I booked 10 nights at this hotel (sight unseen). I had never been to CA before, so I researched many hotels before settling on this one, as I got the lowest price out of many others in the area. I referred to the BW website as well as the trip advisor reviews (all quite favorable) to assist me with my decision. I arrived at the hotel with my boyfriend on 6-10-04 and we were very disappointed. The hotel does not look nearly as nice as it does on the web pictures. I asked the girl at the desk if we could see the room before deciding to stay for a long duration. She said it would be no problem and gave us the key. I was told that I would get a "pool view" (which there doesn't seem to be any), and instead the room was on the first floor down the hall from the lobby (the hallways are dimly lit by the way). We entered the room and looked around. The room was quite small and the bathroom was tiny. We looked out the window and saw a fence with the freeway behind it, some yellow grass, and a tree with a BUNCH of dead hanging plants hanging from the branches!! We could not believe it. What would possess them to do that in the first place is beyond me! There was no way that we were going to look at that view for 10 days! Plus, the room in general was just not that attractive. It had a cheap look to it. In no way did it resemble the room picture on the internet. I'm not sure why several people gave this hotel such favorable reviews. Maybe there is a nicer section of the hotel, but from our perspective there wasn't. Also, the pool is very small and dingy-looking. We approached the front desk and told the girl there that the room was not what we expected and that we did not want to stay. She remained pretty much expressionless and did not exhibit an ounce of concern, nor did she even try to convince us to stay. I would think if a customer comes into a hotel and says they aren't happy with the accommodations that the people working there would at least want to know why. There was also a man there in the office behind the desk who came out to talk to us - he happened to overhear our conversation with the girl. Not once did he express any concern over why we wanted to cancel either, and I think he may have been the manager! They both said that the cancellation policy is 24 hrs. prior to arrival, which we had already past. They said that we had to at least pay for one night's stay, which we both thought was ridiculous. We thought being that we were unhappy with the room that they would give us a break. But instead we got stuck paying for rooms that we didn't even use. Luckily, I had the foresight to make other reservations at the Holiday Inn Costa Mesa, which is where we headed after leaving the BW. I highly recommend this hotel and will be reviewing it too very soon. If you're interested in reading about the HI, check back soon and look it up!