Kris L.
5/5
I am giving the Vista Hotel at 537 S Santa Fe Ave in Vista CA 5 stars only because it is very clean and luckily they have 24 hour service via text or phone. My son and I were supposed to stay at this now “Air BNB” hotel for two weeks in April 2023, but our stay was cut short because the hotel is haunted. I wanted to post about my experience last year but the time has flown. My son and I arrived on a Sunday afternoon. I ordered DoorDash not realizing that our room did not have a kitchen. They mention a kitchen now in the reviews, so that must have been added somewhere on the premises or maybe in one room only. A few things to know, bring a flashlight for easier access in opening the outside door because you cannot see the keypad to enter your personal key code. And there is not an elevator. NOW MY VERY TRUE STORY: At some time during Sunday evening after falling to sleep, I noticed that my door was opened. The door literally opens up to the bed and the hallway is right there. We were on the second floor. I got up too close it and thought that maybe the DoorDash guy who had delivered my food came back. I had given him my key code to get into the building not realizing that duh, it’s the same one to my room. I jumped up and locked the door. I texted or emailed, however I was communicating with the owners who lived on the east coast and asked them to change the code to my door, right at 12am, the code was changed and two seconds later I heard stomping, the keypad being pressed and the door trying to be pushed open. The door stayed ajar as to where I could see outside in the hallway just a tiny bit. I didn’t realize at the time that the door was ajar. I then started communicating with the security woman throughout the night to find out if she had seen anything on the video cameras? She kept reminding me that my son and I were the only two people in the building. The next morning I needed to go get breakfast for us. While I was standing in the hall right outside my door, there was a white male in beige shorts and a nice floral shirt walking right by me. A few seconds later I heard a bedroom door slam and thought to myself, where is he staying, maybe it was the laundry room door, confused but not thinking about him being a ghost? Monday morning the owners had the maintenance crew at the building. They were able to retrieve the video, they said that on the video they could hear my screaming but that no one was at my door. I was not going to spend another night there. I was finally told that because my door lock was faulty and left ajar that they would refund my stay. Because at this point it was in the evening, I had to call the non emergency number to have a police officer help us get the stuff to my car. The police officer was not happy that he had to waste his time on me, continuing to say that there is no one in the hotel but Colton and I. Right at that time the TV in my sons room turned on all by itself. He was standing next to me. We were unable to figure out how to use the remote on the TVs so his TV was never used. He had just gotten out of the hospital, he was sleeping 24 hours. The TV was not a priority. I asked the officer to check the linen cupboard, nothing was in there. I still have no idea where the laundry room was, but I know there was not a room next to ours where the guy could have slammed a door. Also, All day long we had heard the footsteps, the keys jingling and the doors opening and slamming. Just something I noticed, the DoorDash guy, the Ghost and the officer all had light orange/reddish hair and looked alike. When I opened the door to my room and saw the officer I had to blink twice to make sure he was real. I JUST WANT TO KNOW IF ANYONE ELSE KNOWS THAT THE HOTEL VISTA IS HAUNTED and if so, WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM? There are so many reviews for Alan. I emailed him to ask if anyone else has had a similar experience and the email shot back stating that I needed to look for another place to stay! Thank you
