Thunderbird Lodge

Clean, very comfortable, set off from road so quiet. Furnishings are new; with a microwave, fridge, and coffee pot. Staff was efficient, professional and polite. When you need to be in Riverside and near UC Riverside this motel is perfect since right on University Drive.

I stayed recently with a coworker while working In the area. The front counter receptionist was friendly and professional. She accidentally put us in a room that had a special treatment done so the floors and carpets were wet. I didn’t notice until about 30 minutes after we entered the room since I was unpacking my things. Once I removed my shoes I immediately noticed the carpet was wet since it soaked my socks. I called the front desk and there was a different person there due to a shift change but she was also friendly and immediately jumped into action. She asked me to give her a couple of minutes to work something out. I asked her to either put us in a different room or give me a discount of some kind. About 3 minutes later she and the original receptionist knocked on the door and when I opened the door they immediately apologized and then explained that the room I have gets a once in awhile treatment and since I needed two separate beds she didn’t have another double room with two beds since all the other double rooms had wet carpets as well due to the treatments. So she ran and got a whole bunch of towels while explaining she would give me a discount. No amount was offered or asked for. I said thanks and she left our room.
In the morning I found that the carpets were almost dry and really it wasn’t a huge deal to me since the two lady’s that helped us were so gracious.
So I pack up, cleaned up and headed to the front desk to settle up. The people at the front desk were again different than last night and were a little confused about the discount I was promised. So they knocked on what I believe to be the manger or owners office and he comes out and before I can explain anything about what happened, since he obviously wasn’t informed, rolls his eyes and cops a cocky attitude saying well next time ya stop in I’ll set ya up with a free room, he was not empathetic in the least, then as I stand there bewildered he shouts across the desk to his people hey give this guy five bucks for a coffee, then as he walks away without at least apologizing he barks at one of his other people hey put this away printing to a paper bag of something. I will not ever use this facility again.
This is the least professional person I have ever met.
Never over promise and under deliver.
Act like you care.

Friends and everyone else this hotel is one of the best hotels in Riverside, Ca. The Thunderbird hotel is located on University blvd. I LOVE this hotel its always clean with polite staff. Parking lot safe and clean and well lite up. You check in at anytime of day. I checked in at9:30a.m. on Tuesday morning and check out time is 11:00a.m. on Wednesday morning. I have a great time when i come here. You will too. Thanks to the staff here at the Thunderbird Lodge. Peace to you and happy holidays. Stephen Michael Jarrett and Michelle Case.

Hotel was overpriced for the quality of room. Bathroom shower had broken shower curtain bar and the curtain kept sliding to middle and water was sprinkling everywhere. There were a lot of ants in the restroom as well. The following day they took over the room! All we got was a can of almost empty Raid. The chair for the small desk was broken the seat had screws fall off of it and was just a pain to get any work done because it kept sliding off. We are not familiar with area and didn’t know hotel was located in ghetto so there was plenty of shady people in the hotel at early hours walking around. It looks like they tried painting it and making it look presentable but the hotel is not worth the $$ they claim to ask for. The AC unit also didn’t cool the room to what it’s supposed to. No way I’m going back to that place.

Black mold in bathroom. No stopper at least for the bath tub since shower don’t work. Go to the vending machine and gives you something other then what was displayed. Only had one wash cloth. And that is for a room with 2 beds. Hello 2 beds usually means 2 – 4 people. Would send no one to that place.

Cute, clean motel with friendly staff. Close to plenty of places to eat. Comfy bed. Even has a fridge and microwave. I love that! I would definitely come back.

I wish the interior of these places looked like the exterior. I was expecting a better quality stay. Here goes…
I bought candy from the vending machine, which is outside, which means during the summer everything inside has melted.
No big deal I thought, i’ll go to my room and put it in the fridge. I open the fridge and its not on or running. I noticed the cord was unplugged, so i plugged it in and still nothing. The only thing that actually worked good in that room was the air conditioner. I put the candy bar and drink on the AC and we were good to go.
The Bedding had holes in it. Visually large and noticable the minute i walked in. I didn’t even want to remove the blankets or covers. I layed on top of the bed freezing my butt off. check in and out went easy. paid $ 75 through a travel site. I wouldn’t stay again.

Price: I think I paid around $ 80 (tax included) for a night stay, which isn’t bad!
Service:
Front desk — there was no one there when we arrived… it looked sort of sketchy really — but then the front desk person came and he checked us in. He was very nice. We needed extra shampoo/​soap and he didn’t have anymore in the office so he went out of his way to another room like on the other side of the building to get it for us… AND he saw that my brother was carrying two big suitcases and he helped us carry one of the suitcases up the stairs! TALK ABOUT QUALITY CUSTOMER SERVICE! :)
Room — there were cigarette holes on the blankets. Ew. The room was hot as fuck and the air conditioning JUST WOULDN’T WORK! It would turn on for a few minutes… then turn off… there was no hangers… and the WIFI doesn’t exist. They say they have free wifi… but it’s so slow… it doesn’t exist. The pillows… there were two big red roll pillow things… and they looked like they had jizz all over it. It was disgusting. The fridge also didn’t work… but I’m ok with room temperature water so it wasn’t that big a deal.
Parking lot — it was spacey, roomy and safe!
Overall: it could have been a lot cleaner… but it wasn’t bad!

Not a bad place! Nice rooms not very spacious. Lodge felt safe convieniant to small stores eaterys and gym. Delt with a nice gal at check-​in who showed me rooms. We agreed on one however back at the counted and Indian man (perhaps her husband) was rude over bearing and insulting. We had agreed on the room I wanted however back at the counter the man had her issue me another room. When I returned to tell them this wasn’t the room we agreed on he proceeds to tell me «if I have to get a ruler» due to size of room I wanted and he claiming they r the same size. Extremely rude!!! Bottom line I wouldn’t stay there again due to his rudeness and overruling the women who initially was helping! In this case I perfer he be out sweeping and let the ladies provide a high level of service.

This place was ok for the price. From the looks of the vintage neon sign outside, it seems like it should be kind of a quirky, boutique-​y place. Instead, the indoor décor has a «my aunt’s house in the Cleveland suburbs» feel to it. It’s clean, and the staff is nice. We were there on a busy night and were checked in quickly. The wifi did not work at all the first night and they were absolutely clueless about what to do when I called to let them know, but it came back up in the morning and was reliable and fast after that. Parking is free and plentiful. Convenient location. Excellent Mexican restaurant across the street. (Yay for Mexican breakfast!)

Good for the price. Small old school tv and the room smelled funny when we walked in but we opened a window and turned the air on it was okay after ten minutes. The hotel staff was nice and very helpful. Overall the room was cute. I’d stay here again. 65 $ a night pretty good for the location.

Quite, safe, clean, it was nice

This motel really looks somewhat decent on the outside, but beware. We were sent over here from the Marriott because there was an issue with our room and we could not stay there.
Besides the holes in the carpet it looked decent. I opened the fridge and found a half drunken frozen Dr. Pepper in a plastic bag. Then I went to the sink to wash my face and when I reached for a towel I opened it and it had brown spots all over it, so they obviously hadn’t washed it. Now since that wasn’t gross enough, I went to turn on the t.v. and the only channel to watch was a porn channel. I called the front desk to have someone come fix it and 20 minutes later they did. They also have a weird shower head which no one in the room could figure out so I had to call the front desk again so I could take a shower.
I didn’t get much sleep because our room was near the stairs and all I heard all night were people walking up and down. This motel is gross and i would never stay here again.

No frills place, but it’s 1. very clean. 2. free wifi 3. affordable This is a winning combination for a business traveler.
A little noisy sometimes, but what hotel isn’t. I’ve learned to travel with earplugs and not worry about it.
Property is well-​maintained, well-​lit and feels safe. I can’t believe all the (white?) people who call this the «ghetto» or a bad area… seriously?

We booked the Jacuzzi Room hoping for a relaxing night away. (We live 15 miles away).
Our evening was not that relaxing, unfortunately.
1. Upon check-​in, the lady at the front desk advised us that the room flooded a week prior and they were still trying to get the smell out. She handed us a can of spray air freshener, as in «good luck». Since we were checking in pretty early, I asked her if there was another room, and she said the other Jacuzzi room was also reserved. She seemed to imply that, even though we were first to check in, she would be holding the other room for another party. Maybe because we were paying a lower rate (we shop around). We were paying $ 110.
2. We entered the room and the musty smell was intense. So bad, we seriously considered leaving, but my wife was anxious to get on with the day, so we overlooked it and moved on. I don’t really have a complaint about the musty small, because I was warned, however, I did feel slighted that I was not offered the other room as I did check in first. That is a management issue and transcends any temporary smells.
3. I called for an extra sheet and extra towels, and she said she would call me back to come and get them in about 10 minutes. Apparently they were not handy and there was no one on staff to deliver them.
4. The next morning, I found no hair dryer and had to call for that too. Apparently the jacuzzi rooms do not get hair dryers. I am guessing a safety issue? However there were no outlets within 8ft of the tub, so I am not sure that is the issue.
5. The TV had an extremely low upper limit on volume so I could not hear any dialogue over running water, bathroom fans, etc.
6. Normally, I don’t really care about the mattress unless I am being charged more than $ 100, and this mattress was obviously on the cheap.
7. The shower was not intuitive at all. I had to make a third call to the desk to find out how to turn the shower on. It is a really weird plunger hidden under the faucet. If I ran a motel where there will be new people every night, I wouldn’t want to answer the same question over and over.
8. This was not a traditional Jacuzzi Tub. The jets were too low and pretty useless, IYKWIM.
9. This Motel is located about 2 blocks beyond the renovated area of University Avenue and is very reminiscent of the Old University, which was not a pleasant place.
Not everything was bad.
1. The outside of the Motel is nice and the room was clean.
I really think they think their Jacuzzi room is worth a lot more than it really is. It was really a disappointing experience all around, especially at $ 100.
We Usually get a Dynasty Suites Jacuzzi Room ($ 140) about 2 miles East right smack in the middle of the hustle and bustle of New University Avenue. Saving $ 40 was not worth all this hassle.

i’ve stayed here twice before and will definitely stay here again whenever i need to go to UCR. I booked the rooms through Expieda for around $ 65 – 70 per night and it’s really worth it! The place is neat and the rooms are well maintenance, they look like they’ve remolded recently because everything is so clean and new.
During our 2^nd stay we got upgraded to a king bed, SCORE after driving for 6 hours from San Francisco.
This is my go-​to hotel from now on, no doubt!

This motel is the BIZZ-​NESS! My BF and I stayed here after going out to dinner and having quite a few drinks in downtown riverside. We booked our room on
for 64 bucks total after taxes. Not bad at all. The real surprise though was when we got there. I wish I hadn’t been too drunk to take pictures!
#1– We reserved a room w/​a queen sized bed and we got a king size. Whoop whoop!
#2– The room itself was surprisingly large. It included a microwave and refrigerator. It was clean. Not clean like– they wiped all the grime off the walls before we got there clean– but really clean. Everything in the room had been upgraded and seemed new, even though I read that the motel had been renovated in 2009.
#3– The only downside of our stay? The bed was not very comfortable and the pillows were too firm. So I woke up a little stiff.
Overall I was completely satisfied, surprised, and happy with our room! What a lovely experience!

The exterior doesn’t say much about the place, but the rooms are nicely maintained. We originally reserved a regular room through
, for a reasonable price, but decided to upgrade to a suite. The people at the reception desk were accommodating and allowed us to just pay the difference.
The standard room was nice and spacious; had a mini fridge and a microwave. The one big downside was that it only had a shower. No tub. It was a large, spacious shower, large enough to fit a tub, but without a tub. That was the main reason, we decided to move to a suite. The suite had a shower and a tub; a mini fridge and a microwave, just like the standard room. But… it had a red heart-​shaped tub in the room as well. It was totally kitsch, but cute. It was fun.
The bed was comfortable, and it was overall quiet in the whole facility. It is also close to downtown Riverside, where you can visit the Mission Inn and other local boutiques and restaurants.
I would stay here again.

I don’t have much bad to say about this hotel, but I also don’t have much good to say about it. I was in Riverside to see a concert on the Saturday before Valentine’s Day, and she found this hotel online through Google. They had a king size room for $ 75, tax included, which seemed to be a great deal, so we booked it.
When we arrived, the girl at the front desk informed us that they had overbooked their rooms, and that they didn’t have a king size bed for us. They could offer us a queen, and after I asked if I was going to get a discount, she told me she could do it for $ 60. Definitely a fair deal, but I would have preferred to pay more for a king.
The room was pretty small, but did include a fridge and a microwave. It had a space for an iron and ironing board to go, but there wasn’t one. It had a bar to hang your clothes on, but there were no hangars. Shampoo was provided, but not conditioner. The pillows were also pretty uncomfortable.
From what I’ve read online, they’ve recently renovated this place, but they’re just missing the mark in too many areas. Management really needs to get it together and go the rest of the way in all of these areas. But hey, for $ 60/​night, tax included, it was a decent enough place to sleep.

This passed weekend I stayed at the Thunderbird Lodge in Riverside after going to the Glen Ivy Day Spa and eating dinner at Café Sevilla. The Thunderbird Lodge was the closest, cheapest hotel to Café Sevilla. We paid $ 126 with tax for 4 people. I know — a little ridiculous for a 2.5 start hotel! It’s a recession! Who is staying there anyways?! Well, I guess we did, a few families, and girls running their «business.»
The room was spacious enough for 4 girls, their suitcases and spa gear. The rooms are newly remodeled and clean. The showers weren’t filled with green mildew and soup scum and I wasn’t afraid of sleeping in the bed and leaving with some sort of disease. The carpet looked new — no worries of getting athletics’ foot here. The staff was friendly.
We enjoyed our stay. The only downfall was the sketchy location, so we doubled bolted our door and closed the curtains as we watched free DirectTV to stop our crazy imagination from thinking about the sketchy location and businesses going on outside of the room…