Balboa Inn

One of my favorite places to get away is Balboa. I love how friendly everyone is here and I always stay at the Balboa Inn and now that they have redone the entire place it’s just fantastic. Great views from the suites. Jacuzzi with an ocean view for the perfect unwind. Close to the pier and they have HUGE bathrooms. I love the suites, you get a living room and a bedroom that make you feel like home even on a vacation. The staff is so accommodating and I just love every time I go back.

Location is great, but their service and room quality is poor.
We had a leak in our room and were given very poor customer service to fix it. Issue wasn’t resolved and we were left to deal with it because their rooms were full.
The continental breakfast was poor at best. If you’re going to advertise free breakfast make sure there’s food there.

After a little trouble finding check in, we were greated with open arms and enjoyed our stay. Perfect distance to beach parking for catalina and walking distance to catalina flyer

Overpriced and rude staff. I went against my better judgement and booked a room at the Inn. Even with all the bad reviews I always wanted to stay there. Beware room 235 air conditioner doesn’t work. The staff seems miserable and I wouldn’t repeat. Oh and the parking sucks too. If you can get by the above the location can’t be beat.

This review is long overdue. We had our wedding at Balboa inn last year. Stephanie and her team were amazing. The entire event was wonderful and our room had an amazing view. We also had a get together at the beach and Stephanie made packed lunches for us and even brought them out. It was a memorable weekend and so thankful to all at the Balboa inn.

Reserved the two suites for my sons bday this weekend and here are our thoughts. Room #332 is very pretty. Nice view but all of the air conditioning and heating units r right outside the head of the bed window. It was extremely loud all night. Room #333 had the same view. Was not ready at ck in time. The room was dirty. The air unit was blowing hot air and we had to call for someone to ck it later that night.
It is an awkward set up. No ice machines as other hotels have. U had to go down through a bar, into the kitchen of an Italian restaurant to get ice.
We would stay here again except for the rudeness of the man in the office. I believe his name is Michelle. We asked if my sons could stay one more night at the same rate and he was unnecessarily rude and dismissive.
We would not stay here again. No hospitality at all!

Loved the location. However, didn’t like how paper thin the walls were. Doors were constantly slamming and you can hear people talk outside the room.

I came to visit my friend in Newport and I brought my five month old Great Dane. Since he was renting a room through Airbnb we decided to look for a pet friendly hotel. Balboa Inn was the first one we found, the room is amazing, balcony overlooking the bay and the ocean. The only issue was these weird birds outside making noise all night long right outside our room. At first I thought it was a bunch of toddlers leaving the bar, then I thought we were in the midst of a monkey sanctuary. It wasn’t until around 2am I realized it was the birds in the tree. From 2am — 5am I imagined the plethora of weapons I would bring with me if I ever came back. These ranged from potato shooters to slingshots and a host of others. Other than that it was lovely.

Don’t even bother. Overpriced. No accountability. Unethical to charge so much for a moldy crap hole that’s falling apart. Damaged furniture, stained and wet carpet. The room had a pungent smelled of cigarette smoke. Walls were so thin you could hear every conversation through shared walls and whatever was going on outside. Linens were dingy and crusty. Shower curtains were moldy and stained. I feel so taken advantage of and they had the nerve to try and sell us an upgraded room of «ocean front views» but what views? $ 15 resort fee? What resort? At check out, why even bother to ask how our stay was if there is no accountability? Poor business ethics. Will never come again. On a positive note. The service at BJ’s and Cruisers adjacent to this embarrassment of an establishment was stellar.

Just checked through the reviews before i posted mine a person reviewed it 2 stars and stayed the same weekend as us. We checked in at 2pm we called to make sure a room was available for us. We got a amazing room, it was clean and comfortable, had a balcony with a harbor and ocean view. We had our baby with us that is 1 ½. We just spent the whole days cruising the beach on our bikes that we rented from a gentlemanly shop below our hotel, and went to the beach and back and relaxed on the beach and shopped. We skipped nap time because we read BEFORE that it gets loud at night, the loudness was the same level until 2am so it helped our daughter sleep instead of having loud bursts every now and then. There was a group of young kids down the hall partying but it SPRING BREAK the hallways have doors you can shut so you can block out some sound. The 2^nd night I didn’t hear a thing at night and slept good both nights. The complementary breakfasts was small but fresh fruit and packaged muffins was nice, we took the muffins to the beach later on. The 2 men in the office are nice but quiet, they lowered the bill without us complaining about anything which was awesome. Also we have a big truck so we paid for parking 45 a day, people complain it’s expensive however the valet is secured and you don’t have to keep worrying and finding parking spots and when you have beach bikes it’s more easier to get around. We had a great time and will be coming back. I have 1 complaint but it’s not a big deal, the lock to the balcony was broken so we blocked it with their foot rests from the room so our daughter didn’t go outside.

This place tries to nickel and dime you anywhere it can. You are charged a separate «resort fee» for things that should be included in the price of the room. The reason they tack on the charge is just to keep the advertised price low. We had to pay an extra $ 30 for the «complimentary wifi» (literally saw a sign that says «complimentary wireless») and access to their land line which we didn’t use since we were born in the 20^th century. It’s not the price that irks me, but just how shady they go about charging you. If this were included in the base price I wouldn’t think twice about it.

Location is great, in walking/​biking distance of beach, shops, restaurants. Room was nicely remodeled yet for a family suite only two towels and when asked for two extra towels, housekeeping wouldn’t give me any and we had to go to lobby to ask for extra towels. This is NOT somewhere for a family. Every night we had to call front desk multiple times due to many high school kids loudly partying, playing music and in halls until 5am. Walls are paper thin which isn’t bad unless there are high school kids drinking on the same floor. Staff was apologetic but doesn’t make up for getting less than three hours sleep each night while on vacation. Hotel had a lot of potential and again location is key but wouldn’t stay here again for the price and lack of sleep.

Location Location Location!
Hotel has the most ideal location, right on the boardwalk, and straight across from some restaurants/​bars and a cute bike rental place.
Rooms are pretty nice & clean. A little dust but. Location!
I do love the hot tub they have.
The one thing I would like to point at for others is parking.
[PARKING INFO] It says 15 $ a day for self parking, but doesn’t mention its beach parking and you have to pay every 6 hours on a meter that is max 6 hours.
Or closer to the sand witch is 18 $ full day but you have to pay per entry. So if you go somewhere expect to pay when parking again. And good luck always finding parking considering it’s open to everyone.
There’s always 35 $ day for valet, witch is pretty steep i think.

Walls are paper thin, shower water didn’t go past warm, room was tiny. I’m only 5’1″ at 100 lbs and I managed to bang my knee against this old dirty table next to the bed. The bathroom door wouldn’t open all the way because the giant rug was in the way and of course the rug couldn’t be moved because of the other furniture that was on it. People were yelling in the streets until about 5am. Most of the furniture and walls were abused. Things were cheaply taped up instead of replaced. Normally, I take pictures of where I stay. Not here. My boyfriend and I were there for less than 12 hours before we went back home.

It’s 1130 pm and all I can here is people being loud as hell. The walls are paper thin. The room is gross too. Really annoyed

My mother, boyfriend and I stayed at the Balboa Inn and had two rooms on the second floor. To start, check in was a bit awkward… Kyle, who was working the front desk was not friendly. He requested a lot of personal information without explanation and couldn’t provide a reason why we would incur an additional $ 15 «resort fee» during our stay. As a paying guest with a reservation, it was definitely off-​putting after traveling all day.
Our rooms were recently renovated. Small, but clean and modern. King bed was very comfortable. The Inn was quiet between the hours of 11PM-​8AM and we slept very well! The other staff we met were very helpful and courteous.
We did notice décor was missing on all of the walls, it gave off a cold vibe (see photos) While taking a shower, water didn’t get past lukewarm.
Overall, you can’t beat this location if you want to be close to the beach, restaurants, etc. Book one of the recently renovated rooms. Plan on getting breakfast elsewhere, unless sub-​par coffee, apples and packaged muffins/​pastries will suffice. Also, don’t be surprised if there are additional fees (Resort fee, parking fee, etc.) I’d recommend contacting the Balboa Inn directly for a quote, to avoid $ surprises during your vacation.
The Balboa Inn has some kinks to work out. I look forward to seeing if improvements have been made when I visit next summer.

It was better than I thought! I almost cancelled after reading the other Unilocalers. My company party was down the street and I wanted to stay close by so I took a chance and kept my reservation.
The bad
–The parking was not easy since it is on the beachfront. I did park in metered and had to get up at 8am to put money in meter. Valet was $ 35.
–I COULD’T find the lobby to check-​in! It’s not in the building close to the beach. Poor signage and I was so annoyed walking in circles and going up and down the elevator looking to check-​in.
–Some drunk people came up to their room down the hall slamming doors and screaming. That’s kind of expected at hotels and not much the hotel can do about idiot guests.
The good
–it’s right on the beach
–it’s close to the fun zone and walking distance to everything
–nice, newly decorated, modern room with a great shower, coffee maker, mini fridge, and nice bedding.
–parking was free at night if you could find a spot in the lot close by
–people working there were nice even though I was irritated with not finding the little check-​in room
–price was $ 199 on a Sat night in December which is pretty good
–small continental breakfast was included. It was small but still nice to offer some refreshments

My family and I have stayed at this hotel lots of times and had friends and relatives stay when they visit.
Needless to say we’ve spent lots of money at this establishment and sienna bar and grill.
I am so sad to say that this is our last and final experience with the balboa inn.
The staff has such a high turn over rate.
The only staff member that should turn over and leave is the extremely rude and unpleasant blonde lady in the office.
Our room was very loud, there were so many bugs and flys, my daughter was covered in bites every morning. They changed the breakfast to just apples and pastries.
There is one nice guy I experienced at check in this time and the valet guy from Alaska is very kind too. Unfortunately this establishment usually seems to dump their nice employees.

You can’t beat the location and the staff is really really helpful but the hotel itself is really gross. The rooms are seriously dated and in need of a renovation. Carpet was dirty and the room smelled. Would I stay here again? Not on my life.
I changed my star rating from a 3 to a 1 and I recant my previous statement because I was severely overcharged and when I called to have it fixed they disregarded my complaint and no one called me back. When I reserved the room the woman on the phone gave me a choice between a room that was $ 199 per night or a bigger room that is $ 299. I requested the cheaper of the two and I know for sure this is what I got because as I mentioned, this room was tiny and disgusting but I was charged $ 299. If I had known I was paying $ 299 I would have demanded a different room.
Don’t let the pics on the website fool you. Our room was nothing like that and I paid almost $ 700 for 2 nights in a dump.

We live 40 minutes from the beach so we don’t ever stay overnight since it’s a short (ish) commute. For something different and fun we thought we’d like to stay on the beach for a little family get-​away and found a great deal on hotels dot com. Our room overlooked the pier and we parked across the street on the beach lot. We could see our car from the balcony (which was a comfort).
I did take into consideration the other reviews about parking so we didn’t have issues at all. Hubby pulled up, I hopped out with my teen and most of our bags and went to check in while hubby pulled around to the beach parking and brought up the little stuff with our youngest kid. We didn’t need a cart or help to the room — we all just had a bag each so it wasn’t an issue for us.
So the carpet wasn’t LUSH and the sofa bed was super firm — but the charm was there, the location couldn’t be beat and the room was more than we expected. My family of 4 stayed — 2 adults and 2 kids (teen and elementary aged) We really enjoyed our stay — granted we were out and about a lot but when we were in the room it was awesome to open the balcony doors and have the fresh air and the sound of the waves fill our room. It was super cute and welcoming.
We really didn’t have any problems with noise — we slept with the windows open and considering we were facing the beach we really didn’t hear anything outside of the normal throughout the night.
The front desk was a non-​issue — we really only spent a few minutes with them at check in and check out and it was all easy and problem free. The breakfast was laid out right outside our door and just enough to start the day off.
We’d stay again. (provided we saw another deal lol because it was pricy at regular price, especially considering we don’t live too far)