It is not the inspiration for the Eagles famous song. The rooms and pool and the outdoor restaurant are bright and colourful and the reviews for the hotel are great. It’s painted in blues and crimsons and I remember thinking that it was spooky at the time but only because we’d been belting out “you can check out any time you like but you can never leave”. I went inside this 3-star hotel and into the eerie reception area. You’ll find a gazillion selfies online of tourists keen to put themselves into a little piece of Rock n Roll history.
If you Google this hotel you’ll find images of motorbike groups lined up outside while their riders have a beer in the garden bar which has a sound stage for live music. They have a gift shop too, The Emporium, which is so big it has its own entrance selling all sorts of merch and I handed over my hard-earned cash. There are a few good local shops and bars in the neighbourhood, but it’s the hotel and it’s garden bar people come here for. We eventually pulled up and managed to find a car park among all the other tourists who had parked motorbikes in front.
The driver put the Eagles hit song on in the van and we belted out the chorus as he regaled us with stories of how it came to be named. We drove from Jose del Cabo to La Paz up the eastern side of the peninsula on the Sea of Cortez for a bit of seal watching and cerviche made for us on the beach (as you do) then we drove back down the west coast via a little town called Todos Santos, specifically to visit the legendary Hotel California. I was in Cabo, on Mexico’s Baja Peninsula, and was excited to have a guide for the day for our drive that would stop for delicious homemade food from roadside diners en route. The Eagles are seeking an injunction to stop the hotel from using the name Hotel California or doing anything else to imply a tie with the band, along with receiving all related profits, including actual and exemplary damages.Let me tell you an amusing little story and the lesson I learned about not believing everything your tour guide tells you… Tequila tasting in Cabo from these glass guns! The lawsuit claimed that they revitalized the business by attempting to make a connection with it and the band.
The lawsuit said the small hotel originally opened as the Hotel California in 1950 but went thought several name changes until the current owners Debbie and John Stewart bought it in 2001. Patent and Trademark Office, according to Reuters.Įagles attorney Laura Wytsma wrote in the complaint that the song is the "essence of the band itself" and it has sold its own Hotel California merchandise since the late 1970s, said The Hollywood Reporter. The band charged that the song "Hotel California," along with other songs from the Eagles, can be heard throughout the hotel and that the owners had applied to get the Hotel California name registered with the U.S. consumers to believe that the Todos Santos Hotel is associated with the Eagles and, among other things, served as the inspiration for the lyrics in 'Hotel California,' which is false," the complaint said. On the hotel's website, the 11-room facility bills itself as the "legendary Hotel California" with a line from the song "Welcome to the Hotel California" following. The hotel is located in Todos Santos in Baja California Sur. The band, which was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, charged in the federal lawsuit filed Monday that the current owners sell t-shirts and merchandise to lead guests to believe that the hotel is associated with the band, noted Reuters. The song has arguably become the band's most recognizable tune as well. "Hotel California" was the title of The Eagles' 1976 album and hit single which won the Grammy Award for record of the year in 1977. The Eagles are suing the Hotel California, an actual hotel located in Mexico, charging its owners are trying to profit off the name of the band's iconic song.