Despite the Hotel California in the Eagles’ 1976 hit being more a metaphorical mind hotel than a bricks-and-mortar resort, the band are nevertheless suing a real Hotel California in Todos Santos, Mexico, for trying to make money off the popular song.

“Through advertising targeted to U.S. consumers, and in-person communications, Defendants lead U.S. consumers to believe that the Todos Santos Hotel [how the hotel is refer to in the suit] is associated with the Eagles and, among other things, served as the inspiration for the lyrics in ‘Hotel California,’ which is false,” the band’s attorney Laura Wytsma wrote in the lawsuit.

Interestingly, the hotel opened in 1950 under the name Hotel California, but renamed numerous times over the years. When the current owners purchased it in 2001, they reinstated the original name, and built their marketing around “the hotel’s reputed, but false, connection to the Eagles.”

“Multiple online reviews make clear that U.S. consumers who visit the Todos Santos Hotel and buy Defendants’ merchandise do, in fact, believe that the Todos Santos Hotel is associated with the Eagles, which is not the case”, the lawsuit states.
The suit points out that the band has been selling merchandise emblazoned with Hotel California — including t-shirts, posters, sweatshirts, bathrobes (yes, please!), playing cards, guitar picks and more — since the late ’70s.
It claims the owners “actively encourage consumers to believe that the Todos Santos Hotel is associated with the Eagles to further their sale of Infringing Merchandise. On information and belief, Defendants’ actions in this regard include playing ‘Hotel California’ and other Eagles songs throughout the Todos Santos Hotel, and selling t-shirts in the gift shop that refer to the hotel as ‘legendary.’ Such a designation only makes sense if the Todos Santo Hotel is somehow connected with the Eagles’ famous and legendary song, which it is not.”

The band want the hotel to cease trading under this name, and to hand over all income made on merchandise.