I am going to cut to the chase regarding our stay at the Carlton Hotel in Atascadero.

Pros:
- Parking was good. Across the street but there was plenty
- Staying at the Carlton was a good jumping off point to go places that we had on our list of to-dos. Nothing going on at the hotel so we were forced to go out unlike some other hotels we’ve stayed at along the Central Coast
- Tara who checked us in was very nice.
- Back Porch bakery is BOMB!!! (The coffee ehh) but we will be back for the almond croissants!

Cons/Suggestions
- Fix the American Flag at the back entrance. It was all wrapped up when we came in thru the back service door every nite.
- Yes, night or day you have to punch in a code to go thru the Employee entrance and take the service elevator to your room.
- Why you ask to you have to go thru the backdoor? Well to lesson exposure the Lobby is closed!!! When you arrive the Lobby doors are closed and you have to call to be let in and checked in. Then you are told during normal hours you can call the main number which is routed to a cell phone and you will be let in by someone. If you need anything during the stay you have to call this number and what you need will either be brought up to you or you have to go down and get it if they are busy and you don’t mind going down.

- Your room will not be serviced during your stay. Thats right you heard me, they will not tell you this during check in. We figured it out after a long day out. They do not make any attempt to be sure you have everything you need considering rooms are only serviced after you check out. So..
- IF you need toilet paper: you have to ask
- IF you need more towels: you have to ask
- IF you need more soap: you have to ask
- IF you need more coffee: you have to ask
- IF you need your trash emptied: you have to ask or catch the cleaning crew who are servicing the checked out rooms and ask them if they can take your trash that you took out of the trash can tied and brought outside. While you bf, gf, husband or wife is in the room putting the new trash bag in the trash.
- Wifi needs to be worked on. I tried and wouldn’t connect and please password enable it so its secure.
- New TVs in the rooms
- Duvets need covers that cover the duvet, not just flat sheet, duvet, flat sheet. Or the duvets get washed after every guest.
- Pictures are deceiving. Rooms are older and darker.
- When Tara was off the person who was on shift was:
- Very rude
- I called to talk to Tara about a possible room change the next day and asked for her and I got major attitude even though I was told to call back and ask for her. Im sorry I don’t need 20 questions when I say my name and what room I’m currently in. “ Who is this?”, “ What do you need to talk to her about?”, “ How do you know her?”.

Considering we stayed there 3 nights we didn’t get what we paid for. In the end we paid just to sleep there, no services, no wifi nothings. I understand The Carlton is a Historic Hotel with a reputation, but it doesn’t hurt to bring things up to modern times. Modernize things and clean things up an it will be an AWESOME hotel that we would definitely go back to. Atascadero was a cool town and most of the people we came across were very nice.

No complaints about room or anything but if you have highly sinus sensitivities, watch out! The halls & rooms very musty smelling for those having these type of issues!
The room window of course did not open much & of course we were facing El Camino so the sound was really loud & I could have only the sheer curtains closed since the heavy ones let absolutely no air in whatever which also means, too much light in the room during the night. NOT a good nor restful night for me! Pretty miserable so just FYI for anyone who has high sensitivities...

Our visit to The Carlton was a Christmas girt from our daughter. I called the hotel to let them know we would be checking in after dinner and we were told that “Tom” would be at the desk to check us in. Due to the pandemic, the desk was only staffed for limited hours. Tom checked us in and gave us the numerical code for the back door so we could come in that way as the front doors were being kept locked most of the time. He gave us his phone number in case we needed anything.

Our third floor room was lovely and clean but the French door to the balcony was open. We closed and locked it.

We also locked the deadbolt on the door to our room. However, there was no chain or extra locking device on the door.

We were awakened shortly after midnight when SOMEONE OPENED OUR DOOR AND CAME INTO OUR ROOM. We shouted to them asking what they were doing. The woman responded “Sorry, housekeeping “ and left, closing the door behind her. I got up and locked the deadbolt again assuming that housekeeping was working odd hours due to the pandemic and the woman had mistakenly opened the wrong room.
However, when SOMEONE OPENED OUR DOOR AGAIN an hour and a half later, we called Tom who was very concerned and said he would look into it and call me right back.
I ended up calling him back and he said he was questioning the person (not employed by the hotel). He said he had called the police.
Although I put a chair under the doorknob, we didn’t get much sleep the rest of the night.
When we checked out in the morning no one was at the desk so I called the hotel number and spoke with “Deana” who said Tom had told her what happened and that the police were notified. She said she would call TripAdvisor to refund our room charge. Tom had left me a note saying he was up most of the night and to call him with any questions.
THIS HOTEL HAS SERIOUS ISSUES WITH SECURITY. New locks and extra security bolts need to be installed to prevent unauthorized entry. It seems like the hotel will be making some changes in their security, but until they do I would not recommend staying there.