Clocktower Inn

Front desk attendant is nice.
Condition of the room just ok. It was clean though, not super clean, but clean enough to stay and on a Saturday night at $ 230.00 with worse and more expensive choices we decided to just risk it.
Note– if you get there they won’t tell you before you check in that there is no parking.
I took us about 50 minutes to find street parking. The hotel doesn’t have a parking area, but just a small area in front which is their driveway.
So that was frustrating and inconvenient.
There is a nightclub/​bar next to it and the noise was loud enough to keep us up a bit
Also, the whole hotel needs some cleaning and outside grounds.
The outdoor area where they put out their breakfast is dirty and things constantly are falling from the trees and vegetation is like you’re eating in a greenhouse.

A group of us in town for work. Overall I have to give 4 stars for the hotel itself. I found it quaint, clean and the amenties par for the price. It’s walking distance to almost anything in the area, Main St., eateries, shops, etc. Rooms seemed super quite to other guests noise. Ice and soda machine near by. Free grab and go breakfast, receptionists very friendly and helpful. The HUGE two cons were that there was an event in the park next to the hotel. We did not know this when we booked. So all the parking for the hotel was used up by the event. They gave us a parking pass for another lot, but they would not let us in. Parking was horrendous and ridiculous. Parked two blocks away and had to lug everything to the hotel, we were NOT happy. Then early Saturday morning the music blasted from the stages just outside our window. When the event started OMG the sounds was SO loud we have to leave the room. I really feel the hotel should have let us know or any booking agency that this event is going on at this time. We had NO peace and quite in the room until after 7PM. The music was ridiculous. The crowd however, were peaceful and quite. So if not for this music and the inconvenience of the parking, I would have given 5 stars. I believe our rooms were $ 169, a bit pricey for such a small room, but it is summer, so I get it. Never tried the restaurant next door or the bar. PS, they don’t give enough towels for the appropriate number of people, you can open the windows but very difficult to close (I would not do this on a lower level). Some things need to be replaced like lamp shades, but the ceiling light gives you enough. The a/​c worked great and very quiet. The free coffee was awesome. They could using a lounge chair of some sort, you either sit on the bed or one hard wooden chair. Small things would really improve this place. But I would recommend it and I would come back.

Just home from my second stay at Clocktower Inn. Last May 2015, when I stayed, I was told that I would get a 50% discount if I left a good review on both Unilocal and another travel site, which I did. This past weekend was my second visit and the General Manager REFUSED to honor his own deal, saying that I should have asked when I booked, which I did and the clerk said she knew nothing about it, to ask when I arrived. He then told me that he’d give me a room upgrade and I would get my discount on my «next» visit… THERE WON’T BE ONE. He also stated that the entire hotel has been «renovated»…THE MAN IS A LIAR.
My first visit wasn’t perfect as the building is old and unkempt, the carpeting is rotting in each room, as well as the plumbing being SO old that, not only does the toilet flush SO VERY slowly, you wonder IF it will flush AT ALL, or simply overflow and back up. I didn’t spend much time in my room as my brother had died and I was in town to deal with that BUT, I certainly did NOT appreciate the male desk clerk who hit on me each day of my stay and tried to visit my room, uninvited, twice, nor the endless flow of hookers coming in to visit their tricks — ON BOTH VISITS. It seems to be a regular haunt for ladies making a buck, perhaps a service provided by the hotel since they do nothing about it???
On to the «upgrade» I was promised… there isn’t one. Same old furniture, same old bedding and draperies. The upgraded room I was given was actually MUCH smaller than last year’s room PLUS the heater would not work AT ALL. OH YES… and then there was the opossum that kept trying to get into my room from the patio. DO NOT LEAVE YOUR DOORS OPEN!!!
You’d think that with the rates they charge, they’d actually put some money into the facility, rather than into the GM’s overpriced and egotistical suits and flashy jewelry? Just saying… he looks rather out of place, as though he doesn’t even belong in the dump he works in, but takes the paycheck at everyone’s expense.
Last time staying in this dump.

The carpet was buckled up and needs to be replaced. The carpet was wet covered
in mildew. It was nice to open the window to get fresh air but there were NO handles
on the window to close them. The closet had 3 hangers and we had to move one of
the two chair in the room to access the closet. The also said there was a full breakfast,
not true unless you call coffee, cereal, muffins and a few pastries a full breakfast.
The check in area is really nice but they forgot to carry the remodel into the rooms
We thought the restaurant «NOW» was part of the Clock tower inn, it is not. The restaurant needs to tone down the spices in all there food. At best the Italian was marginal. They did
have a wonderful bar tender.
RO & BO
May 5, 2016

DON’T WASTE YOUR MONEY. THIS PLACE IS NOT WORTH THE SAVINGS YOU RECEIVE. GET ANOTHER HOTEL!
When I first saw the outside, it was quite quaint and the front desk was nice. Great fireplace, its actually real, so go spend some time there, at least have your money go somewhere… So lets get down to the nitty gritty.
The first room my boyfriend and I went to was a ground floor, window wide open to the parking lot, so if you want to get hanky panky, close your blinds. We wanted to unwind and then go for a walk to find food and then later that night we were going to a concert in the Ventura theatre. It was getting a bit cold (super cold weekend) I went to turn on the heater, guess what? The knob was missing, I couldn’t even turn on the heater. So we had to go back to the front desk, was settled into a new room. They had the audacity to want to charge us extra. I was not having any of that. I told the lady in the front, if she wanted I will talk to her manager directly. So off to the next room (she was nice, until I told her what happened and that I wanted another room or at least a knob to turn the machine… it was going to be under 50 degrees that night, I need the heat, i didn’t want to die of a frost bite.)
The next room was better, it was on the second floor in the corner with a beautiful 180 degree view. There was a knob on the heater! I was more excited than a normal person should. The water there was icky, maybe the plumbing? there were some stains, but then again the place is old so let it go! OMG on my way up to the room the third time, the hallway light had a huge spider web with a huge spider and little spider eggs. They should clean this place much more often!
Overall, this place was a place to sleep and change, otherwise, don’t go here. I’d rather pay double to go to another place, not worth anything here.

I run a vending machine business and was called in by the hotel desk clerk by the name of BAGGOT to fix is vending machine when i observed and attempted to fix the problem i saw he was vending 16 oz, bottles of water made by Arrowhead they are not filled properly for vending and will not vend very well, my advise was to start vending Desani by Coke and they will work, is comment was what is Desani? — — –consequently he conntacted coke cola while i was still there and set up a one time repair order. Before going there i told BAGGOT that my fee was 50.00 for coming out fix or no fix. — — — — — at conclussion he said that i was too old to do the job, and offered me 20.00 for gas which i took. I have 40 years experience in vending. Is this the kind of person this hotel puts at their front desk. THIS IS NOT THE BATES MOTEL.

I’ve been here a few times, but this will be my last. It’s 8am and I’m writing this in the semi comfortable bed waiting at the clocktower for a room to be available at Best Western. This morning I found a good sized COCKROACH on the curtain in plain sight. I caught the thing and brought it to the front desk, asked for a different room but nothing is available. Lady at the front desk didn’t seem as apologetic as she should have been, and the room should really be comped, but it wasn’t offered. She told me «it doesn’t help that we have a restaurant next door». Really? Everyone knows that if you actually see a cockroach in daylight that means you have a big problem. I can ignore the spiderwebs in the dirty hallway, and the room being a bit dated and dusty, but not cockroaches.

Great hotel! Just stayed recently with a few of my friends and I! Great location, walking distance from both the beach and Main Street! So a lot of shopping and nice restaurants in the area! Highly recommended if going to Ventura Theater for a concert and need a place to stay afterwards. Cozy and affordable.

Old, unkempt rooms. Plumbing doesn’t work: toilets don’t flush, you will get scalded in the shower. Can’t even get refunds right. Instead will charge you twice. Stay away.

This place has the potential to be nice. Needs works. The toilets don’t flush or fill with water.
That includes in the room and in the atrium area. There’s lots of signs of the homeless people in the park behind the hotel as there are old clothes and shoes all over the back side of the hotel. Probably not on their property.
Great location and near the sites.
Too bad they don’t fix this place up.

Terrible service gave one key pictures looking nothing like the real thing… Vending machine is broken. Front desk lady is angry and unhelpful bathroom was like motel 6. So gross…

Nice hotel located downtown close to a bunch of shops, restaurants and bars. Also a 4 min walk to the beach looks like they have been doing some remodeling to rooms since the last time i was here.
The hotel offers a nice little continental breakfast in the patio from 7pm-​10am
overall location, price and clean room helpful and friendly staff. I would defiantly stay here again

Ok, so I really had to think about how many stars I wanted to give this place.
We liked the location to main Street and the thrift shops (our favorite part of Ventura!), but the park behind it and even the fire «museum» next to it is overrun with transients. Felt very uncomfortable from the stares walking through the park to main Street.
The hotel… VERY dated. I get the theme they’re going for, but it still FELT and looked extremely dated. The beds were squeaky, the bulbs were mismatched in the bathroom stained wash rags. Very basic rooms, felt more like an old motel 6. Appreciated the flat screen TVs, read somewhere the TVs were old and didn’t work so this was a nice surprise.
The atrium was beautiful! Loved walking through there in the mornings when the sun was shining through. The breakfast was decent, very starchy. The breakfast attendant was very nice. The lobby was very nice, they had the fireplace going every morning.
A cool looking restaurant was being built next door, that might be good for the hotel.
Overall, loved the architecture and the concept of the hotel, but it could use major improvements that would obviously cost the owner money, which I’m not sure they’re willing to spend.
This hotel is a PERFECT CANDIDATE for the TV show Hotel Impossible!

Nice enchanting clean hotel but they have repair work to do. The aircondition/​heater not working shower dripped all night. Love the area and staff.

Clocktower has no time for hospitality…
Very humiliating to be told you have to check out and move to another hotel half way through your romantic weekend. Even worse when they don’t show any concern other than a half baked apology about being «overbooked». I made the reservation 5 months in advance (rooms 215 and 218) so I’m pretty sure I was bumped to make room for their friends. This happened to me about 12 years ago. My friends and I never went back to that hotel either.

Clocktower is somewhere between a 2 and a 3 rating but because of the price, I’m being more generous. We stayed here Sunday through Tuesday during Labor Day weekend and paid only $ 95 a night. It’s hard to find that kind of price and the hotel is very close to the little downtown Ventura area and within walking distance (about a quarter to a half mile) of the beach.
That said, it could definitely use some maintenance. This was our second stay here (the first being about two years ago) and it seemed a little worse for the wear this time around (although it wasn’t a jewel then either). This time though, the elevator was out of commission the entire weekend. I hardly ever saw anyone at the front desk, and everything just sort of looked run down and in need a really thorough cleaning. There was an odd beeping noise, from what, we couldn’t tell, that lasted for quite some time one evening before it finally stopped.
The room we were given this time was an improvement; it was more spacious than our last and featured its own balcony that let in some nice fresh air. Also, the hotel itself is a quaint mission-​style design and very charming with its tiled stairs and bathroom floors.
The hotel offers a continental breakfast but my husband and I are sort of food snobs so we didn’t bother with the mini bagels and cereal. I did notice that the milk was out pretty much all day on Monday.
If you are looking for an inexpensive option and don’t mind a no-​frills type place and don’t plan on spending too much time in your room, I would recommend Clocktower. The checkout time of noon is also on the later side, which is nice.

We stayed here for a few days while waiting for a house to be readied…
First, the good — The design and architecture is excellent. This hotel has so much potential! It is a sad shame that they are not using it’s location, and charm for their benefit as well as the guests. The hotel is kept clean, and the jacuzzi has great jets. The atrium is quite nice, and a great creative touch. Also, the room air conditioner works well.
Now the bad — There is NO ice machine! They have one that is broken, and a spot for a second one. In talking to another guest that had stopped here 6 months earlier I learned that the ice machine didn’t work then either. I’ve stayed in many hotels around the world from a flop house to a 6 star. I have NEVER not been able to get ice!
Also, NO SODA or SNACK machine! They’ll direct you to the liquor store that is 2 – 3 blocks away. I got some snacks and ice.
The yap water is awful. I would recommend that you bring your own drinking water. It is also sort of yucky to shower in it. I think it is well water that has a lot of minerals, and has been effected by the local oil field fracking by the smell of it. Bring your own drinking water for drinking as well as making coffee in the room. (Which by the way is good coffee.)
All they have are queen size beds. Plus they do not use a mattress pad! So therefore the bed is really not all that comfortable. If they put in some rooms with King sized beds and actually got comfortable linens, odds are more folks would stay there and say positive things about their experience. Yes, the rooms are big enough for a king.
The internet is not password protected, and it is very slow. Who knows how many non guests are using it.
The little breakfast they put out is fine. However things like milk are perishable. They get ice from the restaurant next door, and by the time they use it in the morning to keep the milk and OJ cold, it melds very fast. Then the re-​use the milk and cream cheese each day. The problem is that it has warmed and then been re-​chilled in the refrigerator, so it does not stay fresh.
If it is a Friday or a Saturday night, don’t plan on getting much rest until the night club nearby closes.
Lastly, if you’re creeped by homeless people, many stay in the park that is next door. Most are safe, and decent folks that are just down on their luck. They don’t bug you really, just making you aware.

Unfortunately, this hotel was picked for me through Hotwire. It wasn’t my worst experience but the location certainly made a positive difference. I have to agree with some of the other negative comments but what really stood out for me was that the bathroom’s light was burned out and the only light in there was the heat lamp. It is late July and 85 degrees outside. I think I burned my pupil putting my contacts in.
Me thinks not again.

Read a lot of the other reviews which were not great but we had a good experience. Had a Q bed in room 215 which came with a fireplace and overlooked the jacuzzi. Out of habit I asked to see the room first and the desk clerk, Dorothy, was accommodating. I also check for bed bugs when I stay at hotels and the mattress and furniture showed no signs of any critters. The lobby and atrium are very inviting and the ambiance overall is quaint, historical and inviting. Dorothy was personable and gave us plenty of suggestions for dining in old town. The restaurant, Padrinos, next door was one of them and we did enjoy our dinner there (reviewed).
We also spent an afternoon in the Jacuzzi which worked fine. Everything in our room worked except the TV. This was fixed the next morning (we did have to ask twice). Our bed was comfortable and the price reasonable. We even asked for and received a slight discount because we decided to stay on Sunday night.
The continental breakfast is served in the atrium and what can I say… It’s a continental breakfast. However, the weather was beautiful and the atrium is a wonderful place to sit and enjoy your breakfast.
The place does need some TLC in places for sure, but the location, price and the fact our room was clean and comfortable and the staff was friendly and helpful would have us come back again.

It wa s a cute place but the service was lacking. The toilet was running through the night. The air conditioner didn’t work so we had to leave the windows open, causing us to get attacked by mosquitos! In the morning I jumped in the shower and realized there were NO towels. My husband went to the front desk and the towels were in the wash!!!
By the time we got them, I was done and had already aired dry. Not to mention the lights where the jacuzzi was didn’t work so we couldn’t relax in the jacuzzi. Place had potential but needs a lot of TLC.