La Jolla Cove Hotel & Suites — Hotel in San Diego

It’s a MOTEL: Calling this establishment a hotel is laughable. The only thing going for it is the view and the rooftop wedding venue. I would categorize it as a motel. There is no restaurant or bar or room service. The only food venue is a café that is not actually associated with the hotel, i.e., you cannot charge anything to your room, and it is only open through lunch hours.

The lobby is directly off the garage and only has a desk. No seating area or bar. The restrooms and elevator are off an open air hallway (or the garage if you are in the older section). There is no bell staff and no one attempted to assist us with getting the luggage on/off luggage cart. I’d hate to arrive during a rain storm, but I suppose it doesn’t rain frequently in southern California.

Be sure to reserve the Pines tower. It has been renovated and from what I can see from the outside, the other rooms are outdated. The amenities in the room are cheap motel quality: cheap white towels, Styrofoam coffee cups, disposable plastic cups for drinking glasses, only one set of ice machines in the garage.

ACCESSIBILITY: The motel is inappropriate for guests with accessibility issues. While there are elevators to the room floors, the hallways are narrow, and it is difficult to turn a scooter to store it in the room. I don’t think it would be wheelchair accessible at all, nor ADA compliant.

In addition, there is no elevator to access the pool. To go to the pool/hot tub area one must climb 30+ steps at various locations along the halls.

[The town of La Jolla Cove itself is not very handicap accessible. The streets are very steep, too steep for a scooter to navigate, and the sidewalks have many cracks. This did not factor in our review of this establishment.]

STAFF: Housekeeping staff were friendly and accommodating. The main front desk staff, however, were unprofessional, especially Natalie. She was rude, unhelpful, and frequently had her head down on the desk taking a nap when I walked by from the elevator. I don’t feel bad calling her out by name, because frankly, this woman should consider changing careers, she does not belong in the hospitality industry. The manager, Sergio is not much better.

We arrived two days before my brother, who had reserved the room adjoining ours. When they arrived at 2pm, Natalie and Sergio refused to check them in until check-in time at 4 PM. However, I know their room was ready because the adjoining door was opened by housekeeping that morning and we knew no one had slept in there the evening before. So there was no reason not to give them a slightly early check-in.

BUYER BEWARE: The prices are misleading. We made a reservation directly with the hotel months earlier. We did not choose the nonrefundable rate. When we checked in the price was higher than our reservation. When I questioned this, Natalie pointed out the word “estimate” on our reservation. I have never in my life been charged a different rate than my reserved one at a hotel.

Oh, one more thing. I fell in the garage (trekking to the ice machine) having slipped on a water leak flowing through it. I filed an incident report with the young man on duty that evening (he was kind and helpful and I wish I had gotten his name). I never received any follow up from Sergio until I sent an email several days later. Fortunately, I was not severely injured. However, this is just another example of their unprofessional Customer Service.

SECURITY: The Google review asks me about Security. This reminded me of two things: first, the elevators are completely accessible to the public. Interestingly, you need a keycard to access the two restrooms off the lobby, but you can access the elevators without a keycard.

Second, we noticed during the rooftop wedding there were two security guards posted. At the elevator and at the stairway to the 5/6 floor. We chatted with one of them and he said it is to prevent the public from crashing the wedding. This isn’t something that occurred to us, but has probably happened in the past if they need security...

I have never written such a scathing review before, but my experience at La Jolla Coves Hotel was so beyond unacceptable that I felt compelled to warn others. If you’re considering staying at this hotel, especially for a special occasion or a family trip, DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY. I was completely duped by this place, and the entire experience left a horrible taste in my mouth.

I paid $1,300 for what was supposed to be a luxurious suite for my family and me during our visit to San Diego. My son was visiting UC San Diego as a prospective student, and we wanted this trip to be special. After seeing photos of a beautifully renovated room with a fireplace and plenty of comfortable seating, we were excited to stay in what seemed to be a top-tier hotel. What we got, however, was a complete bait-and-switch. The suite we were given was a far cry from the one that was advertised.

First, let’s start with the false advertising. The room we were placed in didn’t have a fireplace, as promised. The seating arrangements were nothing like what we saw online—there were no plush chairs or sofas that would accommodate a family comfortably. Instead, we were met with old, sagging furniture that looked like it had been pulled out of a junkyard. The entire room had a shabby, run-down feel, like it hadn’t seen proper maintenance in years. I felt like I had been catfished. This was like the Temu version of what I had booked.

What made this experience even more unbearable were the safety hazards in the room. For starters, there were NO SMOKE DETECTORS in the suite. Let that sink in for a moment—no smoke detectors in a hotel room. This is not only a violation of basic safety standards but also incredibly dangerous. I can’t believe the hotel is even allowed to operate like this, especially at such a high price point. I can only imagine what other health and safety corners they’re cutting behind the scenes.

Naturally, I called the front desk to complain and to request the room that I had booked. I thought maybe there had been a mistake, and they could correct it. But what I encountered was complete indifference from the staff. They told me that all of the renovated suites were sold out and that there was nothing they could do. I found this very hard to believe, especially since they continued to advertise renovated rooms on their website. They didn’t offer any solutions, no room change, no compensation, nothing. It was as if they just didn’t care.

To add insult to injury, parking was an absolute nightmare. The hotel has extremely limited parking, and even if you manage to find a spot, good luck fitting into it. The parking lot is tiny and poorly designed, making it nearly impossible to maneuver without risking damage to your vehicle. After paying such a steep price for a stay, I shouldn’t have to stress about something as basic as parking. This was just one more way in which the hotel added unnecessary frustration to an already horrible experience.

The lack of customer service at this hotel is truly astonishing. For the price I paid, I expected at least a basic level of courtesy and attentiveness, but instead, I was met with apathy and condescension. It’s clear that this hotel is more interested in scamming its guests than providing any real service. I spent over $1,300 for this stay, and for what? A dirty, unsafe room that didn’t even resemble what I had booked.

In summary, La Jolla Coves Hotel is a disaster from start to finish. The rooms are not as advertised, the safety standards are nonexistent, parking is a nightmare, and the customer service is insulting. If I could give this hotel zero stars, I would. Unfortunately, I had to give one star, because that was the lowest option available. This place ruined what was supposed to be a memorable trip for my family. I highly urge anyone considering staying here to think twice and take your hard-earned money elsewhere. There are plenty of better options in the area—this hotel does not deserve your...

I'm so torn on this review. Before making the reservation, I read reviews and they mentioned old part of the hotel vs the renovated part. We made reservations for a 2 bedroom suite (there were 4 of us). When we got to the hotel, it looked nice, and the young man checking me in was very nice. I asked to stay in the renovated part and he said if he had rooms, we could. Since we had the 2 bedroom, that was only in the non-renovated part of the property. To get to the room, he suggested putting the local Starbucks into navigation and looking for a small driveway. Glad he explained that because we NEVER would have found it without that guidance. It was a very small parking lot that held probably 6 cars, along with a U-Haul van that seemed to be used for maintenance and never moved while we were there.

We walked into the room and it had a very stale smell to it. My friends said it also smelled like the ocean, but I didn't get that. It had very dated decor. It was 'clean' but the type of clean where you can tell the floor was mopped, but you can also see the dirt in the corners. It was a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom with a kitchen. There was a very large living room and an area where you could tell there SHOULD be a dining table, but there was not. So basically there was not a place for the 4 of us to sit and eat or play cards or a board game. There were enough chairs in the living room though. The living room had 10 recessed lights in the ceiling TEN!!! A ceiling fan would have provided light AND some air.

Walking in there was no air circulating so it was kind of warm and stuffy. Normally walking into a hotel or something, you turn the air down...well after searching for several minutes there was no a/c unit...well let me clarify, there were units in the bedrooms, which is great, but not in the large living/dining/kitchen/bar area. It makes sense because San Diego/La Jolla has mild weather.....but THE WINDOWS DIDN'T OPEN!!! There were 9 windows, NINE WINDOWS that faced the ocean and they were painted and screwed closed!! Which we not only questioned because of the lack of air, but also as a fire hazard! Hopefully if there ever is a fire, the door isn't blocked because you're STUCK!! There are windows on the side that have shutters and we found one small one that opened. There is no vent or fan in the bathroom. There is a window...but it does not open! So no ventilation AT ALL!

They do have a hot tub and pool. We did walk down the scary concrete steps to use the hot tub in the evening. It was very well maintained and relaxing. There was a wedding reception on the rooftop of the main building so we got to enjoy the music while in the hot tub.

The kitchen has an oven, fridge, sink, dishes, utensils. We didn't use any of that.

The suite suited what we needed it for, which was really just a place to meet and sleep. We spent most of the time out and about with our friends.

This is clearly 2 or 3 different hotels or properties that have come together as one. The little 'apartments' where we stayed are seemingly built into the side of a hill up above the hotel. It makes for great views, but the pictures are clearly from the newly renovated hotel and not from any of these 'suites'. The beds were adequate.

Would I stay here again?? With fewer people, I would absolutely stay in the renovated part of the hotel. And would suggest side-by-side rooms with friends. Would I stay in the same suite? I would search every property around this location first...and then make a decision from there. I wanted to give a 3.5 but that...