El Rancho Motel

Great place to stay. Simple, clean and well appointed. Rooms are not huge, but more than adequate. Quiet. I enjoyed it. The price, the location, the cleanliness are great. Rooms are small, think of being in a larger cruise ship cabin but adequate.

I cannot say enough kind words about El Rancho Motel. I recently had quite an experience trying to get to San Diego, and my dates were extremely ambiguous. Once I finally locked in my dates (about the 4^th cancelation and reschedule!) I ended up getting caught in the recent I-​5 Grapevine mudslide and never made it into town as scheduled. Long story short, Cathy and Irene were so wonderful and helpful, patient and kind and treated me like I was a member of the El Rancho family. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU ladies for all you have done for me. I am indebted to you for your gracious hospitality. (you know who I am :-)
This little cozy motel is literally one of the most centrally located spots on Orange Ave and walkable to all the shopping, all the restaurants, beaches, Ferry building, The Del… you name it. The price is quite reasonable and the hospitality is warm and genuine.
Best wishes ladies and I hope to have the pleasure of seeing you again in the future!
Warmest regards,
G.F.

This is a very cute place. And the front desk lady was nice… But she took a call while helping me and that was rude to me. The only other thing is the AC unit sucks. It really humid and hot here. It just keep turning on and off every couple mins so really hard to sleep if your a light sleeper. Otherwise I have no complaints but wish it had a pool.

Let’s call it for what it is. This is really ok.
A Five Star Hotel, is one with Luxury Rooms, high end ammenities, spectacular grounds, a great view, and 24 hour service at your call. This is not that kind of place.
This is a good value if you are staying in Coronado, and don’t want to blow all your money on a name hotel, and spend your cash tipping the Parking Lot Attendants.
The staff is very friendly and courteous. The rooms are very clean, the beds very comfortable, and contrary to Brad L, everything works just fine. If you are alone, or with your significant other on a budget, this place is just fine.
If you are trying to impress a young lady with a romantic get away, I would not suggest this.
You are in close proximity to good places to eat and shop. You are a long walk or short drive to the beach. Coronado is a very nice area, and you can feel safe here.
Because of the value and comfort, I plan on staying here again, when I visit my son again, before he leaves the Navy.

* WARNING * WARNING * WARNING *
I don’t even know where to begin…
After reading all the recent 5-​star reviews, I thought this place would be exactly as described, but I’m now convinced that the owner is telling all of her friends just to write 5-​star reviews, because my experience was completely antithetical to the reviews. This whole «Under New Management» thing has to be a ploy.
My family and I decided to stay here for my birthday weekend. There’s only two pet-​friendly places to stay on Coronado Island. The El Rancho and the Hotel Del Coronado. El Rancho is considerably cheaper, and for good reasons.
We arrive, and notice there’s two parking spots out front. We park in the open spot and go to check in. This motel is the size of a doll house. It’s TINY. We check into our room, and the woman at the front desk gives us a key for room #5. The key doesn’t work. So we have to go get a new key from her. Once we get in the room, we’re completely disappointed. Two queen beds, on rollers. The room is the size of a lunch box. We set our stuff down and look over the room. The bathroom door doesn’t shut properly. You have to jiggle the handle and press the latch bolt with your finger to get it to come out of the door so it will shut properly. The bathroom is tiny tiny. You can barely even turn around it’s so small.
I go to turn on the AC unit. It turns on, but has no real power on the MAX COOL setting. It doesn’t hardly blow out any air, and the air it did blow out definitely wasn’t cold. Which sucks, because it’s already in the 80’s and it’s humid.
Next we notice there’s no coffee. There’s only tea? Weird. We ask the front desk for coffee, and she says the maid must have forgotten to stock it when she was cleaning, so she went to look for some. An hour later, we go back to the front desk after she never returned, and the same woman says «It’s against our policy to serve coffee.» Uh… okay? She’s either lazy or an just stupid. I know it’s illegal to smoke on the island, but coffee. really?
We go to dinner and return. It’s so hot and so humid. The AC has been on the entire day, and you couldn’t even tell. The room was hot and moist. FUN!
We all get ready for bed and try to turn on the over-​head fan to get some air moving. To our surprise. there’s one switch in the room, that controls everything. I’m not too sure what kind of electrician wires everything to one switch, but they did. So, in order to have the fan on, you also have to have all the lights in the room on, which creates even more heat. We decided to just turn the fan and all the lights off and crack the window. All four of us didn’t sleep at all. It was miserable. The pillows are paper thin. It had to have been 85 degrees in the room. No fan. No AC.
After a night of no sleep and laying in puddles of sweat, we couldn’t get out fast enough the next morning. We checked out and went to stay at the Hotel Del. Pricey, but SO worth it.
If you like to waste your time and money, the El Rancho Motel is definitely the place for you! We will definitely never ever stay here again. This was the worst experience ever, and completely ruined the first day and a half of my birthday weekend. Thanks, El Rancho.

The best hidden motel in Coronado! The staff are friendly and I love that it was close to the beach! My Husband and I stayed there for Valentine’s Day and we loved it! We would recommend it to all our friends and we would definitely come back!!!

Darling room — clean, completely remodeled– New everything. No doubt, I’d have family stay here when in town. Irene is very sweet.

Great little jewel in the middle of town!
This place is a hidden jewel in beautiful Coronado! After reading the reviews, some good, some not so much, decided to give it a go.
Best decision ever! The rooms were newly renovated, clean and pretty!
Apparently its under new management and they have done wonders! Great hospitality!
I highly recommend it since its perfect for the weekend get away or for a longer vacation.

Amazing cute, little hotel in Coronado. They have done some remodeling and it’s fabulous!
Good service and clean :))
We’ll be back soon…

Stayed last weekend with the wife… this is our 5^th Visit in about 2 years; we normally stay here because it’s the best deal in the Island & we love the location & feel about the place… My wife says it makes her feel relaxed and disconnected. If you know whats good for you then you go with what the boss says. I don’t know where she gets the disconnected part… (free Wifi and local calls…) oh and I love to say it but –NO RESORT FEES!!! I can’t believe everyone is charging a resort fee for services you don’t use… Anyways long story short. great location… Ferry Landing, Parks, Beach… New administration! we noticed the changes !.. but still family owned & operated (which we appreciate). we will miss Lupe the previous manager she was the sweetest… but we understand the need for a few upgrades. very nice by the way. you know flat-​screens, clean rooms!.. amenities etc… you can feel the change!.. We shall return again and again!!!

I love Lupee! I think she’s the owner. Very sweet and wiser (older) lady. It’s a decent motel. We stayed here for the holiday wknd b/​c everything else was either SKY HIGH ($ 300 plus) or unavailable. Stayed here for $ 100 a night. With taxes $ 110. It’s a small 10 unit motel. You get fridge and microwave. IKEA furniture in room. Beds are not too shabby. Rooms are small but we barely stayed inside. Walking distance to restaurants, shops, bars, etc. We walked down to Hotel Del (about 20 minutes, about 8 blocks) Free parking at the motel, Free WIFI and lots of good cable channels. Bring body lotion, they only offer shampoo, conditioner and face soap. I would stay here again. Gracias, Lupee!

Lupe the owner is a wonder lady…
We booked our 2 rooms a year ago (⁷⁄₂₀₁₂) when we last stayed at this quaint lil hotel.
We checked in on June 30,2013. One room had a faulty A/​C unit. We told Lupe the next morning, she said she would have it repaired. We return after our day and the room is broiling hot. A/​C not working. same story July 1^st and July 2^nd.
Remember, there is no other room in all of Coronado Island available this week.
To top it all off, both rooms are flooded. Apparently the bath tubs in both rooms decided at the same time to back up.
Well so much for private little wayside motels. Excuses after Excuses on the A/​C.
Now the flood. We are sitting outside our rooms. They did not even get towels to dry the floors and carpet.
Unbelievable! There are ways to take care of these issues besides making up lies and excuses.
Perhaps it’s time to sell the property and build a proper B&B on this prime Real Estate!
— — — — —
Just an add on its July 3. The rooms are dried out but still no air in room number 6.
Lupe did not feel the need to fix the air or give any compensation for the inconvenience of 80 plus degree heat in the room.
We found another room in LA for the rest of our stay.

More like El Ranchy

Found this place on Unilocal and decided to book a room here as we were only staying in town for the night and were on a budget. The motel is located on popular/​busy Orange Avenue but was easy to find. Lupe was very friendly and showed us to our room. Cute, quaint, clean and cozy is how I would sum up the El Rancho Motel. Room was small but it sufficed as we only stayed one night. Sheets were nice and soft. Toilet paper wasn’t cheap, but nice and plush. While it’s a budget place, they did put some care into certain things which is very nice. Some of the furniture, (small end table from Ikea– the surface was warped, but whatever), and the small chair (also Ikea) was stained. But other than that, it was mostly clean and I was comfortable. Would I stay here again? Yes!
NOTE: There are only 2 assigned parking spaces in front of the motel. Everything else is street parking. They didn’t have an actual parking lot. We had no problem finding parking on the street very close/​in front of the motel.

probably the only motel here around san diego county i could actually sink my face into pillows without the fear of bed bugs and other creepy hair crawlers. seriously. furniture is pretty updated and well maintained… finally a motel i could actually tell mom to go to if she’s ever in town. sweet HBO channels available at your command. forget BW and the ramada, i would actually cross that creepy bridge need i be around SD agAIN.

Simple. Quaint. Cozy. Essential. Such a perfect place to pop into on a beautiful island. $ 80 a night is a small price to pay for basic room on a gorgeous island. Stop by LeRoys for dinner. Buy some trinkets at the Attic. Far a touristy T at Bullshirt and get drinks at night at the Little bar. A perfect night and again simple accommodations. I would recommend it to any ine budget conconsciece.

This motel is super-​cute and met or exceeded all of my expectations. Check-​in was not til 3 which worked great for us and check out too was negotiable.
The front desk lady was very accommodating.
The décor in the room was very sleek and modern — it almost feels like you’re in an actual mini-​apartment rather than a motel room.
The location is extremely convenient — within walking distance to the bars/​restaurants, Seaport, shopping, etc., and a short drive to Coronado, La Jolla, Mission Bay, Sea World, Balboa Park, and I’m sure tons of other places we didn’t make it to. Definitely consider staying here when you visit San Diego.
The only downside i could mention would be the lack of internet access and limited parking in the alley.