Yes, it is sort of retro and quirky but basically a very small room without adequate ventilation and the smell of old. It was clean but not really. The headboard in the "2nd" bedroom (actually just a very large closet full of a bed) was filthy and stained and grossed us out. Also the carpet was stained and dirty and just left you with an unclean feeling. The bed was uncomfortable and the pillows worthless.

Arriving At the Inn at Calafia Beach on Auust 31, it was quite warm.Shocked to discover there was no air
conditioning I told the manager ,Dana, that it was impossible to sleep in such a hot room.Her response
was that I just had to deal with it and keep the windows open.
I am a single woman traveling alone and felt it was unsafe to sleep in a room with open windows and without
telephones in case of emergency.I have traveled extensively and have stayed in many "dives" but this place
takes the cake!

We stayed 3 days at the Inn on our road trip along the Californian coast - specifically in San Clemente as my husband wanted to surf the Trestles.

After reading bunch of reviews on tripadvisor we found this Inn and luckily they had still a room available (we literally called 5 minutes before we wanted to check in).

The rooms are very basic but quirky, each room is different, some with funny art and little details. There's no AC but the vents are fine; the rooms are clean and you can park right in front of the door. There's a medium size fridge in the room which came handy for me to keep the wine cool :). There's a small BBQ kitchen should you want to cook. There's a little noise from the traffic but it's bearable.

Dana, the owner of the Inn is so helpful and friendly, it really makes a world of difference. The place is basic but all in all we really enjoyed our stay here.

Dragged the husband to a beach trip for his birthday...(yes, it's his b-day, but I needed the trip!). Looked into San Clemente after a recommendation from a colleague who said we'd "love it!"

Hotels weren't easy to find--lots were booked up & ones that only looked mildly swanky were over-priced. So, with so many great reviews on TripAdvisor, I booked the Inn at Calafia Beach.

Reviewers were right on the money: cool retro motel feel, super clean, close to most everything (we walked to & from the beach twice a day), and Dana, the manager was fantastic!

Massive kudos to Dana for remembering it was the husband's b-day & presenting him with a $25 gift card to a nice restaurant downtown. She also gave us lots of suggestions on other restaurants, beaches, and fun tourist stuff! Dana should teach customer service classes to 5-star hotel staff! Truly fabulous.

The room: For the price, it was okay. Retro decor, but a small room w/no drawers, closets, or towel racks...Literally lived out of a suitcase for 4 days...but hey, the other stuff made up for that.

Free Internet was a bonus, but it was a rather slow connection...

Nice to have a coffee pot in the room & a 7-11 for more coffee & snacks right down the street.
Would I stay there again? Yes, definitely!