Best Western Plus Marina Shores Hotel — Attraction in Dana Point

Update: Regarding owner's response, which is also insulting, there is no mistaking this was your property (I updated my pictures to include one I took of the property from across the street). Again, the appropriate time for management to respond or inspect the rooms in question would have been when I brought it to management's attention, in person, which I did immediately following check-in, and was compensated a bag of peanuts.

My family checked in and we immediately found empty beer cans, trash all over the room, blood stains on the tattered yellow curtains (yes, old dried blood stains) and toe nail clipping everywhere. I reported the issue to the front desk clerk who apologized and gave us another room to try.

The second room was no better, had trash everywhere, broken furniture, a terrible wet dog stink, and food/kibble scattered all over the floor. In fact, the second room was so damp and smelled so bad we actually went back to the toe nail clipping room, which is where we ultimately stayed for the duration of our vacation.

To add insult to injury, when we reported our disappointment with the rooms to the manager he offered zero sympathy and responded by giving us a complimentary bag of peanut snacks sitting on the counter. I'm not even joking.

Not every balcony room has patio furniture either, our balcony room had no patio furniture. Also you will be charged additional fees at checkout that weren't listed while making your reservation, such as parking fees, so keep additional fees in mind. When I mentioned these hidden last minute charges to the clerk I was basically told the establishment is independently owned and operated. So, yeah, thanks. I guess that makes it okay.

Aside from the tone deaf manager, the majority of the staff we interacted with seemed pleasant. The daily breakfast varied but was fun for our eight year old.

Location was perfect, although the parking lot (navigating/entering/exiting) was a bit of a headache.

Also, and this was a problem for me as a migraine sufferer (didn't bother my wife or son as much) but there are a TON of low frequency environmental noises going on nearby (like big trucks idling, rumbling, wub-wub-wub like droning, old A.C. units clunking, etc.) and I could not sleep. I don't know the area that well but a guess might be some of the noise could have been local construction, or vibrations from trains passing, no idea.

In short, this might be the place for you if you're looking for a warm, wet, dirty, place to crash near the beach, or if you already travel with a bunch of pets and are nose blind. Know that this is an old, tattered, independently owned, outdated motel where management clearly is only thinking about holding onto money, not spending to update or improve customer experience/relations.

Additionally, they never did send anyone to vacuum the toe nail clippings and we ended up cleaning up all the trash ourselves.

Our family will not be returning. Learn from our mistakes and save your family...

This was an interesting stay starting before we even arrived.

On May 15th I received a call asking if I really needed a handicap accessible room that they had someone else that had MS that was wheelchair bound that needed it. I told the lady that we did as my brother has CP and is also wheelchair bound and needed the extra room.

Upon check in I verified that we still had an accessible room to which I was told no, it was being aired out and are going to be in a standard room. After explaining our situation we were given the accessible room that was being aired out. The room smelled, but it was accessible.

The next morning we received a call stating that house cleaning saw our dog peeing on the carpet in the hallway. I told the guy that there is no way that anyone saw our dog peeing on anything other than the designated area that I was told they needed to do their business at and we had taken them out 1.5 hours earlier. I asked what the dog looked like he said she did not know just that it was a little dog. I asked when and he told me just a few minutes ago which was funny as I was in my underwear searching google for things to do in Dana Point and my wife was in the shower at that time. Also my brother that has CP, was in his chair and has no ability move on his own let alone walk a dog. We let the front desk know that we did not appreciate the accusatory phone call to which they said they figured out which guest it was and that dog was doing the same thing in that guests room. Our dogs are extremely well behaved and know when and where to go potty, and yes we even picked up all their waste and waste of other dogs. We did receive an apology.

We left around 11 am, did some driving and touristy stuff and got back to the hotel at 3 to change for a wedding. Housekeeping was in there and told us it would be 20 minutes. We needed to change and my brother had to use his special toilet. I told her we needed the room she said 20 minutes. She did not understand me so my wife went to get someone to tell her we needed the room and she was out in less than 5 minutes. This was appreciated!! She was unable to finish the room this was okay with us, we did get the towels replaced and trashes emptied. Not having the room done by 3 pm was not appreciated.

We switched reservations from a different hotel because my wife wanted a hotel with a gym in it. BW did and Choice Hotels did not. The treadmill had a note that it was down for routine maintenance, the elliptical kept shutting off during the workout and eventually never turned on. That is half of the machines in the room!!! Not good at all!!

Food was okay. Coffee was great! Pillows sucked, they were super...

Best way to describe this place is value for your money. Compare what you get to the price and there doesn't exist a better place to stay. My lady friend calls it "our stay-cation place" since we're locals. I believe there are two basic room styles. Balcony or jacuzzi. Jacuzzi room are wide and have a nicer bathroom with a very cool multi jet bath that's separate from the shower and is larger enough for you and your lady. It's the focal point of the room and has an additional tv hanging in the upper corner so you can watch tv while in the bubble bath. The balcony room is more traditional shaped with a tv, table, couch(fold out bed), and chair as you enter with a regular bath that you pass by and it opens up to the bedroom. These rooms have very cool balconies that over look south Dana Point and it's beautiful at night. The tub and shower combo is typical but the tub has some jets as well. It's not the big jacuzzi like in the other room but it's still better than no Jets at all. The only down side when it comes to the rooms is that it's kinda random what amenities come in them unless you specifically asked for the balcony room with the "wet bar". That'll make sure you get the extra sink, better refrigerator, and microwave. Or just ask to make sure your room has whichever amenities you need and they will do their best to fit your needs without charging extra most of the time. Basically if it's romance at night and tourism by day the Jacuzzi room is where it's at but if you're going to spend more than a night or two and be in and out of the room a lot then the balcony with the wet bar is the best room in the house. The breakfast is amazing for this price point. I'm not kidding it's really impressive and it rotates so if you stay a few days you'll get some variety. There's a Denny's and a Starbucks close walking distance and we choose the hotel breakfast every time and it's not because of the money. Let's not forget the location. It's walking distance to a bunch of food and a cool little strip of places plus that dennys is 24 hours. You're also a 3 minute drive to the freeway and the Dana Point night life. San Clemente 7 minutes south on the 5 and Laguna Beach north on PCH isn't far at all either but bad traffic is possible any night if the week. Oh and it also has a pool and a small gym.

Basically this place is a value superstar. You really can't get much better with out paying at least double or tripple the cost of staying here. I've stayed at a lot of places in south OC and unless you wana jump up in cost for the Ritz this place is...