Laguna Beach House — Hotel in Laguna Beach

My fiancee and I are just about to check-out after a 9 day 8 night stay at Laguna Cliffs Inn. What can I say, we absolutely loved it. The Inn is quaint, clean, and very pretty. We stayed in room 204.. and Oceanview room on the top level. The view out of our window was somewhat small, but the shared balcony and incredible location made up for that easily. The Hot Tub and pool are small, but very nice, and we took advantage as much as we could with such a busy trip. The only minor issues would be that (I believe due to the age of the building) the walls can feel thin at times and noise does easily travel. That being said, it was never a major issue our entire stay. The other little issue was our keys did not consistently work and we had to keep go getting more made.... again.... a luxury problem at best. The continental breakfast in our rooms (restocked everyday) was a great treat for people trying to pack in as much as they could on their trip (ie always on the move.) Coffee Bean coffee in the lobby, fresh fruit, and other goodies were also just simple, but excellent little perks. The Inn's proximity to the ocean, downtown, and the parks is just incredible.. AND there is free parking, which we have learned in Laguna is kinda a big deal.

The absolute best part of the Inn are the staff. They are incredibly kind and immensely helpful. We were at the Inn during XMAS, and could not have felt more welcomed and comfortable. The front desk worker John, in particular, went above and beyond to make our trip more enjoyable... (I also saw him make a cup of hot chocolate for a little girl who was staying at the inn as well... which was beyond adorable and awesome.) Whether it was setting up rentals last minute for us to try paddleboarding, letting us ship things to the inn (and then when it arrives calling us and putting it in our rooms,) giving us extra beach chairs to use at Aliso Beach for non-guests, remaking keys for us (as mentioned earlier,) or just saying hi while we were grabbing coffee, the staff at Laguna Cliffs Inn are what turns this place from very nice, into absolutely wonderful.

My fiancee is a Master's student and I work in Human Services, so we certainly do not have a tremendous amount of expendable finances. When I found this place online, the price seemed a little too good to be true... but... I was wrong. Not only did this place live up to the price... it exceeded it by leaps and bounds... and... we booked far enough in advance that there was a discount (if you book over a certain amount of days there is a discount as well.) Basically, we felt as if we were on a vacation that there would be no way we could actually afford. But not only could we afford it, we had plenty of extra money to mess around beautiful Orange County with.

I do not write reviews... but his place was so great, I felt like I had to. We hope to be back (maybe every XMAS?) I COMPLETELY RECOMMEND this place! I just hope it stays somewhat a secret... because this...

Rude staff! Smelly Room! Thin walls! Fees for Amenities not provided!!! Promises unkept! That’s just some of my experience! So, I booked this hotel for one night. I would be arriving late and leaving early. I booked this hotel because it was close to my clients, and I had an early morning call time. Prior to arriving I called and spoke with the manager, Sophia. I explained that I needed a quiet room because I would be getting up very early for a long and strenuous job. Sophia, the manger, told me she would move my room to an end unit to ensure I got a good nights sleep. But wait - did she? On my way down from Los Angeles I got stuck in horrific traffic and called (as a courtesy) to inform them I would be checking in late. I called 11 times over 2 hours. NO One ever answered. I was continually transferred to a sister hotel in Arizona. They didn’t answer either. Once I got to the hotel I was unexpectedly informed that I would have to pay for cookies (which there were none) and beach towels that I wouldn’t be using. They didn’t care! I went up to my room and immediately noticed it wasn’t the end unit as I was promised. It was right smack in the middle. I went back downstairs and the front desk told me the room had never been changed and this was all they had! So, back upstairs I went. I entered the room and was knocked back by the smell! It was overwhelming, sickening, nauseating, and unbearable. It seemed to be some kind of chemical smell. The front desk was again of NO assistance. Not only was he unhelpful, he was also rude and combative. Back upstairs I opened all of the windows and doors hoping to air out the smell. Exhausted, I gave up and prepared for sleep. Oh wait! They have Jazz music playing out by seating area. (Outside my door) at 12:30 am I called downstairs to ask when they would be turning it off and I was simply told “whoops, I’ve been busy.” At 1:00 am I dosed off only to be awaken shortly thereafter by the elephant upstairs. They seemed to be pacing. This went on until I had to get up at 5:30. So, I got about 1 hour of sleep. I paid for items I did not get or need and I was treated as if they didn’t need my business, nor care. I called the manager, Sophia, after my experience to fill her in and as if I were talking to a robot she seemed to be reading from a script. She kept repeating the same things over and over. If I interrupted her she would start the script over. So, I caution you to beware. And lastly, to the owners of this establishment, I’m just one person who stayed one night, but bad management is suicide. Any business owner who has failed would agree. If your management and staff are rude to one, how many others are they rude to? How many simply choose not to return, but told 10...

Close your eyes. Now imagine staying in beautiful, sunny, and laid back Laguna Beach. A beach house, at that!

Now picture being excited to start your staycation and then...you meet Michelle. Excitement and cheeriness dies!

Michelle turned our smiles upside down, quickly! Upon arrival, the front desk staff, Michelle, who started our check-in process then suddenly aborted the transaction at 3:05 PM due to there being no clean room available and told us to check back at 4 PM. Pushing all of our paperwork and credit card towards us.

While Michelle's attitude, actions and demeanor were negative we asked for restaurant recommendations, she made us feel like we were bothering her with our presence and directed us to walk 7-10 minutes towards the main beach and find restaurants there. Confirming our perception of Michelle.

At approximately 9:30 PM, the couple in the room above ours were having loud sex (sounded like horses galloping across the floor). Unfortunately, it was an awkward situation for our 13-year old son to experience so we quickly tried to drown out the noise by opening the door and blasting the heater while our son played Fortnite on his iPad. After it ended, we turned off the heater and shut the door but soon received a knock at the door by Michelle asking us to keep the noise down as there's been a complaint. Even with the door opened and heater blasting (white noise), I don't understand how we could have been noisy with the television off (never turned on). We were offended and felt falsely accused.

About three weeks ago, we stayed at the sister property the Inn at Laguna and had the best experience ever! The front desk staff, Rob, was warm, welcoming, and professional. The bartender was personable and awesome. The cookie lady was pleasant. The staff members overall were top-notch.

Sadly, we will not be returning to or recommending Laguna Beach House but will definitely revisit the sister property “The Inn at Laguna.” I do want to call out one front desk staff at the Laguna Beach House, John, who was welcoming and had a great personality. Thank goodness for John! Otherwise, our stay was pretty...