Does it matter that my motel is an LLC rather than a sole proprietorship?

Entity ownership changes both what you can claim and who is allowed to speak. On the amount, California sets the small claims ceiling at $6,250 for a corporation, limited liability company, partnership or association, against $12,500 for a natural person, and a sole proprietor filing in their own name counts as the latter. On the appearance, an entity cannot simply nominate a representative. The statute requires an authorised insider: someone on the payroll, or an officer or director who was put in that post to run the business rather than to attend hearings. Attorneys are barred from the hearing for everyone, so there is no path where outside counsel handles this for you.

The consequence worth planning around is that your best witness and your authorised representative have to be the same person, or travel together. The front desk manager who checked the guest in is often the one who can actually answer questions about the folio, while the person with authority to bind the company may be an owner who was not on site. Sending the wrong one produces a hearing where nobody can testify to anything. Work out early who is appearing and make sure that person has read the file, because a small claims judge asks questions directly and there is no counsel to redirect them.