Laguna Beach hotels are quite expensive. Most "average" hotels in the area could easily run $200-300/night and few of them are right on the beach or right next to downtown, thereby requiring that you rent a car as well.
The Travelodge is a great bargain by comparison. Over this holiday weekend stay, my room rate was less than $100/day including taxes and other fees. Across the street (literally) was the Montage luxury hotel resort, where the cheapest rooms ran for $500+/night. Because it is right next to the Montage, you have easy walking access to the public beach that the Montage sits on top of, and this beach is in my opinion a lot nicer than the beach found next to downtown. In fact, you pretty much have full access to the Montage except for its swimming pools, so you can have drinks or eat in the hotel and go back to the Travelodge to sleep. If the idea of spending $25 on a burger at the Montage isn't appealing, the strip mall next to the Travelodge has a few restaurants too and there's also an Albertsons and a CVS as well. You are probably 1.5 miles away from downtown though, so if you don't rent a car, you're realistically stuck in that particular location of Laguna Beach unless you call for a taxi.
The room was clean and the bed was perfectly comfortable. Furniture and carpeting were old, but what do you expect? The room also comes with a mini-fridge, a microwave and also has an iron + ironing board. The hotel also has a small swimming pool and hot tub on the grounds, which is usually filled with vacationing families with small children. There is also a free continental breakfast every morning in the hotel lobby.
I would stay here again and recommend it to anyone that wants to spend a weekend in Laguna Beach without paying a fortune.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC