In the first context it has an upbeat connotation as the traveler is weary and the shelter is welcome and inviting. The verse that includes “Welcome to the Hotel California” is repeated twice in the song in different contexts. Following the most well known line in the song is uttered, “Welcome to the Hotel California.” The traveler then foreshadows the coming despair in the song by stating, “this could be heaven or this could be hell” in reference to the hotel. This atmosphere is symbolic of most peoples desire to live a life of luxury, and the ease with which it is easy to cross the inviting line into excess and greed. Phrases such as “cool wind in my hair” and “warm smell of colitas,” work to create a relaxing, pleasant, and calm atmosphere, which disarms the traveler as well as the listener of worry. Immediately in the first stanza one will notice that the diction is pleasant in nature. Juxtaposition, diction, and repetition, are effectively used by the Eagles to create a sense of allurement and addiction in the construction of the allegory. The song is in essence an allegory that uses a traveler and a hotel to symbolize a person getting trapped in an attractive but nonetheless destructive lifestyle of excess. The hotel at first seems magical, but the traveler eventually realizes that there is something evil in its nature. In the song a traveler driving through the desert grows tired and stops to check in to an inviting hotel. The song “Hotel California” which was written by the Eagles in the late 1970’s provides a depiction of the inviting but destructive lifestyle that existed among the wealthy at the time on the west coast.
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