Different interpretations of the lyrics

Wikipedia:
The lyrics weave a surrealistic tale in which a weary traveler checks into a luxury hotel. The hotel at first appears inviting and tempting, but it turns out to be a nightmarish place where "you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave". The song is an allegory about hedonism, self-destruction, and greed in the music industry of the late 1970s.

"Don Henley and Glenn wrote most of the words. All of us kind of drove into L.A. at night. Nobody was from California, and if you drive into L.A. at night... you can just see this glow on the horizon of lights, and the images that start running through your head of Hollywood and all the dreams that you have, and so it was kind of about that... what we started writing the song about. Coming into L.A.... and from that 'Life in the Fast Lane' came out of it, and 'Wasted Time' and a bunch of other songs." - Don Felder

The term "colitas" in the first stanza means "little tails" in Spanish; in Mexican slang it refers to buds of the cannabis (marijuana) plant.

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_California

Schmoop:
According to some interpretations, "Hotel California" is a song about drug addiction; others have viewed it as a song about a mental hospital, or devil worship, or – in one especially oddball take – even a real hotel run by cannibals. (That one sure puts a delicious new spin on "you can check out but you can never leave.")
Most likely, however, it is a song that chronicles the culture of excess, wealth, decadence, and self-destruction in the Southern California cultural milieu of the mid-1970s...the Eagles are criticizing the culture of excess surrounding the rich and famous in Los Angeles – a culture that they were a part of.

Link: http://www.shmoop.com/hotel-california-eagles/meaning.html

Other Interpretations:
- The attractive qualities of worldly things and their ultimate unfortunate end
- Once you're sucked into the west coast dream "you can check out" via drugs, or whatever "but you can never leave". Whatever youthful idealism you once had is forever gone and sucked up by the machine that is the music business.

Link: http://www.lyricinterpretations.com/eagles/hotel-california

My Interpretation:

 Before I'd read any of the previous interpretations I'd thought it was simply a ghost story or a tale of an insane asylum or someone with schizophrenia.
However, now taking into account the culture of the era in which this song was released, and that of California itself int eh 1980s, the interpretation that it is about drug addiction rings truer to me. However, I think it might be an interesting idea visually to combine both ideas in my final submission, i.e. a Gothic hotel filled with drug addicts.