Sonder Solarena

Front desk staff was blah. Check in was less than good.

Be prepared for noise - both inside but as most rooms overlook the Pacific Coastal Highway - it feels like sleeping on the sidewalk if on a lowing floor.

I dropped the remote on the floor and went to look for it under the bed and there was a used condom under the bed! So disgusting

We came for a girls weekend and had a great time. Would stay again, mainly due to how close you are to the beach.

Chose to not stay there after seein

I can provide 1 star just for the convenient location of this hotel. You can directly access the golden sands of Newport Beach just by crossing the street, which is the admittedly busy Pacific Coast Highway, but safe to cross. This hotel is very convenient for visiting that lovely beach. I can also assign 1 star for having a very comfortable bed. But that is where the stars for this hotel really end. It is a small hotel and I would NOT call it boutique. We had major issues with the cleanliness of our room. There is no carpet and the flooring is LVP and must never get cleaned because our feet were black with dirt after walking on it. I dropped an earring on the floor and went to the ground to pick it up and saw trash under the bed frame leftover from previous visitors to the room – so gross. Although we were assured that housekeeping came every day, that is a lie. They came only once during our 8-day visit. We had to ask every single day for fresh towels and toilet paper replenishment when it was needed. Our beds were never made up for us, and since the hotel does not utilize fitted sheets for the mattress, the beds needed straightening every day which we never got. Our bathroom was missing a toilet paper roll and had only one small towel rack. The bathroom also gets zero ventilation and is extremely stuffy when the door is closed. During our visit, the room’s wall air conditioner unit malfunctioned. Because this hotel is located right on the Pacific Coast Highway, you will get a lot of road noise during the day and night. I think every motorcycle and loud muffler in Orange County zooms up and down PCH at night…..And speaking of cars, the hotel parking lot is TINY. If you drive anything other than a mid-size sedan, your car will not fit. Parking is very limited, and while there is an overflow lot next door, there is construction going on in the adjacent lot which limited the parking spaces available and made it difficult some days to park. It’s very difficult to recommend this hotel unless you just need something for convenient access to the beach at a somewhat reasonable rate, though you obviously get what you pay for when staying here.

They were very flexible and lenient on parking, close to the beach and pretty clean but u can def tell it use to b a motel.

I booked a king bedroom with a balcony and didn’t get the room i paid for.

Great location, friendly staff they just don’t clean the room during your stay

Quite possibly the worst hotel experience of my life. Which, given I have slept in a cockroach hive in Jakarta where they quite literally were in my pillow, says something. After calling in the afternoon before leaving for the next step of our road trip to notify the hotel of our arrival, I was not expecting great service as I was abruptly told “if you have a reservation it’s fine” followed by the host hanging up. We did have a reservation, but, the rude manner did not instil confidence. Arriving after a 6 hour journey, I then had to call the hotel from reception as no one was present. Others staying in the hotel began to warn us that their rooms were dirty and they also had not been seen. One guest even pleaded with us not to judge Orange County by this hotel. Another guest arrived to ask for a mop to clean their dirty room. Trepidation was growing. When the gentleman finally sauntered down - didn’t even greet us with a good afternoon/evening - they proceeded to ignore us for a further five minutes. Eventually they deigned to speak to my wife and I. Initially they made an offhand remark they did not know which rooms were occupied and which were clean. They then chose to inform us that the room reservation made 6 months ago was not on their system due to the hotel changing hands. The gentleman was shown our reservation, including the email stating our reservation had been transferred (after they repeatedly made it clear they did not believe I had an email from them saying the reservation had been transferred). The gentleman then repeated that it was not their fault and made it very clear they believed it was our fault. No attempts were made to remedy the situation or even apologise. They just continued to affirm it was our fault and they were too busy. They stated this had happened with four other couples during the day who had had to find other accommodation. When challenged that they could have told us 6 hours earlier on the phone, the gentleman then proceeded to show us his other calls and affirm that they could not possibly have had time to let us know the booking was not showing and allow us to make other plans. During all of this, my wife attempted to use the lavatory to find the plumbing did not work. We were ultimately unable to stay at Sondera due to the ineptitude of the team running the hotel who had clearly given away our room. This seems like a mercy given the claims of dirty rooms, non functional plumbing and general rudeness of the staff. I do not expect the world when it comes to customer service, but, I do expect some contrition and some attempt to remedy or help when the company is clearly at fault. Do not stay here, or expect to stay here if you have booked. Do not expect good customer service. Do not expect cleanliness. One can only hope this hotel changes hands again soon.