I realize that many hotels in Laguna Beach are old motels that have been converted over. That’s fine. I also realize that the area is popular and which high demand, lodging will be pricy. Also fine.
But the room smelled absolutely awful, almost like a port-a-potty. We eventually realized the smell came from the heating unit.
Which thankfully worked because our first room didn’t have a working heater. We were given a space heater and were expected to make that work. It did not work. So we eventually asked to move rooms.
Room itself is fine. Small and Spartan. No soap dish in the bathroom or in the shower, which was a bit odd.
Had a $55/night pet fee, which, sure, ok. But they required vaccination records for the dog, which I’ve never seen before.
They also sent me no fewer than 10 emails leading up to the weekend trying to get me to buy a Valentine’s Day package for anywhere from $75 to $150 for rose petals in the room and a bottle of wine. Yeah, no thanks.
Cable TV didn’t work well. Had to reboot the cable box every time we wanted to use it.
Location is great and the front desk staff were nice enough. Had books in the lobby you could borrow. Plenty of parking at no charge.
Overall a solid 3 out of 5. If they ditch the stench, might teeter on being worth $1,000 for a weekend.