I have stayed in this hotel off and on since it first opened about 7 years or so ago...but what a difference a few years make. This was our first trip back in three years, and first trip back since their last hurricane and it seems as though...well let's put it this way, no FEMA money was spent on this hotel. All staff at the hotel we friendly except for the evening clerk that checked us in as we got the distinct impression we were keeping her from doing something more important than her job (texting?, watching tv? who knows)

The real reason for this low rating was the condition of our room. The carpet was extremely filthy, the walls were stained with the wallpaper peeling up in places, and even the lampshades were dirty. I fully expected to find little bed bug critters keeping us company but fortunately that wasn't the case. Quite simply, this hotel does not belong in the La Quinta chain. On the plus side, the continental breakfast was quite good.

Two new hotels have opened up on either side of this one (Holiday Inn Express and Comfort Suites, I think) and next time I'll give one of them a try as it doesn't look like this La Quinta is going to change anytime soon.

We stayed for 1 night on Sat., 11/12/2011. We paid $106 + tax for a room w/ 2 king beds. I consider this grossly over-priced for the quality, but I believe that the property was close to capacity in terms of bookings, so I suppose they can ask what the market will bear.

The overall condition of the property is not great. The lobby is dated and there are many signs of wear & tear throughout the inn.

We, too, encountered the security issue with the door from the parking garage that CelticCruiser pointed out. Doors to elevators were accessible to everyone although there was a non-operational key card swipe panel present.

One of the biggest issue I had with this property is the POOR customer service. Our reservation confirmation email indicated that we would be able to check in at noon. When I called the hotel to confirm this, I encountered a grumpy man who said, "I don't care what your confirmation says, I don't have that room available until 3 PM." He added, "What do you want me to do, kick someone out?!" Absolutely unnecessary attitude.

The lackluster customer service continued through check-in (at 3 PM) when I interacted with a surly woman who barely cared enough to make eye contact. She was clearly just going through the motions to process the people & put them in rooms. A friendly smile & greeting? Not here.

Our room was fairly comfortable & clean but the furnishings were in need of updating & upgrading. This place has seen better days, I'm guessing.

Our smoke detector began to beep early in the evening and the front desk clerk (different lady) was not very interested in helping. She gave us a replacement battery to install ourselves, but this didn't help. Beep, beep beep. We ended up bringing her the entire smoke detector and it was never replaced during our stay. I have a feeling it's still missing from that room!

I've posted a photo of a bag of trash that remained by the elevator on our floor from the point of check in on Sat. afternoon until Sunday mid-morning. Ick. I mean, really.

Breakfast was unimpressive. Weak coffee. Cereal, bagels. No fresh fruit. No yogurt.

This place needs a lot of work, in terms of appearance, security, housekeeping & customer service. If you have another option, choose it!

I read a lot of reviews about this hotel before I departed and booked my room. I was a little nervous after reading the reviews but decided to give it a try anyway. My boyfriend and I wanted to have a little get away the week of Halloween and found that this was the cheapest hotel in the area with a lot fo good aminities. When we arrived, the woman at the front desk was very friendly and helped us immediately. She guided us to our room and made sure we were taken care of before we parted.

I also really thought the room that we stayed in was very clean and the view was not of the actual seawall area, but the side of the hotel...in the same direction as the airport. I was kind of disapointed in the balcony area, but didn't expect a 5 star view from a 37.99/night hotel.

We enjoyed the breakfast. Especially the Texas shaped (and sized) waffles, eggs, and bagels. Everything around the breakfast area was clean and there was always a staff member around to make sure everything was in stock.

It was very weird to see the amount of pets that stayed at this hotel. Every time we left the room, we were greeted by a cute puppy and even a large sized dog. I did not see a problem with the pets at all, but was unaware that they would be staying at the hotel from the description.

The only negative experience that I can account for happened on my day of checking out. There were staff members knocking at my door at 9:00 am asking if we were checking out that day. I told them yes, returned to bed for 15 minutes and another member was knocking and walked in on my boyfreind and I getting dressed for the day. I confirmed with them that check out was 11, but two more times that morning, someone knocked on the door--disturbing us mind you--to see when we were checking out. This was not how I wanted to spend my last morning in the hotel...and yes, I usually wait until 10:55 to check out if the check out is 11:00 AM.

All and all, this hotel experience was great except the date of check out...I had to remove one of the stars from my review because of the constant annoyance and lack of apology when I did complain about this constant annoyance early on checkout day.

We stayed for two nights - a Saturday-Monday stay

PROs:
Location - on Seawall Blvd with a good beach view, and away from heavy traffic; minutes from Schlitterbahn & Moody Gardens; near a tiny airport, but no noise from there at night
Price - paid $55/night via Priceline; rate includes a good breakfast, with coffee, juice, yogurt, waffles, eggs, cereal, bagels, toast, etc.
Amenities - Pool & hot tub seemed clean & were easily accessible; nice-looking business center (didn't use it); light, airy, large lobby; large breakfast area, with one of its rooms overlooking the beach; parking garage with elevator access
For Cruisers - free parking; shuttle to cruise terminal for $15/room; plenty of parking; breakfast starts at 6:00 AM; free (unsecured) wireless internet access; safe in room; large lobby for sitting with luggage :)
Room (205) - Our spacious King featured a balcony that overlooked the pool & a good swath of beach. It included a low dresser, a wall-mounted flatscreen TV, a visitor chair and a desk & office chair with outlets built in. The safe in the closet was about the size of a dorm refrigerator. The bed was very comfortable with plenty of pillows. Storage was average, with a 2-drawer dresser, nightstand drawers & a small closet. The bathroom was good-sized, with typical features (I wish hotels would take coffeemakers out of the bathroom!) and plenty of towels for 2 people. All seemed very clean.
Note: Pets are allowed at this hotel

CONs: Two major cons were security & staffing; minor was upkeep
Security - The door to the pool and the door from the parking garage to the elevator did not lock, although the signs said you had to use your room key for access. (We found out about the pool door from friends who stayed there when we did.) This means two ways for thieves & worse to get access to the rooms. We reported the parking garage door in the early evening of the first night, and checked on it after dinner - we were told there was no maintenance staff to fix it at night. (Shouldn't that be considered an emergency?) The door was not fixed when we left after our stay.
Staff - We were checked in by Althea, and we thought we had upgraded to a hotel with personable, helpful staff. There were people doing laundry, cleaning, etc. and the place was buzzing. But once Althea went home, it was more obvious that things weren't always like that - and we never saw her again. The woman who was on the front desk at night was sullen, but respectful. She is the one to whom we reported the security issue, and the one who later told us there was no one to fix it. While she was respectful, she gave us the impression each time that we were bothering her (big change from Althea). The poor man who was on duty during breakfast was very pleasant, but overwhelmed at times. He had to handle reception & the breakfast by himself for part of the morning, and it was busy. We were there for Carnival's event, so there were lots of folks there for breakfast. The second day, we didn't see anyone helping him, and there were a lot of cruisers staying.
Upkeep - Some instances: Waffle irons didn't always function correctly; juice machine quit working; our balcony door handle was on upside down (we thought it was broken); the top of the desk in our room was loose enough to come off; the desk chair made a loud "pop" every time we moved on it; our room phone did not always work right (couldn't hear person on other end)

We are from a law enforcement family, and the security issues were major for us - might not matter as much for you. We tried to make this review as objective as possible so you can base your opinion on what matters to you. Hope it helps!