Costa Art Hotel, Laguna Beach — Hotel in Laguna Beach

DON'T STAY HERE... unless you want to struggle with filth. As we checked in, we heard a guest complain about towels, but didn't think much of it. And then again, when we checked out, and I was explaining our experience to the front desk of having filthy towels and filthy floors, another guest quietly told me he had the excat same experience, but since he was with his family, he didn't want to move them to another hotel. ||First impression was that it was cute enough and would do. Clearly old and not kept up well but it has a newer coat of paint to make it at least a little charming. I was extremely surprised that it was $450 and expected a lot more. But it was a Sunday night on a holiday weekend, and I suppose that's their way of price gouging on a busy weekend. Come to find out they often charge closer to $150/night. That's some up charge!!||Shortly after checking in, I was about to take a shower when I noticed my towel wasn't clean...and I don't mean like they had a little dirt on it, but like filthy with red marks and dark black marks. Not one towel but both. They looked like they were just folded and put back without even going through a washer. So, I asked Patric, the very pleasant gentleman at the front desk, for a replacement. There were none. We even went to the laundry room...zero backup towels. A stark indicator that the owner doesn't want to spend any money on necessities, like towels. So, I was led to a room that hadn't been checked in yet to pilage from that bathroom...success...except those towels were just as filthy with orange and black marks. Again, clearly these "clean" towels hadn't been washed either. So, I was offered beach towels. You know the kind that are a little too rough and a little too thin from years of use. Yep, that's what we got to use. We had a towel in the car, so we used that as well. I didn't know this was a $450/night hotel where we had to bring our own towels. ||Fine, we had something to dry off with, but there wasn't a hook in the bathroom to hang the towels on...or even a toilet paper roll hook...just a loose toilet paper roll. I guess we were just supposed to put everything on the toilet seat or drape them over the shower rod, like we were in a frat house. When we pulled the shower curtain, it was about 3 feet too short to meet one side of the shower to the other. So, needless to say, water splashed out on the floor and we needed to use a towel to soak it up. ||But wait, there's more...there was so much sand and grim on the floor next to the bed that when we got in, we tracked dirt along with us under the sheets. CLEARLY, this room had not been swept, vacuumed, or ever mopped. My feet were black with dirt. ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING!!||The only response I got from the front desk at check out was,...

Horrible management and crisis response. Stayed here for Valentine's for ONE night. Our room completely flooded with water everywhere. The water wasn't draining due to bad pipes, and since the water was being held in the shower, it leaked into the walls which caused the water to get pushed out through the closet walls and floorboards. Bad plumbing and even worse repairs. Pipes were plugged and water went through the badly applied epoxy in the shower.

The water completely filled our restroom as well as our room. Since the hotel is NOT "24/7", as they are advertised, we had to call an after hours line that provided no help since no one is there to help past 11 PM. We were only comped 25% off when the room should've completely been comped due to the other complaints about plumbing issues. Something that we ignored in past reviews especially since we didn’t think we’d have to experience that in the ONE night we decided to stay in hopes of a relaxing and stress-free stay. A full refund is still expected since this is also a health and safety hazard and considering they are still booking rooms with plumbing issues. We had to take about 12 pool towels out of the 15 available from the gated off pool area that had to be jumped over to be able to handle the situation. This situation lasted about 2 HOURS which led to our clothes and everything on the floor getting wet and no sleep. They sent someone the next morning only to fix the clogged drains. We probably saved them thousands of dollars in repairs since we had to dry it ourselves. To think that we almost decided to leave, but instead decided to help the hotel out hoping they would help us in return… Only 25% off is absurd. Plumbing issues are an ongoing situation with this hotel that they don’t mention to guests in advance. Front desk associates are sweet but are still part of the problem since the manager doesn’t like to talk to customers or anyone, instead play a game of telephone with the associates while also taking advantage of paying guests.

Do not stay here unless you want to get swindled and have an ocean form from the closet walls to the front door. DO NOT STAY HERE.

Management: Cameras are pointed towards the pool area, you will see me hopping the fence and taking a number of towels at around 12:45 AM on 02/15/25.

Added Photo was the start of the flooding with the bath and hand towels provided in the room. We didn’t take any other photos since we didn’t want to humiliate this establishment. But instead, as paying customers, we were humiliated...

First let me say if it wasn't for Patrick, the hotel clerk, our stay would have been much worse. He is gracious, kind, considerate and over the top helpful. He was truly the whole package on what you would hope to have when going to a hotel for the first time. |The pics for this hotel are quite deceiving. The pool looks like a large beautiful and inviting pool. It is not. It's rather small and not very accommodating for most guests. We arrived the first day around 2:45 and noticed about 4 kids in the pool. Since the pool is small we decided to wait and go later since there was really no room to swim. They were still in the pool at 7:00pm. |Once in our room we went out to the balcony which is also small and noticed across from our balcony were hotel rooms. My friend said we were supposed to have gotten an ocean view of some kind. Well, if you want to call a sliver of a view of the ocean an ocean view its a bit of a joke, but was a complete WASTE of money. We had a Keurig in the room that was not working correctly and the water would drain onto the top of the tray. I guess that's why it was there. The beds were fairly comfortable, but yes we had better. The shower, on the other hand, was very nice and roomy. The continental breakfast was menial. Plain bagels, white and wheat bread, and raisin bread that disappeared quickly and not replaced. No pastries. Hard boiled eggs, some apples and oranges, and the traditional Yoplait yogurt. Oh and packets of oatmeal. There was no fitness room or any other amenities I would say were worth pointing out. You also had to cross a large boulevard to get to the other side of the road and then head down a ways to get to the ocean. |My friend had put in a request to get a late check out - in other words instead of leaving at 11:00am, as our UBER was coming at around 11:30, we thought that would not be a problem. The clerk at the front desk, Lovey, told us it would be an additional $20.00. We paid $1,702.00 for 4 nights or $425.50 per night. Which I find ridiculous for what we got in return. I would have to say shop around, there have got to be better places to stay. |Thank you Patrick for making our stay so pleasant in spite of what the accommodations offered us. You are truly a gem!! May I suggest a higher quality hotel that is more deserving of...