 feet from the waters edge. I took photos of a broken bottle that was held together by a beer label. The water crept up to the beach and flowed into foul-smelling green pools of algae around the sand bars. Wearing a pair of water shoes I didn’t know whether it was better to sink in up to my knees in foul smelling sand or walk in the pools and sink in to my knees in foul-smelling green muck. Surprisingly there were a few people sunbathing on the beach who probably thought that this bay area was the actual gulf.

Unique Quality: The room also contained a very flimsily mounted and constructed curtain rod which fell three times during my stay. The first time the curtain rod fell I put it back up myself but the second time I reported it to the front desk and they sent out a maintenance worker who put it back up. What a lousy design! The curtain rod was held in place by two coin-like things on a pivot that catch into a small rail on the curtain rod—the slightest touch and they would fall. The third time the curtain rod fell I was sitting in my room at night and a security guard who was patrolling the grounds at about 10:00 at night tapped on my sliding glass door with a flashlight and said, “You come with me RIGHT NOW!! We are reporting this!! That cost $100 !!!” He thought that I had deliberately knocked the curtain rod down and after I explained that I was over 30 years old and demonstrated that it was flimsy he calmed down and was very respectful and helped me hang the curtain rod again. After the curtain rod fell on him two times he realized that it was garbage. I can understand his attitude at the time because of all the rowdy high school kids but it was upsetting and could have been handled in a more professional manner. The way this guard approached this situation initially could have sparked a violent response from a different hotel guest. Some additional customer service training would be helpful here. I got the impression that this security guard had dealt with problems like this in the past. Just in case of legal reprisal I photographed the entire curtain rod and its mounting system and showed it to the clerk