Scripps Inn La Jolla Cove

I love being able to walk all around the village from here, and the art museum is right next door. The staff are kind and lovely, and they lend out beach chairs and towels. It’s a fabulous location if you enjoy waking up to the sounds of seals and the smell of the sea.

We rented six rooms for multiple nights for our daughter’s wedding, spending more than $12,000. After over 25 years of coming to Scripps Inn, I expected the dependable quality and charm we’d known for decades. Instead, it was heartbreaking to see how rundown and poorly cared for it has become. Every room had huge spiders and bugs. There was mold in the showers and on bathroom ceilings, filthy stained rugs, and a strong mildew smell. The furniture was badly soiled, tattered, and smelled too, so it was hard to relax. On the wedding day, one guest was interrupted several times while someone repaired a cable TV line in their room. The lack of basic cleanliness and hospitality was shocking. We spent what should have been a joyful family occasion apologizing to guests and trying to make them comfortable. I hope management takes this seriously, but until major changes happen, I can’t recommend Scripps Inn.

My wife and I have stayed at Scripps Inn for local staycations over the years, but this visit was a disappointment. We arrived around 4:30 p.m. and the front office was already closed, so questions had to go through an outside phone connected to another branch. The room smelled funky, and the A/C was visibly filthy. When I called to ask about changing rooms, an employee came about 30 minutes later. She said the smell was probably from the ocean. I explained that the odor inside wasn’t the same as outside, and pointed out that the A/C filter looked dirty and needed cleaning or replacing. She said it had recently been replaced, which seemed impossible given how dirty it looked. It’s unfortunate to see the place decline. It hasn’t been updated or properly maintained, and I hope management improves things before they lose more customers.

The waves made it easy to sleep peacefully, even though I could hear the guests below us a bit. The room was basic, but the bed was comfortable. We were here for a friend’s wedding, and had a great stay. The ocean view was breathtaking, and the front desk staff went out of their way to help and accommodate us.