The Eagles aren’t taking it easy with the owners of a hotel in Todos Santos, Mexico. Attorneys for the band sued the proprietors of Hotel California in U.S. federal court Monday for allegedly cashing-in on the group’s 1976 magna opus.
Decades before The Eagles released “Hotel California,” arguably the band’s most recognizable song, a Chinese immigrant offered accommodations under that name a stone’s throw from the Pacific coast. The hotel still operates under that name today, but the band argues its current owners are wrongfully marketing the establishment to capitalize off the song’s success.
Lawyers for The Eagles sued Hotel California Baja, LLC in Los Angeles federal court Monday for trademark infringement seeking unspecified damages and a halt to any and all violations.
Hotel California owners Debbie and John Stewart, as alleged in the lawsuit, “lead 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 lawsuit cites a sampling of online reviews left by travelers upon staying at the establishment, including several who seem to believe the hotel gave way to the legendary rock song.
“The famous Hotel California which inspired the Eagles to write about is a MUST SEE experience,” a Tripadvisor user from Iowa wrote online last November. In another instance a visitor from Texas remarked that the hotel’s restaurant played “Hotel California,” then exclusively Eagles songs, during a 2015 trip of their own.
The Stewarts, according to the lawsuit, “actively encourage consumers to believe that the the Todos Santos Hotel is associated with the Eagles” in order to sell merchandise bearing the “Hotel California” branding, the band’s attorneys wrote.
“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 attorneys wrote.
Online, however, the Hotel California website appears to suggest otherwise. An excerpt on the site’s “History” page says: “one rumor, fabricated in the 1990’s by someone with no connection to any owners of the hotel, states that the Eagles once owned it. This is unequivocally false.”
Nevertheless, the website acknowledges coincidences abound: the Hotel California is indeed located on a desert highway, and the bells of the adjacent Mission Church of Pilar in addition to other similarities involving the song’s lyrics have fueled conspiracies.
“Hotel California” is “a song about … excess in America, which is something we knew a lot about,” composer Don Henley told CBS in 2007.
“We were enamored with hotels. Hotels were a big part of our lives,” he said previously. “The Beverly Hills Hotel had become something of a focal point — literally and symbolically. I’ve always been interested in architecture and the language of architecture, and, at that time, I was particularly keen on the mission style of early California. I thought there was a certain mystery and romance about it.”
A photograph of The Beverley Hills Hotel was ultimately chosen to grace the cover of “Hotel California,” the record, when it was released in late 1976. The album has since sold over 32 million copies to date, making the record and its title track one of the most recognized song rock song of the last several decades.
Attorneys for the hotel could not immediately be reached for comment, Reuters reported Tuesday.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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