Dirty and smelly
We stayed at the La Quinta Jacksonville Orange Park last night, and we really wished we hadn’t had a non-refundable reservation or we would’ve left. The first impression wasn’t good, it’s kind of hidden behind a maze of other hotels (that we wished we could have switched to). There’s a Country Inn and a Super 8 all sharing the same parking lot, so we couldn’t tell which units went with which hotel. Once we found the front door, way in the back behind the other hotels, the entry area is clean enough and the desk staff was very nice, so we started to think it would all be fine. But the first room they gave us was way in the back of the farthest unit, which I don’t really understand as the hotel seemed to be fairly empty. But we opened the door and basically turned around without putting down our bags, it reeked of cigarette smoke and mold. They moved us to another room on the other end of the hotel, in front of the little pool. It too smelled of mold, like a damp, musty basement, and some other chemical-like smell, we guessed probably pesticide. It was late and we convinced ourselves it would be fine to just sleep. Over the next couple of hours until we went to sleep we found long hairs on the dresser (not ours), cigarette ashes in the wastebasket, and questionable crusty stains on both the chairs. I couldn’t get the smell out of my nose all night, and couldn’t wait to get out of there in the morning.
There are so many choices right in the area, do your self a favor and go elsewhere.