Sands of La Jolla Motel

Great motel for the price. Cheaper than many other motels in the area. Stayed here for 1 night and loved it. Nice balcony looking towards the sunset. Large pool, great location. Walking distance to a seaside park perfect for viewing sunsets.

This place has a good location but needs a make over. One night our pillows were not covered and on the floor in a pile in the corner. I called reception and they wanted me to come get my own pillow cases. I could not so they brought them to us. But I had to put them on and the pillows had what appeared to be blood stains on them. The pictures on Unilocal are also very off putting.

Noticed ants in the sink area within a few minutes. No A/​C, which was not mentioned on the website. Unfortunately, we happened to arrive on a ninety degree day. You have open both doors and run the fan if you hope to be comfortable in these conditions. The neighborhood is noisy. If you’re looking for quiet, it’s not here. And a neighboring condo has a happy dog that serenades you when it’s owner is not home. The location is awesome.

8:15 PM sitting here in room on 3^rd\top floor literally sweating as I write this. temp guage says 84 F. Unbelievable… But its nice and cool outside but cooking inside.
This place not only has NO Air Conditioning, but while standing you can feel the heat emanating down from the ceiling due to there must be zero insulation between the roof and the inner ceiling of the 3^rd floor. The heat is so bad we are checking out early.
— Ants everywhere in room.
— The road noise from the fire trucks, ambulance’s, Harley’s, Lamborghini’s, and general banger’s cruising through La Jolla with low end honda’s with $ 500 loud mufflers IS ENDLESS…
The motel is situated right on a rotary\traffic circle and traffic has to slow down then accelerate past. LOUD…
Nice staff

Zero stars… i stayed here And had my bag of Jewlry stolen out of the room. Obviously by Someone who had access to the room. To make matters worse when I told management about it they got really difensive and extremely rude. Dont stay here!

We had a few issues with the room cleanliness including insects and blood stains on the mattress. We brought it to the front desks attention and they said the manager would contact us. That was a joke because we have called them now 6 times and the manager is never available and never returns our calls. Don’t waste your money on this over priced budget inn.

Recently I had company in from out of town and got a great weekly rate! The room was immaculate and with sliding glass doors that open to the balcony the fresh smell of the ocean just 2 blocks away made it a perfect room for the occasion.

Location is great but the rings are awful. Bed felt like a plank of wood. The pillows were horrible balls of sadness i tried contouring to my comfort, without success. I stayed here during a heat wave and the lack of ac meant I needed a fan… the one in the room didn’t work. Lots of traffic noise all night long. I couldn’t sleep here if you induced a coma

We woke up to suitcases full of ants. The guy at the front desk said they knew about the ants, but they obviously don’t tell guest at check in because it would hurt business. There was a blood stain on the mattress and a dead cockroach on the floor. We tried contacting management but the front desk always says she is very busy and she will get back to us within 1 to 3 business days. It has now been 2 months and no returned call after we contacted them 5 times. Stay far far away from this poorly run dump.

Location is the best perk of this place.
2 blocks to the beach, CVS a block away, great rates for the area, very clean, friendly staff, comfy beds, and quiet for being close to the main street.
We tried to stay in more local places, as opposed to chains, while we were on our honeymoon and we really liked this one. A place to sleep after long days at the beach was what we needed and that’s what we got. No frills.

I’m mad at this hotel. Yes they may have been in walking distance of the beach but it was nothing special whatsoever. My friends and I were charged an extra $ 30 for ripping their sheets. Then they proceeded to email us and call us children when we are all clearly adults. If I knew I was going to be paying an extra $ 30 for something I didn’t do I would have just spent the extra money and gotten a nicer hotel. Oh and there were ants everywhere in the hotel room. Let’s just say I’ll never go there again.

These people are creeps. I checked in after 11:00 pm after a hellacious day just needing a place for the night while I was waiting to move into my new apartment. Had been staying with friends and it was just a random thing that I needed a place that night, and had to be at my friends’ house the next morning to help them move. Super tired, I got up 20 minutes before I needed to be out the door. Went to hop in the shower and found it was not useable. Shower head hanging down and water spraying up to the ceiling. Drain closed and not able to open it. Completely and totally not useable. Washed up best I could at the sink. When I went downstairs the front desk guy said, «Well we could have called somebody to come fix it.» REALLY??? Do you think it’s appropriate that I pay you $ 155 to spend the night in your establishment and then have to plan my shower time around needing to wait for you to call someone so that it’s useable??? No manager available to talk to. Desk guy gave me her number. Big surprise, she never returned my messages. Total low lives. No effort to make it right with me in any manner shape or form. Avoid these people like the plague.

I love the location of this place right between la jolla and pacific beach. The price is extremely reasonable and the rooms and beds are very comfy!

This is a basic room at a basic price. Don’t look for a breath mint on the pillow.
The rooms and bathrooms are clean and well maintained. I’m big into scent and the noticed no pungent odor or heavy masking smell of cleaning solution. The bed was adequate and sheets were clean. I mention this because of the infamous «hairy beds» found in basic hotels who try to save on laundry and cleaning expense. Been there and it ain’t pretty. No problem here.
Sometimes if you arrive in the evening you’ll come across a locked lobby/​office door. Your only choice is to come back once they’ve returned.
Recommendation:
If you get a room that you like remember the room number for subsequent stays. I’ve been here more than once and had one stay where I woke up with serious sinus issues from some contaminant in the room. You will notice some street noise and the walls are thin so adjacent room sounds tend to spill over. Ear plugs take care of this.
The location is great. CVS right next door plus coffee shops and restaurants within a couple of blocks. Two blocks from the beach.
This place is A-​OK three stars because A-​OK and a decent night of sleep was all I needed.

Had no choice. I was looking for a room last minute so I’m not going to talk about the quality whatsoever of the room but I was attracted by the FREE Wi-​Fi BIG SIGN that got me to check in. Well Free Wi-​Fi my ass! if you have an iPhone iPad iMac whatever Apple device, it seems that it won’t connect and the receptionist wouldn’t care at all. Yeah I guess that’s the service I get for a motel.
Unilocal you need to have an option of having no stars at all because it bothers me to even put one star!

I shopped around for somewhere affordable to stay for a week in-​between apartments, went in and looked at the rooms in several hotels in Pacific Beach and Bird Rock, and the Sands won hands down for the price and features.
What used to be a cheap and dumpy but tolerable enough place for me to crash in when visiting relatives here years ago has obviously been redone within the last few years and transformed into what I would call one heck of a bargain for what you pay. As an architect who has designed several hotels, I can tell you that they definitely did everything the right way when they redid this place right down to the new double pane windows and doors (= quiet inside). Although the «new» furniture is obviously used, it is still in good condition and was tastefully selected, so it feels like a chain hotel of 2x the price would in this area with the added bonus of a balcony on your room. And all the rooms also have microwaves and fridges as well, which is a big plus if you don’t want to be stuck eating out for every meal. The desk staff was vey friendly as well and the only thing bad I can say was that the housekeeping was definitely a bit lackluster.
I had a great stay here this time, and between the great facelift, the 42″ LED TVs and the free wifi which works great, I would highly recommend this hotel to anyone looking for a clean, quiet and affordable place to stay near the beach in Pacific Beach/​La Jolla.

Just got here… This place is dirty! Would not recommend at all. Upon walking in I noticed the place seemed really dirty as if they just changed the sheets and walked out. There was hair on the ground. Lots of it. Short and long. There beard whiskers from the last guy who stayed there all over the sink. Literally looked like it had not even been cleaned at all!
After 3 days… Okay, okay, this place has grown on me a bit. So it was a little dirty to begin with. Well if you’re anything like me, you would have brought some wipes to clean things like the remote with. I just used those to clean the sink and parts of the floor and toilet. I know, I shouldn’t have to do that but come on, the place is cheap. The sheets were clean and as far as I could tell there were no bed bugs. I looked for them at the foot and head of the mattress. Didn’t see any although I did end up with some bites on one of my ankles but I guess that could’ve been mosquitoes… Good location near the beach. It is VERY loud though during the day if you have the slider open for cool air. There is no A/​C system though there is a floor fan that they leave in the room. Meh… Basically a low buck cheap and quick place to stay.
Conclusion… Would I stay there again? Only if it absolutely was my last resort. I would only recommend this to someone who needs a CHEAP place to stay near the beach. Otherwise you’d be better off just about anywhere.
P. S. They do have free WiFi though it is very slow and drops out every 5 minutes so beware.

Complete garbage dump. A few months ago I went to stay here for the night… Room smelled like urine, was damp and dark and would not be surprised if it had bed bugs. I looked at the room for 2 minutes and then went to try to cancel my reservation because was completely unsatisfied. They said you cannot cancel within 24 hours and there was nothing I (or them) could do. I said F that, I am here and upheld my end of the bargain, but they didn’t. I left and disputed it with my bank, but lost. I paid like $ 150 for never even staying there. Do yourself a favor and stay away.