Got a last minute holiday weekend reservations at the Orca Inn. There was nothing else in Friday Harbor for a reasonable price. I went ahead and reserved a room knowing it was a no frills micro room, so my expectations were very low. Well it was a small room, but had everything we needed, it was comfortable and IMMACULATE!! I literally could not believe how spotless this room was!! So if you are looking for an affordable option for a stay in Friday Harbor, do not hesitate to stay at the Orca Inn, I promise there is zero ick factor, trust me, I get creeped out pretty easily at most budget friendly hotels. Not Orca Inn, whoever their crew is that takes care of the Orca Inn deserve a medal and a raise!! read more

Omg the bed bugs. Killed 2 large spiders as well. Dead bugs in light fixtures. Bathroom smelled of mildew and skunk. I know they pride themselves on having the smallest rooms in Washington, but a camper would have had more room. Walls so thin I was kept up by the guy next door snoring. I wanted to sleep out in my car. read more

The Orca Inn - Gross - Hotels Near Me - Friday Harbor, Washington

No frills but very clean, affordable by comparison to the other much higher priced options here. Close walk to town. We booked a two queen bed option and it was roomie enough with small fridge and microwave, coffee at office. No chairs or lamps in room but offered outside and in hallway although the chairs were missing one night. Can't sit up in bed as the ac unit prohibits the bed to lean up against the wall. Noisy as it's right by a small airport starting at 7 am. Local bike companies seem to stay here so they were also noisy early in the morning. Interesting bathroom set up, separate sink area from shower and toilet. Looks like a double wide trailer home. For convenience, I would consider staying again. read more

Claustrophobia enthusiasts or those looking to relive their college dorm room days (minus the beer kegs) take note: the Orca Inn is available to indulge your fantasies. Harsh? Hardly. I know they say they're 'no-frills' and ...they are all that. But that doesn't mean this multi-building single-story complex can't do better. Pros: -An awesome desk person, check in was delightful, helpful and very informative -Water/ice/ coffee station. Very cool. -Decent air conditioning -Close to CoOp market and San Juan Bakery -Lots of parking. -Fridge and microwave included. Cons; -Paltry room size. You can barely walk around the bed, and the shower is no bigger than a coffin. As a bonus, ours came with a bee carcass in it. -Bathroom door barely had room to close. Sounds were emanating from toilet randomly at night. -Lighting is horrid -Bedding is from last century -Paper-thin walls - you can hear every footstep outside your door. -Outrageous pricing for what was a closet. I know it's summer. Still. I wonder: Was this an old army barracks not-so successfully repurposed to serve civilians? Seems likely. Oh well. I realize it's probably the cheapest accommodation on San Juan Island in high season, but, nope, never again. A good night's sleep: is It too much to ask for? read more

The Orca Inn - The unbelievably cramped room. - Hotels Near Me - Friday Harbor, Washington

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Don't get a room facing the grocery store. I had a truck unloading palates outside my window starting at 5am that didn't stop until 8am. Rough night of sleep. read more

We got messed up on a VRBO rental and needed shelter for the night. We booked here, sight unseen and was told that there were only a couple places still available. It cost us $212 for a room that barely fit a double bed. Now the room was clean, but there was probably over a 100 units left vacant. Deceptive information regarding availability and overcharging isn't cool. Charging half of what we paid would be more realistic. We were desperate, so it worked out. We later found out that this was formerly a military barracks! read more

For all the haters out there, I'm going to have to disagree with the negative comments. First of all the office gals are super friendly and helpful and the room was very clean. I'm talking cleaner than all of the Hilton hotels I've stayed in for the last 10 years, clean. So, kudos to housekeeping! This hotel doesn't purport to be anything other than what it is: an affordable, no frills accommodation in a naturally beautiful place. Nobody comes here to just sit around all day at a hotel anyway. I've stayed at several places in Friday Harbor and honestly this was exactly what I needed. They have a water cooler with ice right by the office, too! I thought it was super convenient - location was near a grocery store/pizza place/bowling (walkable) and parking was plentiful. I'd stay here again for sure. read more

Will never stay here again! Cheapest hotel on the island but not even worth it. Slept absolutely horribly. Can hear everything going on in the hallway and the other rooms, fridge makes LOUD whirring noise on and off all night which usually isn't a problem except for the fact that it's right behind your head?? Cuz the rooms are laid out so weird. Bed sucks and hurt my neck. Feel very bad for my elderly mother. Do not stay here if you want a decent nights sleep, you will not find that here! read more

If you are never in the room, it's workable. Walls are thin. We stayed 4 nights and I had to get fresh towels at the office. Housekeeping never cleaned our room. Once they emptied our over filled small trash cans but didn't clean bathroom or sink/closet. Check in staff are friendly at the office. The highlights.... There is a fabulous bakery across the street, but be aware it's only open Monday-Thursday. 'Top of the Lounge' bar is a cool little bar that serves food (must be 18+). read more

The Orca Inn - After 3 days, housekeeping came in to empty waste baskets but didn't clean. - Hotels Near Me - Friday Harbor, Washington

DO NOT STAY HERE! Please do not risk it. I left a review here 3 weeks ago regarding a bedbug infestation in room 615. From other reviews, this is definitely not the only room infested. We found bedbugs within an hour of being in the room and ended up bagging up all our belongings and sleeping in the car. Bedbugs are notoriously good at hiding and not being seen. The fact that we saw them within an hour of being in the room and before we fell asleep indicates that this is a large infestation, and I believe the Inn has (and is) aware of this. It is irresponsible for this inn to continue to rent out rooms where there is a clear bedbug infestation. This is not an infestation that can be treated one and done, they need to shut these rooms down for months of treatment to get rid of this infestation. Despite my best efforts to prevent any bedbugs from making their way back with me, I have found three since returning home (3 weeks ago). The treatments are estimated to cost at least $1200-$2000 to exterminate these from my home. The one hour I spent at this inn is completely to blame for this cost. Bedbugs are no joke, and this has taken over my life at the moment. Please, save yourself thousands of dollars and stay somewhere else! read more

The Orca Inn - Hotels Near Me - Friday Harbor, Washington

The hotel was in a great location but the walls are paper thin. We could hear everyone in other rooms and smell cooking clearly from our room. The king bed in handicapped accessible room was super comfy. The area was very quiet at night. read more

Super friendly host! Tiny rooms with historic stories, feel good about saving the environment! Comfy outdoor seating to enjoy complimentary coffee. And great bakery across the street (Bakery San Juan!) read more

If you are traveling solo be sure to try to get the "full" bed instead of a queen, as tiny as the rooms are, you will gain a few precious inches of walking space (not to mention, you'll save $10 for each night). This is not a criticism, as I've stayed here before and I've had both sizes of beds. Don't count on the wi-fi being consistent. Also, be aware that the walls ARE thin, so be prepared to put up with loud and noisy neighbors. read more

Paper thin walls. Could hear neighbor snoring all night. Very small and dated rooms. Ice machine was a small counter model for the whole hotel. Place looks like a storage business air conditioning very loud. Sink in closet. read more

Do not stay in this place. The service and management is beyond patronizing and will not care about any of your needs. You will easily be able to find a different accommodation for the same price level but with better management. If you do book, make sure to find out which building you are because half of the hotel is facing the parking lot of a grocery store and you won't be able to sleep at night. At all. And I'm not a light sleeper. I am running a hotel myself and was nothing but shocked how I was treated. read more

Funky, but cool little place. Was in town for business and just needed a simple place for the night. But, after staying, I would be happy to stay here as a sight seer, too. :) The rooms are small and older (read their story of the property and this makes sense), but extremely clean. Bathroom, shower, sink, bed, furniture, linens - all completely spotless and smelled good! Comfy bed. Everything you need. And a great little coffee bar in the office. Manager was super friendly, even when I had to check-in super late. Great location that's walkable to everything in FH. Definitely worth checking out! read more

I would definitely recommend skipping this place. The rooms are so small and not at all comfortable. The bathroom door doesn't even have a latch. The shower shutter magnets doesn't work. Overall the experience is as bad as it can be. read more

First off, this is located on an island and unfortunately was the only one available via Hotwire. After booking and arriving a reasonable time (7pm), we arrived to the place being closed with no alternative. Literally, no other hotel was open... and considering it takes a ferry to get here you are essentially stranded. Rather than sleeping in our car I attempted to knock on the door after them no answering our phone and the room/booking clearly confirmed from 2-3hrs prior... Luckily the lady answered the door. However the rooms were TINY, picture a closet. The rooms smelled like moldy/mildew and frankly not nice at all. If you can find something else I would writerly recommend it. If they didn't eventually answer we would have been stranded with no where to sleep... read more

The Orca Inn - Closed sign at 7pm... - Hotels Near Me - Friday Harbor, Washington

Stayed for one night, off season. $90/night for a "micro-queen" which more or less equates to a full. Pros: Plenty of parking Relative proximity to downtown/waterfront. 10min walk Cons: Rooms are tiny Bed uncomfortable TV older than I am Water temp in shower was lukewarm Wifi is useless No breakfast Woke up to a lot of bugs in the bathroom Didn't find this to be very good value, even for the islands. read more

Location is easy to find and they have signs in the parking lot directing you too the office. Is located a 2 minute drive or about 15 minute walk from the main area on Friday Harbor. Is right by the airport and you will hear the planes however we didn't hear any after about 10. Very nice gal checked us in and helped me figure out the machine for hot chocolate, even though she had several people to check in, and did not seem bothered by it at all. The rooms are small yes but I found them put together well to maximize the space and did not see any bugs or dust. Our bed was very wobbly everytime we moved it felt like it was going to fall apart. We could not lean against it to watch TV or it probably would have broken so it was not super comfortable. We got 2 rooms in one the bed cover under the sheet had blood on it however I am pretty sure whomever made the bed may have cut themselves and not noticed. When we went to the office we were offered another room but declined and just had the cover changed. Now for the big bummers. There are so many lights in the parking lot and no curtains just blinds it made the room very bright at night. Combined with people going in and out of the hallway very late and very early talking and letting the door slam, I could not sleep. The heater in the room is loud and did not help either and since the only blanket provided was a thin one we had to keep it up to stay warm. The bathroom light and fan are one switch so I had to choose to either go in the dark or disturb my partner with the noise. read more

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It was a place to lay my head. The back story of the buildings is interesting, but if I could have found another place with a vacancy I probably would have stayed there. Walls were thin, bed uncomfortable and not alot of ambiance. Although my reservation said I was charged at the time, they did not charge me then and needed a credit card at check in. Now I know I will plan ealier to stay elsewhere. read more

Well, to start out with, we decided to not stay at this hotel after all due to a change in plans. I booked through Priceline and later cancelled, even receiving a cancellation number from Priceline. Then the night we had originally planned to stay there, we get a voicemail from Orca Inn asking if we were still planning on staying! I called Orca Inn and left a message that we weren't and that Priceline should have sent them the cancellation notice. I received an e-mail message from Priceline on Oct. 12th that they spoke with Ken at Orca Inn and that they will refund my payment. Fast forward a week and still no refund. I then called Ken at Orca Inn and he said that his office didn't send it until 4 days after our initial phone conversation. He said it'd take a few days to go through. Well, finally on Oct. 20th I see my refund. Only positive note about this whole experience is, that Ken was nice on the phone each time we spoke. He wasn't dismissive, and did seem genuinely concerned. Please keep in mind, that this review is strictly in regards to my booking and cancelling situation, I can't review the actual Inn, so it wouldn't be fair to assume their actual Inn isn't nice, but it's extremely unlikely we'll book there again. read more

This was our first time staying here. We booked a king room, which was a good size for me and my husband. The room was clean, the bathroom was huge, and the bed was comfortable. We found it easy to walk into downtown for dinner. The San Juan Island Brewery was especially good. We also loved the pecan butter tarts from Bakery San Juan, which is close by. Be sure to read the history of the Orca Inn buildings, and I highly recommend booking directly through the Inn's website. read more

We stayed there during their busy season, so they were fully booked. We were attending a wedding and needed to check in early. At first they said no but when we explained the situation, she was able to get us an early check in about an hour and half before scheduled which was SO helpful. Kimberly was super friendly and gave us recommendations on where to go. The room itself is small, but clean and really all you need to sleep and shower. If I come back to the island, I would definitely stay there again. Its close to town, and an affordable price. read more

BEDBUGS, guys. All other aspects of this motel go right out the window when bedbugs come into play. Granted, none of the other reviews I've seen mentioned bedbugs, so this could be a recent issue, but management didn't address our concerns after the fact, which is not a great way to handle something like this. How do I know it's bedbugs? Because I SAW and KILLED one. The first morning of our stay, I woke up at 7am, itching intensely, and got up to find some hydrocortisone cream. As I threw back the covers, a little black bug came crawling out and, disgusted, I smashed it with the tube of cream. For some reason, my friend and I didn't realize that it was a bedbug until we got home and researched them more thoroughly - we were both under the impression that they were much smaller somehow and initially believed that bug to be a beetle of some sort. In retrospect, we didn't handle it appropriately while we were there - we should have alerted management right away, no doubt, but live and learn, right? I was bitten all over - multiple times on both arms, several times on my leg - and reacted very severely. Two weeks later, I still have marks on my arms! Oddly enough, my friend was either not bitten at all or didn't react to it. Both of us had to fumigate our luggage and launder all of our clothing as soon as we got home and spent the following week freaking out about the possibility of having brought an uninvited guest home from vacation. The location of this motel is very convenient and the room was otherwise clean, although tiny, and had most of the necessary conveniences. (No coffee pot or hair dryer.) Staff was nice. If you're looking for a simple, no-frills place to crash, the Orca Inn would do just fine, except... bedbugs, y'all. read more

There are, as of mid-2010, two places to stay for under $100 in Friday Harbor: the Orca Inn or the Wayfarer's Rest. We stayed at both this month, and I'm writing a compare-and-contrast review. Both are minimalist, giving you a place to sleep and not much extra space. Both are clean, tolerably quiet, and ten minutes' walk from "downtown". Advantages of the Orca Inn: - Bigger; you're more likely to get a room on short notice (as we did). - A little more "hotel-like"; you get a guaranteed in-room shower, a private mini fridge, a personal microwave, and towels for free (charged $2 at Wayfarer's). - Television in your room; Wayfarer's has no TV. - Slightly closer to "services"; there's an espresso hut, a supermarket, and a bakery all within a block. Advantages of Wayfarer's Rest: - More social, with an actual common area, puzzles, lending library, etc. - Two full-size kitchens (with complimentary eggs from the backyard chickens and complimentary coffee) that you can use as you please. - More character; rooms are individualized, including some very cute cabins out back. - Feels a little "closer in" than the Orca Inn. We were very happy with both and would stay again. read more

Definitely worth the price and a very nice place, the front desk lady was really nice and knowledgeable and even upgraded us to a bigger room free of charge! And we thought we were already getting a good deal considering we made our reservations super last minute as we didn't plan on staying the night majority of the trip. Definitely recommend read more

3.5 stars. A friendly welcome with a cookie upon arrival after our ferry ride and short walk up to the inn. My family of three had to get two rooms because the micro rooms were so small. The king suit was actually a decent size and we probably could had all stayed there with a portable bed but it was nice having my own room and space. The rooms were clean and well kept. Some features were dated but functional, like the TV but I didn't mind. There was a good selection of channels to choose from. The king suite had a full bath, DVD player and coffee maker. Both rooms had a TV, refrigerator and air conditioning. Convenient, well stocked grocery store next door as well as a bakery, food co-op, drive through coffee stand and cafe within a 2 minute walking distance if you don't want to walk the 10 minute distance to downtown. Lots of parking if you brought a car but it's all pretty walk-able or bus-able (FH Transit Shuttle) on the island. Two main cons: 1. the pillows were awful, they offered little support and were lumpy. 2. the walls were super thin, I could hear everything , my neighbors said or were doing. I would return to this inn if all of my first choices were taken or too pricey. You get what you pay for and I was thankful for how clean the establishment was. read more

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Great location and price. I stayed in a 2 queen bed room with my family. Room was small but clean and comfortable. The main building block for the room is locked at entrance so that is a good thing. Overall it was very comfortable and a nice play to stay. Special thanks to the manager. After my day out around island and return to hotel late night, I noticed my tire low on air. The manager guided me to get air and also offered help to change tires if the tire goes flat again. Thankfully it was not needed. read more

Great location near downtown and next to a grocery store. For the budget traveler, but the rooms were clean and you get what you need. The front office husband and wife are very nice and accommodating. read more

Literally the smallest and ugliest room I've ever stayed in. For $135 a night, I'd have been more comfortable in a tent. Next time I'm on the island, I'll camp. read more

Booked a room via Expedia for the wrong evening by mistake. Attempted to contact the hotel via phone to cancel multiple times, no one ever picked up. Expedia attempted to contact via email and phone, never received a response. The evening I had booked (and could not make), the owner calls me to find out where I am. When I explained that I and Expedia had attempted to contact him about a cancelation, he got belligerent with me. I can only imagine how hard it must be to run a hotel in these times. Cursing at potential customers doesn't seem like an effective way to run a hotel business. read more

This hotel was a great bargain! The woman at the front desk was so very friendly she made our stay exceptional!

I've had a mixed experience at the Orca Inn... let's start with the good things first: - Lady at check-in is awesome. Fun and full of many useful tips - Price is definitely cheap for Friday Harbor - Location is a few minutes walk from the center of town This could make up to a 4 star review, however there's the bad things too: - Our room was way small, I'm talking almost to Japan-small kind of room (which is very bad for american standards - The bed was placed against the wall, making it impossible for the person sleeping next to it to get up with sleeping the other person - Our room was facing the back of the big grocery store which had bright and intense lights turned on 24/7... meaning that our room was almost lit like in full day even in the middle of the night (see picture below). My wife had to sleep with a towel on her face to avoid staying awake all night. For me these are all 1 star elements, hence the overall poor rating. Consider that staying a in a larger room and in a unit not facing the grocery store might improve the experience for you. read more

This hotel is close to downtown and a great price. All amenities are provided for and the couple who runs it is super nice. Definitely a good deal for a trip to Friday Harbor read more

Front desk lady was friendly, check-in was quick and easy. It's a dump but a clean dump, this place just need lots of updating from the late 1960s. The room I stayed in was a 6'x11' with fake pine paneling, a Zenth tube TV which does have cable if you can see through the snow and the orange tint of the screen and a queen size hard bed. Pros: they do have WiFi, mini frig, microwave, and a nice a/c heater combo window unit. I turned just the fan on for white noise from people/cars at the grocery store and due to the thin walls here at the Inn. read more

I don't need to watch Gordon Ramsay's "Hotel Hell." Sure, with this attitude, I'll probably miss him calling someone a "donkey" or some other hotel related insult ("Semen Bed?"). But it's really unnecessary for me to watch. I don't need to see this, because I've already lived through Hotel Hell. While staying on San Juan Island, we decided it would be best to stay at the cheapest hotel on the entire island, The Orca Inn. And that is where I completely overlap with Hotel Hell. I can guarantee you that just about every single hotel featured on the show will be the cheapest one in the area. I'm not even including like a Motel 6 in that equation, because even that is more expensive than what I endured. When we checked in, the adequately friendly clerk was on the phone telling a former patron that even though they left early, they were still in the room for a while and therefore they were being charged for it. On the surface I thought this was just a situation where they stayed past check out time. In hindsight I now realize they checked in, saw the room and immediately left. But since they probably stepped in, the hotel management deemed it occupation and set the meter running. I'm also assuming that there was an hourly meter, because well, this is a Hotel Hell sort of establishment like that. When I first walked in the room, the only response I could muster was "Oh my." The door opened and I looked into literally the smallest room I had ever seen. It did have a full size bed in it, but that compromised the majority of the room. My 5'11" frame could nearly reach from one end of the room to the other. Welcome to, welcome to hotel... HELL!!!!! Thoughts immediately went to wondering if this place is mainly used by prostitutes, but I really didn't know how active the prostitution community was on the island. What I did know was I needed to take drastic measures if I planned on getting through the night. I couldn't merely set fire to everything or go around in a "The Shining"-esque fashion, because that would be too expected of me. I just let out a brief sob and got out of there. At this point we cursed ourselves for not bringing our own sheets, blanket, bed and entire hotel room. Welcome to, welcome to hotel... HELL!!!!! Lumpy bed, limited internet connection (as in you could only access it if you stood in the smoking area), hard pillow, werewolves, this place had it all. Even a microwave. And I suppose that, combined with its relatively cheap price would qualify it as a two star establishment. But I still knew where I was. Welcome to, welcome to hotel... HELL!!!!! The one bit of solace I could take from the whole experience is that although it was totally a Bates Motel sort of setup, I knew we couldn't be murdered to death in the shower, because there just wasn't enough room for that to happen. The shower was one of those submarine showers that could only fit one person and a bucketful of STDs. Just try and Norman Bates me in there, it's not going to happen. Welcome to, welcome to hotel... HELL!!!!! So Gordon Ramsay, I stayed in that room. I stayed in that Hotel Hell. If you encounter anything like what I went through, you are guaranteed to not make it through to your next FOX series. Two stars for being cheap. read more

We enjoyed our stay at the Orca Inn. We read the reviews in advance and knew the rooms would be small. Yes, they were small, but it was fine for us. We were a party of four so we got two queen rooms. The beds were good, and it was very quiet both nights we stayed there. I slept great. AC/fan worked well. Sometimes we opened the window to let in the breeze; it was nice to have that option. Microwave and fridge worked well; we used both. Coffee was available in the main office, and we ate our breakfast at a picnic table outside. Location was very good, walking distance to downtown and next door to a big supermarket. Staff was friendly and helpful. Nice touches throughout. Would definitely stay here again. read more

Staff is so friendly! We stayed in their off-season, so it was less than $80 a night. Very affordable. It was a peaceful place and conveniently right next to a market. The shower is a bit wonky; i couldn't get the curtain to close and the temperatures are switched. The room smelt a little like an animal shelter to me, but aside that it was a good last-minute stay. read more

I don't understand why some people are rating this so poorly. I thought the hotel was perfect for what you pay for! We paid $100/night (easily $150-$200 less than most hotels in proximity) in high season (July) for a Micro-Queen room. The room was comfortable with a mini fridge, microwave, TV, ice cold A/C and a comfortable bed. Hotel is also in a perfect location, only a 5 min walk to Friday Harbor. Lots of parking too on site if you drive onto the island from the ferry. If you're looking for somewhere to literally sleep, relax in the late evening or come back and shower and head out again, then I highly recommend The Orca Inn. If you're looking for some luxurious R&R hotel where you don't want to leave the property, you are not going to enjoy your experience. Cheryl, the manager that lives on site was very friendly and she makes sure your stay is comfortable and has a wealth of information. They even give little Orca cookies when you check in. Would definitely stay here again. read more