E-Central Downtown Los Angeles Hotel

The location worked well for our concert at Crypto, but they put my daughter and me in a room above a nightclub without telling us. We listened to the club's thumping music until 4 AM. When I asked for the manager, they gave me a card. I emailed afterward and never heard back. I know the hotel can't move the club. At the very least, guests should be told what to expect.

We didn't feel safe, and the place was dirty, with homeless people around and drug sales. Parking cost us 60.00 plus tax. Our TV didn't work. We expected more from a downtown hotel next to the Grammy Museum. It cost over 250.00, so it wasn't cheap either.

We were excited when we booked because the hotel was across the street from where I had plans Friday night. The next morning, my husband and I got up early for breakfast. We leave our clothes we've worn on the ground and our clean ones open in our luggage. As we started picking things up, a HUGE cockroach, the size of your whole hand, was on my husband's pants. He threw them, and they landed on our clean clothes in the luggage. I called the front desk, and a woman came in, picked it up as if it were nothing, and took it away alive in a bag. At checkout I asked what they would do about the disgusting experience. She said her manager, Adrian Larson, would call at 1:00pm that day. I said fine, I'd wait for his call, and my payment would stay pending until I spoke with him. We drove home, a three-hour trip, and got there around 5pm. No call came, so I had to call Adrian myself. He tried to say it was a water cockroach, not a food one, blah blah blah. I asked how he'd fix this, since it was so unsanitary to spend even one night there and I might have brought that HUGE cockroach home. My clothes and luggage were new, and I said I might have to throw everything away because I didn't want to get infested with these GIANT cockroaches at home. He acted like it was no big deal and offered only to remove the breakfast fee, even though breakfast for two was free with our booking. I said that wasn't enough. Adrian promised the general manager would call Monday morning with a better deal. I waited all morning, then started calling him myself at 3pm. They'd promised twice to call and never did. I couldn't reach the general manager, Richard, and left a couple of voicemails without getting a call back. They said the charge would stay pending until the issue was resolved, but this morning it was charged to my bank. Really bad customer service. Don't stay here, I repeat, don't stay here. If you stay in level 3 ROOM 303, you will see Giant cockroaches.

There is nothing special about the basic room, and the common areas are old and dingy with few other amenities. The noise is what made this the worst hotel I've stayed in. I've traveled the world, and the nightlife and street sounds coming through the windows and outside walls were unlike anything I've experienced. Music, people in the street, sirens, all of it. What's a nice bed worth if you can't sleep? It feels like they get so many complaints from guests caught off guard that staff can't help and make you wait for a manager who's conveniently “not on shift.” At check-in, the clerk said my confirmation email should have mentioned outside noise. I booked through Hotel Map via a conference portal, and it said nothing about the hotel's poor quality.