Clarion Hotel & Convention Center – Atlantic City West

Go to your car, find your local fleabag hooker motel or just sleep on the sidewalk. They are better options than this hotel. At least they tell you are crap upfront. Not this place. This place is well groomed, thinking you will be staying at a nice place. Do not be deceive by that.
I found this place through a deal with Atlantic City Half Marathon. If I had check the reviews first, I would see this place has a 1 ½ star rating average and never set foot. I was supposed to be here for a weekend and even though I already pre-​paid, I left and check into a much better HoJo’s next door.
The first signal I notice something was wrong when I was trying to get Wifi for the room. I couldn’t get any. I went downstairs to tell Front Desk. The down button didn’t work. So I had to walk down 1 floor and push the button there. Likewise, I told management about it. First, because it was raining, Wifi wasn’t work. Ask yourself, if you ever had a wifi system that couldn’t work because it was raining, would you keep it? The more bigger issue was the elevator. They told me they have maintenance on it. I was tired and didn’t worry too much.
The next day, a dry morning, wifi didn’t work. I woke up and push the down button, it still didn’t work. There was a new front desk person, Robyn, I told her everything. Robyn said she wasn’t inform about and let maintenance know. Talk about the weather again for the nonexistent wifi, even though was dry and then excuse herself for a call. Did not really show a sign she really cared or was going to fix things. I left to get my race packet and came back. I ask Robyn if it had been fixed, she said maintenance took care of it. I went to the elevator and test it to see if it work. It did not. I call her, she said she look into it with the same tone that pretty much said, «Maybe in 100 years, if I I have absolutely nothing better to do.»
That was it. I complain to the parent company, Choice Hotels. (It seems judging by the reviews on Unilocal over the last couple of months, no one at the hotel cares about the unhappy customers and their reputation is in the toilet and only the big boys can put an end to this if they want.) When I called to make my complaint, the customer service rep had told me they had me in the system as cancelling my reservation, which made no sense as I am currently in the hotel. I packed everything up and left.
Lucky, an elevator door was open in time and another person from the fourth floor joined me. As we came to the front desk, I noticed a bunch of customers at 3 in the afternoon around the front desk and none looked happy. Robyn seem flustered at all the unhappy customers, but was more interested in having them leave her alone rather than solve their problems. I told one customer I was checking out. He said I don’t blame you. The guy who joined me in the elevator. I warned him that the down button didn’t work. Robyn, whose job it was to tell him, certainly wasn’t going to tell him. He looked at Robyn and ask her what am I talking about? She told him, you just have to press the up button and it will open, sure, you may not be going in the direction you want, but eventually, you are going down. That’s some kind of Front desk service there, now is it? I recall Choice Hotels to let them know about Robyn’s brilliant advice to that customer.
If Choice Hotels does not take my complaint seriously, I will never go into a hotel that is owned by them. If Clarion is the type of service they offer, they are plenty of hotels around that care not just about the money but pleasing the customers.

The rooms were large and clean, but this hotel desperately needs to be updated. It has the bones to be a very nice, affordable option close to the AC action. A big issue for us was that although they have a decent breakfast, they didn’t have a full service restaurant. I have picky eaters and had to drive to McDonald’s to feed my kids. Having a refrigerator and microwave in the suites would have helped with my food delimma. Definitely not kid friendly. The pullout sofas were boarded up so it was really pointless to get a suite. The staff wasn’t rude, but they definitely didn’t go out of their way to provide great customer service.

The good: Rooms were clean, inexpensive.
The bad: Rooms were in need of renovation (wallpaper peeling, ceiling damage in my room, old tube TVs, furniture that needed to be retired); the wireless internet was down during my stay, room was musty, and it is on the edge of a not so great neighborhood (go a few blocks down the road and you’ll see what I mean); hotel staff was less than enthusiastic to be there.
The verdict: Never again. I was here because the better hotels were booked that week and the choices were extremely limited. Next time, I’ll drive further & avoid.

What’s not to like? As soon as I walked in the receptionist gave me a horrible attitude because I was checking in and not checking out. She rolled her eyes and told me she marked me as a no show and this would take a while to fix. Her negative attitude was ever so inviting. The hard beds are glorious. They would make for very sturdy bricks to build houses. They made the floor look quite inviting and much less painful. The people working there are rude and incompetent. The pleasant receptionist told us to shut the hell up and kiss her ass at one point after we asked her nicely to stop giving us an attitude and raising her voice at us. This place is downright horrid. If they spent less money making the lobby look so inviting maybe they could have made the beds a little more comfortable and the rooms less smelly. I recommend no one stay at this place ever. Your better off at a sketchy hotel with hookers. At least they will make you comfortable.

What a horrible experience! It all started by me calling eight times without being able to get a human being on the phone.
Then when we arrive we get told by the receptionist (Nicole) that she entered us in the computer as a no show even though we reserved a room earlier online that day. She then rolls her eyes at us and tells us we are going to have to wait. I found her to have been in a horrible mood when we got there and she was very rude. When I asked her how long this process would take, she said «If you want your money back, call
and tell them, I don’t care!» I said no its not that, and no need to be rude, I would just like to check in I’ve had a long day. Then comes «who are you calling rude?! You all can kiss my ass». I was shocked. I’ve never received such disrespect from someone in «customer service». I immediately asked to speak with a manager only to find that there wasn’t one on duty. I asked for his /​her name as I plan on complaining about Nicole’s horrible attitude.
Now for the bad part. I thought Nicole set us up with a room with double box springs as I hurt my head when I went to lay on the «mattress». I’m pretty sure the Egyptians used beds from the clarion to build the great pyramids. Stone would have been too soft.
It’s ashamed they dumped all of their money into a nice looking lobby that makes you think you are staying at a nice place, only to be greeted by NICOLE. She is a pretty horrible person to deal with and had personal problems that she obviously brings to work.
Almost forgot, the wifi doesn’t work, the elevator barely works, the ice machine on floor 5 doesn’t work, the list goes on. If you find yourself needing to book a room here anyway, I advise you to sleep in your car. I assure you it would be more comfortable and you wouldn’t have to deal with Nicole’s personal problems.

Awful doesnt begin to describe this place. Thankfully I only had to endure one night here but I still feel bad for my family who had to stay 3 nights.
Boy, has this place gone downhill. We stayed here with immense satisfaction years ago, but now I would tell everyone I know to pass on this place.
Living? Rooms: We had a two double bed suite with a separate room for couch and tv. The couch was uncomfortable and had a wooden board where I’m guessing either the springs or the pull out bed used to be. The carpets need to be replaced and the tv was the only redeeming part of the room.
Bathroom: Mold in some of the corners definitely did not impress my mom. Thankfully there was plenty of hot water for all of us, but mold and a bit of grimy tiles just didn’t do it for me.
The Bedroom: Mom’s bad back was exacerbated by terrible beds. I stayed on one with my sister. Awful. My back hurt when I woke up and was too glad I only had to suffer through one night. Beds definitely need to get replaced. And, while the sheets where sort of white, they didn’t have the fresh clean feeling to them. Meh.
Breakfast: What a disorganized system. The first morning they had everyone seated at tables while 1 person served every hungry diner in the hotel. According to my father, she would take orders then take them back to the poor overstressed and overworked cook. The food was meh. Powdered eggs and all. The waitress also failed to bring them drinks and her service was awful when she did have a breather. The second morning was only a bit better. This time they had us form a long long line, almost to the elevators, to wait for the buffet style food. The staff was quick to replace empty trays and the grits where the best thing on the table. The eggs were nasty. Once again, same lady failed to even come by our tables to get our drink orders. My dad eventually had to get up and get this disgusting fake orange juice. Overall, the service really left something to be desired.
The hotel itself was pretty sketchy. The room next to us was dark but the door was cracked open the whole three days my family stayed. Sketchy as hell. Also, the first room we were given, we had a door that was broken. After changing rooms, we saw the next day that some other poor guest was given that room. And I watched them fail to close and lock the broken door. Why give them a room when you know it’s messed up?
The Pool: The size of a kiddie pool. I’ve seen bigger backyard pools.
Also, they used to have a mini-​fridge in the suites. Even when I go to a comfort inn in backwoods areas they give you a mini-​fridge. Apparently, it was too much money to maintain. Well, it looked like the whole hotel was too much to maintain. Don’t even bother.

Other than the elevators that should be in a spooky movie, I enjoyed my stay here.
It was a quiet Thursday night so they gave me a suite. I would highly recommend upgrading if you can because the regular rooms have windows in the front which look out into the open concept hotel center. Every sound from below resonates and amplifies up the center of the hotel so I wouldn’t have been able to get the fantastic nights’ sleep that I did if I’d been in a regular room.
The suite had a separate sitting area with a TV, table and chairs, lounge chaise chair and a wet bar. This is where the window was. It was a nice area to relax. The bathroom was in the middle and was clean and bigger then most. And the bedroom was in the back with a window facing outside. The had pillows marked «hard» and «soft» so I knew which ones to use. So smart! Why doesn’t every hotel do this?
On my multi-​night trip, this was where I had my best night’s rest. It was about 15 minutes from Atlantic City and close to lots of restaurants. The breakfast was actually good and the server was extremely friendly. Both front desk clerks I interacted with were both very nice as well.
Not my favorite hotel but definitely nicer than most. If they only had, «I Survived The Elevator» t-​shirts…

Wow, what an outdated and poorly run hotel. Hotel looks like it hasn’t been updated since early 80’s. Food is weak — powdered eggs at the buffet. Air quality is poor and seems as if the filters in the AC system not recently changed. Staff is unmotivated and un responsive.
I won’t be back.