Yuck.

Wow, I can't believe that anyone could possibly give this place a good review. This has to be THE WORST hotel I have ever stayed at. I almost turned around and left once I saw the room. We went out for martinis just to deal.

Got it for $45 from Priceline, and this is the only time Priceline has let me down. It wasn't even worth that price!!

1) Nasty carpet that I couldn't even walk on barefoot. It left a nasty sticky film on my feet.
2) Badly stained couch.
3) The traffic noise was ridiculous. My husband said, "the door is shut??" The balconies all hook together with your neighbors. Am so glad I brought by earplugs.
4) The carpet in the hall was severly stained.
5) A glorious scent of stench in and out of the room.
6) The free breakfast was pathetic. I had to throw out the coffee because it had to be the worst ever. It was like watered down sawdust in styrofoam. There were literally little bits floating around in it.
7) And, the bed. Oh dear queen bed. The springs were just about ready to pop out of the ultra thin layer of top fabric. I had to be careful to equally distribute my weight getting on the bed so as not to feel intense pain. I slept on my back all night because laying on my side was not an option.
8) Oh, and I forgot, the hairdryer was full of hair that was not mine. Really glad I brought my own dryer.

I am in disbelief that these rooms retail for over $100. The Holiday Inn at Dana Point is light years nicer for the same price.

We stayed at the Country Plaza Inn for 4 nights last week. It was very clean and suprisingly nice for the price. The marble entry and granite bathroom were a pleasant suprise. The beds were firm but bouncy. I slept very comfortably, but then again after 9 hours of surfing I don't think it would matter what type of bed you're on : ). The continental breakfast was actually very good. They had doughnuts, cereal, bagels, etc. It was located in the vacant restaurant attached to the hotel which was kind of nice. It was a pretty, sunny room with booths and tables. The first couple of nights were great, but then a bunch of dumb kids stayed in the room directly above us and proceeded to pound on the cieling all night, drop cigarette ash, onion rings, and spit, yes, spit over their balcony which, of course fell onto ours below. Sooo gross. We are not people who complain, but we felt we should tell the front desk the next morning. They said the guys were leaving that day and they would speak to them anyway. The staff was very nice and seemed as disgusted as we were about the mess the guys made. However, housekeeping did not clean up the balcony which was pretty gross. I had to dump some water on it to try and rinse it off all the while feeling bad about the patio below us. Speaking of housekeeping, the very last day we were there I went to use my eyelash curler and to my horror it was covered with mascara. I do not nor have I ever worn any makeup. I really was upset because I didn't know what other stuff of ours they may have used. My husband wondered about our toothbrushes and underwear. This was not cool. I told the front desk what had happened when we were checking out and they were really suprised. They said they had hired a few new people recently and would definetly find out who had done it. They were very adamant about the integrity of the original housekeeping staff and said they had never had any problems before. They also hinted that had I not purchased my trip through Expedia that they would have given some sort of discount for my trouble. I thought it was kind of weird they couldn't give me a voucher or something for a future stay. Oh well, I would say overall the hotel is a nice place and is a great value for San Clemente in the summer. We did try the pizza place in the parking lot and it was pretty good. Have fun walking back up the giant hill to the hotel though : )

I'm not a sophisticated traveler, but I am a world-class bargain hunter. This place appealed to me in several ways. My party of 2 had a king suite ($89 Nite) and were suprised to find that the "suite" was merely 2 adjoining rooms...with King bed and couch in one room and wet bar couch-bed and addl TV in the other. Both bathrooms remain! They ought to market this as a family suite as that 2nd bathroom was a wonderfully unexpected bonus.

Though the place is a 4 or 5 minute drive from the beach, it is very close to I-5 (though I never heard traffic noise). The breakfast was decent and served in a nice location (the former restaurand and bar attached to the property). The pool was fine and the staff were pleasant. They allowed us to view the suite prior to checking in.

So, for me, I have nothing but kind words for the Country Inn. JT

We needed to stay in a hotel near Dana Point to attend a close friend's wedding which was the following day. My husband was part of the wedding entourage, so we decided to book a room instead of driving back and forth from L.A. two days in a row. Since we were on a budget and staying for only 1 night, finding this hotel seemed like it was a great buy.

After reading only 5 'great' reviews, I was sold. A couple days before the event, I started to read more reviews and realized there were so many 'disappointed' reviews. Since I had booked it already, I kept convincing myself that it wouldn't be that bad.

Here are the Pros: Very easy access once you exit the freeway and friendly staff members.

Here are the Cons: Our room reeked of that old musty, mildew smell. We stayed on the first floor and could not sleep because we kept hearing the bed on the floor above us, creaking. You can hear the the footsteps of other guests also-little do they know, that due to thin walls, the footsteps were amplified and sounded like dinosaurs were roaming about.

So much for the remodeled bathrooms-no matter how much you keep your hands in the sink, water finds a way to drip on the floor. The shower/bathtub was perplexing...no matter how much we played with the drain switch, the water would not drain fast enough, leaving water to your ankles by the time you were finished taking a shower. So much for a shower liner, there was only the shower curtain, so again, the floor was covered with water. The hair dryer did not work properly and the coffee pot for the coffee maker was missing.

Don't stay here in the summer. The A/C has a mind of it's own. There were only 3 controls: heat, cold, and temperature. We had it set on 72 degrees and this thing turned on and off whenever it felt like! It would turn on for 5 minutes straight, then turn off for half an hour, then turn on again for 2 minutes, and then turn off! We were trying to find a button that would let it continuously blow air, but no such luck. When it would turn off, no matter how low or high we would press the temperature gage, it would not turn on. So frustrating.

Finally, the 'continental breakfast'-I would neither call continental or breakfast-consisted of what seemed like day old donuts. The sugar frosting on some of these donuts seemed like they were dipped in water before serving. It was gross, but thank goodness for the coffee!

It wasn't even worth it to complain since we were checking out the next day. We wouldn't even stay here again if it was free.

Here's a tip, spend the extra $25-$50 on a nicer hotel...it will be definitely worth it.