If my wife and I had been looking for a luxurious hotel experience we'd have stayed at La Valencia. However, our plan was to spend time everywhere but the hotel except to sleep so we looked for a hotel that met only two criteria: 1) it had to be in the Village of La Jolla within a short walk to everywhere - the ocean, shops on Prospect, Girard St. etc.; 2) it had to be relatively inexpensive.
In that respect, the Best Western Inn by the Sea fit the bill and we were just fine with it.
On the upside:
- Location, location, location. I can't overstate that.
- Friendly and helpful desk staff
- Good cleaning staff. Timely, thorough.
- Breakfast was good.
- Free wi-fi and two bottles of water each day.
On the downside:
- The rate we got was for a first-floor room with a patio. Ours was adjacent to the pool and the breakfast room was next to the pool. Nobody used the pool and we usually left the room before heavy breakfast traffic and noise started so it wasn't an issue for us.
- Other parts of the hotel may have been renovated but ours was not. The room could use fresh paint as could the hallway leading to it. The bathroom fixtures could be replaced. The inside of the dresser smelled a little musty, although we didn't need to use it.
- My wife thought the beds were too hard but I didn't mind them at all.
- The TV is HD capable but the signal is not, and most of the channels are all infomercials anyway.
Neither up nor down: parking costs $12 day and is a hassle, but that's how it is in La Jolla. It's nice just to have a place to park that's not on the street.
Bottom line - would I stay there again? If my needs were the same, sure. I'd also check it out again if I wanted something more, based on people's positive reviews of the renovated rooms, assuming I can get one higher up.
- Best Western La Jolla
- La Jolla Best Western
