Travelodge Wall Spring Lake Belmar

As a family group, we booked three rooms for two nights and a fourth room for the babysitters for the second night so we could attend a wedding nearby. Upon arrival, we walked into the front lobby and the clerk moved quickly to hide a crossbow under the desk (yes, I’m serious). All rooms were supposed to be non-​smoking. We opened the door for the first room and were hit with an overwhelming odor of stale cigarette smoke. The rusty mini-​fridge was sitting on a painted plywood box and there was visible mold on the carpet around it. Next, we noticed the yellow-​stained comforter and pillow shams and the yellow stains on the mattress. The wood sliding closet doors were both off the tracks and one had a large hole in it. The back of the room door was supposed to be white, but was so dirty it looked tan. The lampshades were dirty and had holes in them. There were too many stains on the chairs to count and each one had multiple cigarette burns in it. I wouldn’t even let my walking 2 ½ year old in the room, let alone my crawling 9-​month old! Then we checked on the second room that my in-​laws had checked into. The door frame had visible damage at the latch from being forced/​kicked open at some point. There was a piece of carpet missing and the picture frames were rusty. There were some dark red splatter dots on the ceiling. The tiled bathroom walls weren’t clean. The odor of stale smoke in the second room wasn’t quite as bad, but still very noticeable — especially for a non-​smoking room! The reservations were made in February through Expedia and were non-​refundable. We thought the Travelodge name stood for something, but apparently there is no standard of maintenance or else no inspections made by any corporate offices. When we returned to the front desk 45 minutes later after making the decision that we couldn’t stay there (although we had no where else to stay), the clerk didn’t seem surprised, acknowledged that the condition of their rooms were terrible, and refused to give us a refund or make any attempt to satisfy us. DON’T STAY HERE!

One night stay 6÷13÷15. Not recommending. I would give no stars but couldn’t post review without at least 1.
We’re not picky or germaphobes type people. Just average family spending weekends running to softball tournaments, but…
Room smells like mildew. Mini fridge old and dirty. Comforters/​blankets/​chairs old, stained, cigarette holes. Rug has seen better days. Wall paper peeling. One of the 5 softball families we were traveling with found a cockroach in their room (#137) and ended up driving home. Another family asked for a room switch because theirs was deplorable (#136).
We spent a few hours by the pool/​grassy area late into Saturday night and saw some shady characters and unusual behavior. Maybe some live there, deal drugs, book hourly, I have no idea. I work hard for my money. I don’t care how close this is to the beach. This was not worth my $ 115 and change. The Sea Girt Lodge just down the road looked inviting and pristine.

I’ve NEVER stayed at a more disgusting place!
Michael, at least you only paid $ 40! My boyfriend and I stayed over the summer and paid over $ 200 for the room!
Everything felt dirty. I didn’t feel comfortable touching anything, including our bed. When we removed the bed spread, dirt had fallen onto our sheets, the box spring had a hole, and our 13″ tube tv had a mini fridge as a tv stand (which we needed to prop our sneakers against to hold the door shut!). I felt like something was crawling on my skin for days later.
I can’t find the pics but when I do, I’ll be adding them here so that others do not have to suffer the same fate!

Back in my backpacking days, I stayed in some pretty seedy hostels in Eastern Europe and even slept in train stations. But nothing prepared me for the pure seediness that was a bargain hotel on the Jersey Shore.
For $ 40 a night, I don’t expect much. But I do have some standards. For example, I have the standard of not giving someone else my room key. The first room key I got from the stained shirt wearing, half asleep looking (it was only about 10:00 p.m.) clerk did not open the door to my assigned room. But I quickly learned why. Some guy opened the door and said, «I think you have the wrong room.» Thankfully no gun was involved and I got a replacement key for *my* (at least I think it was mine, the door opened) room.
And what a room it was. A non-​smoking room, it smelled like someone had just had a hookah party in it the night before. Still the bed was relatively comfortable. But waking up in the morning to take a shower, the soap crumbled in my hands (who knows how old it was).
I have to say that although the pillows and comforters are sparse here, they do supply a lot of towels. Maybe for cleaning up blood. Who knows.
All I know is that on the way out of town, I saw a drug motel offering $ 29 a night rates and felt like I would have been better off there. I felt safer sleeping in my car at a rest area in Connecticut the night before my hotel stay here than I did with the sleepy, incompetent clerk here responsible my life.