SureStay Plus Hotel By Best Western Gold Beach Review

Why the SureStay Plus Hotel By Best Western Gold Beach? Okay, I am on a road trip down the West Coast all the way down to San Diego. Big chain hotels like Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt and others are scarce along the whole coastline. In bigger coastal towns you can find maybe a Holiday Inn but most likely you have to stay either in a Best Western, Wyndham, Choice Hotels, Motel 6, or a completely independent hotel/motel. I was looking for a hotel somewhere around the last quarter of the Oregon coastline before crossing into California. After some checks on the map, I found the Surestay by Best Western in Gold Beach.

Booking & Stay Details

I had to search for the location of the SureStay Plus Hotel By Best Western Gold Beach on Google Maps as Best Western totally messed up their app and you can’t have a map view anymore. I have an in-depth post about it here. The worst part about it is when you call Best Western, they can’t grasp the situation. After I knew exactly which hotel I wanted, I booked it through the Best Western app on my phone. I especially booked the ocean view room on the high floor, which was a few dollars extra instead of the ocean view room on any lower floor. The SureStay Plus Hotel By Best Western Gold Beach only had rooms available with two queen beds no rooms with a king bed. As it would be only a one-night stay before heading out again early next morning, I didn’t care at all what kind of room it would be.

My room was also on the pricy side. With over $230 for one night. Here you pay for the location and definitely not for the service or the amenities.

Location

The SureStay Plus Hotel By Best Western Gold Beach is located at the south end of the town right next off Highway 101. Highway 101 is the main highway running along the Oregon coastline. The hotel is located on the west side of the highway which is also the coastal side. There is not much around the hotel. A few restaurants are located in the town center of Gold Beach further north. I grabbed dinner at the Port Hole Cafe which was ok but nothing special besides having a harbor-front dining experience.

Parking

As you pull in, you take the driveway down to the main building off the hotel which has two lanes in front of it marked with arrows. Please only stop there in one lane and don’t block the second one as otherwise other people can’t drive in anymore. I pulled past the main building and parked in an open spot in the parking lot and walked inside to check in. Parking is complimentary at the hotel.

Shuttle Service

Just as you would expect it. There is absolutely no shuttle service here. You have to bring your own shuttle/car. 😉

Check-In

As I walked into the hotel office, there was already one person in front of me, who just had a question about the hotel amenities, but the front desk agent was on the phone taking a reservation via phone. That took a while, as the person on the other end had a lot of questions. As she also helped out the guy in front of me, it was finally my turn. After a quick ID check and swiping of my credit card, my check-in process was almost done. I still had to fill out the old school paper form where you have to initial next to all the rules e.g., no smoking, no pets, and must provide the make and model of your car. 

Check-In: 3 p.m.
Check-Out: 11 a.m.

The front desk is only staffed from 6 a.m. until midnight. I don’t know what you need to do outside of these hours. Maybe call? There is no mention of that on the website when you book. So, if you arrive extremely late, you might have some trouble checking in.

2 Queen Beds Room (Room 326)

My room was located on the third/top floor of the building closest to the ocean. Don’t worry there is still a big stretch of land in between the building and the actual ocean, but you get a good view of it. I already suspected during the booking process that this hotel most likely wouldn’t have an elevator but still decided to go ahead and book a high floor with the consequence that I must carry all my bags up the stairs. In the center of the building is an A-frame looking annex to the building which houses the stairs. Luckily, I had to drag my bags up only one set of stairs as the second floor is actually located on the parking level. This is due to how the building is built into the cliff here. To get to the first floor you will take a set of stairs down. The hotel still uses the old-style magnetic stripe room keys which I am not used to anymore.

When you enter the room, you have the bathroom area to your left. A vanity is located on the left side. The vanity comes with a single sink and above it is a wall-mounted mirror. Behind you have a small refrigerator/freezer combo unit with a microwave on top of it and an open “closet”. Basically, you have a holder for hangers mounted to the wall as well as a holder for the iron and ironing board. Underneath the hangers was a suitcase stand already set up. 

A door separates this area from the actual bathroom. Inside is the toilet and the bathtub/shower unit. It’s a little tight in there and the door always got stuck on the floor and was hard to move. The entryway area as well as the bathroom area have tiled floor while the rest of the room has carpeted floor. A large mirror is mounted to the wall outside the bathroom.

I was surprised how big the actual sleeping area is. To the left you have two Queen-sized beds which have a pretty good gap in between them. Both beds share a central nightstand which holds a lamp and a mount with power outlets and USB ports to charge your devices. Between the last bed and the windows was an indoor chaise lounge chair. 

On the other side of the room was a dresser with multiple drawers and on top of it a small TV. On one side was a cocktail table with the coffee maker and an ice bucket on top of it. On the other side was another suitcase stand followed by a pretty big work desk and chair. I never used it to set up my laptop this time as I got back to the room so late and after getting everything ready, I went to bed.

Most of the rooms, especially all the ocean-facing rooms, come with a balcony. You can access it via the sliding door next to the large floor-to-ceiling windows. The balcony is quite spacious and bigger than expected. On the balcony you have two chairs and a small table. From here you have an amazing view of the ocean and the little beach and grassy area with the path back to the hotel. Unfortunately, it was a very gloomy day, and you couldn’t even see the sunset as there were so many clouds.

By the way. None of the rooms here in the hotel rooms have an air conditioning unit. There is a heater in the room if it gets too cold but no way to cool down the temperature besides opening the door to the balcony. According to the agent working at the front desk, none of the hotels in Gold Beach have air conditioning. This was not an issue at all, as it gets pretty cold at night. Just make sure you have the screen door closed so no flies can get in at night when you have the lights on.

Due to Covid, housekeeping is only provided upon request and only in the hours of 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Public Areas & Amenities

Lobby

Well, there is a lot going on here in the lobby. It is basically everything. It’s a smaller area and it houses the front desk as well as the breakfast area where the buffet gets set up. An attachment to the building houses the seating for breakfast. Besides the dining tables in the breakfast area, there is nothing else here to sit down. There is a little patio area outside the lobby, past the two-lane driveway. At the very end of the breakfast seating room, in a niche are flyers for local attractions if you were looking for some information.

Pool

This hotel has an indoor pool area which is located in the main building. The pool area is located behind the front desk, but you will access it through a door on the side of the building facing the parking lot. Inside is a well-sized pool and whirlpool. Normally you would need to swipe your room key to enter but the lock was brocken and you just had to pull the door open to get in. Inside are a few pool loungers.

Hours: 10 a.m. – 11:45 p.m.

Ocean

I would almost consider the ocean an amenity of this hotel. It’s a very short walk from the hotel to get to the beach. It’s great for a stroll throughout the day. Walk in the morning and listen to the waves while watching the sun come up over the little hill behind the hotel. It’s definitely not a beach for swimming but great for a walk and just relaxation.

Dining

Breakfast

The breakfast didn’t make up for the high room rate either. I was a little disappointed by the breakfast. They have some basic options like scrambled egg, breakfast potatoes and biscuits with gravy but that’s about it. Cereal selection only two choices. For the toast and bagels there was only blueberry jam. They did have juices and yogurts in the fridge next to the coffee station. So don’t expect anything exceptional here. 

Hours: daily from 6:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.

Seating for the breakfast buffet is in the attached sunroom. Watch your step.

Market

There is a small market in the lobby area. Sodas and other beverages are in a fridge behind the front desk counter, and you just need to ask them for it. There are a few snacks sitting on a shelf to the right as you walk in.

Conclusion

It has been a while since I have been in a Best Western hotel. Even though I never stopped traveling during the pandemic, I didn’t want to stay at Best Western hotels as their cleanliness is just not up to the standards I wanted at the beginning of the pandemic. Even my room here had dirt on the floor because housekeeping didn’t vacuum clean the carpets thoroughly enough. 

Try to get a room far away from the stairs in the big building closest to the ocean. Every time someone walks up or down the stairs it sounds like someone is banging on a wall or door. Even though my room was a few rooms down from the staircase, I did hear it every time somebody walked up or down the stairs. At first, I thought someone was drunk and was banging on a door. 

Staff interactions were great, and they were very professional even though I only had a few interactions with them. Wi-Fi at the SureStay Plus Hotel By Best Western Gold Beach is pretty good. I expected it to be worse but decent speed for even movie streaming.

Also be aware that there might be planes zipping by behind the hotel. I had a plane fly past the hotel just before 11 p.m. as it was landing at the nearby municipal airport, which is just a little bit north of the hotel.