California Comfort & Suites — Hotel in Baja California

Hotel California For an American living in Los Algodones it feels a bit like living in a parallel universe. At least that’s how I felt when we stayed at California Comfort Inn and Suites. My house is about a mile away and I’ve passed by this hotel maybe a hundred times in the past year. We stayed at California Comfort Inn and Suites the other day to celebrate our anniversary and this is my take…

The place is elegant by Mexican standards for sure. The reception area is small but modern. We decided to go low budget and get the standard room that we booked on Expedia. I think the $40 per night was the “rack rate” and I didn’t ask for any “special deals” so I could remain objective when writing a review. There was tax of $7 brining the total to USD $47 for the night.

The standard room is on the smallish side for two people. it was nicely decorated and very clean. Wifi was a respectable was a 10mbps. About a 10-minute walk from the border this hotel is centrally located on Saratoga Avenue, the same street that will get you to the border crossing. That street, by the way, can get really crowded with cars waiting for the border crossing. Especially on Sundays where the line can go all the way to the Mexican side Colorado River Dam. Once the line gets to the dam, it’s about 2.5-3 hour wait…something to think about.

But in terms of getting in and out with a car, the hotel has really, super friendly staff that will stop any cars, so you can get out safely. There is limited parking within the hotel itself. But overflow parking is right next door secured with cameras and a fence.

I miss swimming at the gym when I lived in Fresno. And there are no public pools here in Los Algodones. So, swimming in the pool at California Hotel was a real treat. Although the pool is small , the water was warm…around 80 degrees and crystal clear. At night the pool was lit with a cool cobalt blue which, for me, was a beautiful sight. The deck of the pool is nicely furnished with cushioned chairs and little wooden tables.

Like most tourist hotels, you are likely to make friends with interesting people. We met a couple from southern coastal Oregon, Mary and Gerald. They explained that they had been coming to Algodones for the past 14 years to get dental work done and get prescriptions filled. Gerald had a spinning wheel out in the pool area, I’m not kidding, and he was making yarn. His wife was knitting the freshly made yarn into mittens. She showed me some Alpaca wool they found locally near Brookings, OR. It was a surreal sight and cool at the same time. Later, a retired attorney from Florida joined the poolside chat and offered up some good advice about credit cards…” pay them off every month”. Like every other American and Canadian I’ve talked to in this part of Mexico, these people were happy.

There is a restaurant on site that looked elegant and downstairs was an equally elegant looking coffee shop. We didn’t try the food or coffee because we ended up going home to sleep…about a mile away…because we missed our dogs and cats. We did come back the next morning to check out and grab a toothbrush we left in the room.

To sum things up…for the price of a Motel 6 in Yuma, you an get a clean, comfortable room close to just about everything in Los Algodones like restaurants, shopping, pharmacies, and dentists. The staff is hard working and top notch, in my opinion, and most all of them speak excellent English. I don’t see how anyone could go wrong staying at...

Abysmal. checked out after 20 minutes.||First, never a response to emails. sent 7 with travel updates. Had to call.||strike one:||guest asked about the internet then said he wanted to check out early. Wasn't paying attention to that as I should have.||They are disorganized in a way you would have to see to believe. Price quoted at desk upon check in was challenged by man putting together a table. argument between him (manager/owner?) and front desk lady ensued until he agreed to the "cash" discount she had offered Me but for 1 night of the 4.||strike two: |couldn't find the key to my room "it is probably here somewhere, just not in the drawer". lady says to young man....just make another one but we need to keep better track of these keys." so multiple keys to my room floating around? lady: yeah but most of them don't work! are you serious? I had just bought no entry locks for hotel doors so I was thinking it's ok.||Strike three:|"Condo" is across the street in nondescript building no signage indicating as part of hotel. |My daughter's iphone app showed temperature of 94 degrees when we entered. Put the a/c's on immediately? Temp had dropped to 93 when we left 15 minutes later.|Immediately tried to connect to internet to look for another hotel. Tried for 15 minutes, sweltering in the heat and finally looked at my kids and said "no, just no". $120/night and we had no phone service without internet? ||Returned to front desk. People checking in so guy immediately said ok refund her money. Then again he yelled at the clerk because the way he had receipted the cash was confusing. I straightened it out and the man said it does not really matter bc it's coming out of his pay if it's not right. Who doesn't love a manager who has his employees' backs? Outrageous.||Then two cars were blocking our exist...one from dental clinic. I went into lobby and told clerk asking them to move. 6 minutes later (and my honking the horn much to the dismay of my teenagers) finally the dental clinic van move.||At this point I didn't bother to find a place to stay but headed back to Yuma. Have to return today for further dental work so there's that.||Just overall ridiculously bad 15 minute stay. Save yourself the risk to your safety and intense aggravation (this after a day of 5 root canals). ||I do have to say the driver was lovely and accommodating but he couldn't make up for the rest of...

Abysmal. checked out after 20 minutes.

First, never a response to emails. sent 7 with travel updates. Had to call.

strike one:

guest asked about the internet then said he wanted to check out early. Wasn't paying attention to that as I should have.

They are disorganized in a way you would have to see to believe. Price quoted at desk upon check in was challenged by man putting together a table. argument between him (manager/owner?) and front desk lady ensued until he agreed to the "cash" discount she had offered Me but for 1 night of the 4.

strike two: couldn't find the key to my room "it is probably here somewhere, just not in the drawer". lady says to young man....just make another one but we need to keep better track of these keys." so multiple keys to my room floating around? lady: yeah but most of them don't work! are you serious? I had just bought no entry locks for hotel doors so I was thinking it's ok.

Strike three: "Condo" is across the street in nondescript building no signage indicating as part of hotel. My daughter's iphone app showed temperature of 94 degrees when we entered. Put the a/c's on immediately? Temp had dropped to 93 when we left 15 minutes later. Immediately tried to connect to internet to look for another hotel. Tried for 15 minutes, sweltering in the heat and finally looked at my kids and said "no, just no". $120/night and we had no phone service without internet?

Returned to front desk. People checking in so guy immediately said ok refund her money. Then again he yelled at the clerk because the way he had receipted the cash was confusing. I straightened it out and the man said it does not really matter bc it's coming out of his pay if it's not right. Who doesn't love a manager who has his employees' backs? Outrageous.

Then two cars were blocking our exist...one from dental clinic. I went into lobby and told clerk asking them to move. 6 minutes later (and my honking the horn much to the dismay of my teenagers) finally the dental clinic van move.

At this point I didn't bother to find a place to stay but headed back to Yuma. Have to return today for further dental work so there's that.

Just overall ridiculously bad 15 minute stay. Save yourself the risk to your safety and intense aggravation (this after a day of 5 root canals).

I do have to say the driver was lovely and accommodating but he couldn't make up for the rest of...