Art Hotel Laguna Beach

Trying Hard, But...

Plus: Independent hotel; cool location; affordable. Laguna Beach is a fun but pricey town. The hotel recommended Madison Square and Gardens Cafe for breakfast and it was great. This hotel is right across the street from a very nice public beach and about 3/4 of a mile from the main strip of shops and galleries and restaurants. They very nicely let us borrow beach toys after it was technically check-out time. Soft fluffy bath towels. 24-hour front desk. Good parking.

Minus: The person staffing the front desk when we arrived did not acknowledge I was waiting in front of him until he was darn good and ready. The person he was training did, so I knew I wasn't actually invisible. Until he finally greeted me, I honestly couldn't tell if he knew I was there even though I was about two feet in front of him. That was weird and off-putting to start. No fan or other ventilation in the bathroom; the room was like a sauna all day and night even with the AC on. Everything felt sort of clammy. The room seemed more grubby than artsy. Decorative pillows piled on the bed were not appealing, just made me wonder how often those covers got laundered. No accessible electrical outlet by the beds; didn't realize how much I missed that until I couldn't have it. Crumpled up info sheet on the desk in the room said to see hotel map on the other side, but the map was gone. The window did not seem to lock.