Holiday Inn El Monte - Los Angeles by IHG

Everything besides breakfast was fine, and my room was quiet. A coworker, though, had neighbors playing music and singing loudly until 11:30 pm. We used breakfast vouchers, expecting the usual continental spread, but the meal was nothing like that. The “orange juice” was Sunny D, the “breakfast potatoes” were greasy tater tots, and the “ham” was highly processed deli meat like baloney. For $15, the food quality was a real shock. Avoid the restaurant. The Chinese restaurant trying to serve breakfast dragged what was otherwise an okay stay down to one star.

The hotel itself is beautiful, and our accessible room was spacious and easy to get around in. We stayed six nights. They first assigned me the wrong accessible room, but handled the mistake well and moved me to the right one. Housekeeping is by request, though the policy says there’ll be a full service after the fourth day. We left around 9:30 and I told the front desk we needed service and would return between 3 and 4. She said she’d make sure it was done before we got back. At 3:45 the room hadn’t been touched, so we asked again. During the whole stay, we got fresh towels and trash removal only once. At least the large bin by the elevator gave us somewhere to put our garbage each day.

It’s a big, nice hotel, with a clean, fancy-looking lobby and lots of facilities. The laundry room was handy, though you have to pay and bring or buy your own detergent. The room was spacious, clean, and bright, with good central air that held the temperature well. The bed was fine, but the pillows were just so-so. Bathroom was good, though I don’t know why USA doesn’t like hand-held shower heads. We didn’t get a chance to try the Chinese restaurant. Downtown is a bit far, around a 20-25 minute drive, and the bus takes about an hour.

I left my Philips electronic toothbrush in the room and called very late that night. They answered and said they’d get back to me once they found it. The next morning they called to confirm they had it, and a kind staff member sent me her email so I could forward a prepaid shipping label. My toothbrush made it back to me! It was my first time staying here, but I’ll be back. Thanks again, everyone.