LaQuinta Hotel & Suites - LaQuinta Inn San Diego Oceanside Falsely Advertised Picture on www.lq.com Oceanside California

"Let the buyer beware"

I used to travel for a living.  During my travel planning, I wanted to stay in particular places and had to "shop" for the best place/view/price or whatever other criteria I was loooking for based on my travel needs.  I can say when I located an area that was near to what my business needs were, I would begin by calling properties and asking questions.  I learned that many hotel chains use a "stock photo" for their hotels that either the chain is emberassed to show or they simpy dont have a good quality image of the property.  Calling the hotel can certainly help.  Most times, if you call on a weeknight after say 8pm, the night desk clerks are ususally bored out of their mind and are glad to tell a possible visitor about the area.

Not only is the above useful, but there are MANY mapping type websites that allow street view or bird's eye views of a particular location.  While it does not usually help in Mexico or Canada, most all for the US addresses can be seen in some type of map modes.  This can be even more helpful because you can navigate the area virtually and see several things like what is nearby to eat at or what does the local neighborhood look like?  I can say I have changed my mind on where I would stay simply by looking at the areas around the hotel.  In your case, had you simply chosen to look at where you were staying on one of the mapping sites, you'd have clearly seen that it was not as close to the beach as you thought, and had you done a street view map and taken the virtual tour, you might have seen the adult entertainment place and chosen simply to book elsewhere.

Good luck on your future travels, I certainly hope you dont have another nightmare unfold for you.  As far as getting anything form the hotel, you might be lucky if you got a cert for a free night or something.

Before you traveled here did y ou email them and ask them :

1. How far is the beach is from the Hotel?

2. What is the view outside my particular room?

You need to always make persoal calls and email and or fax them and make sure you get "th Manager" which usualy can be found just by googling it these days. Always do your resarch BEFOERHAND in case something like this happens . That way you have some type of record other than just what they post on the computer and have a way to resolve the situation.

Since I am disabled I have to know how far things are since I can walk far. What type of restitution did you ask for? A refund? I'm just wondering.

My daughter was a high end gymnast growing up and so I spent many months a year for many years finding hotel and I had it down to a science. It does take some work on your part.

has provided a forum for airing a number of provocations, real and imagined. What do you expect them to do about this alleged misrepresentation?

Clearly the writer of this bogus report subscribes to the theory that 'everything you see on the internet is true.'

Even though the hotel never told him, verbally, in writing, or otherwise, that he was purchasing an 'oceanfront room', he assumed that was what he was getting since somewhere he saw a picture of the ocean. And the whole world is wrong except him.

I am curious how much these rooms cost. Especially seeing as how La Quinta is a budget motel chain at best.

Are you saying the photo has been altered, that there is no possible way for that picture to be taken at that angle? The website plainly says it's .75 miles to the beach. There's a map that shows the location. The only way this would be fraudulant was if there was no possible way to get the picture as published without altering it. You just didn't look at the website.

http://www.lq.com/lq/data/lanyon/images//LQ830_830_EXT999.jpg

Copy & paste this link for a picture of the hotel, it is pictured directly in front of the ocean/beach, I am a frequent LQ member and cannot believe how mis leading this picture is, I would not stop until they give you full credit for your stay towards another location of your choice or a refund

Who cares if the website shows where the hotel is! The picture falsely represents that there is an ocean view and should be removed from the website!

If you look at the map that shows up on the first page of the Oceanside web page it shows the hotel several blocks from the ocean. It's a good idea to check out locations before you make a reservation.

False advertising is a crime! Furthermore, my whole family reserved rooms at a very high price, drove over 300 miles to a dump. My concern is for the thousands of other people who are going to be duped by this false advertising!

Since you have enough time to waste on this endeavor, it would be interesting to know how you were personally negatively affected. Did you go there to see the ocean? Did you ask for an ocean front room? Did you expect to walk across the street and take a dip? Did you hope to catch a ferry from across the street? Just wondering.