Hotel Angeleno

The room was beautiful, with a lovely bathroom and lots of tech. I did have a view of the expressway, though. The front desk guy gave great customer service, and the daytime woman working valet was so sweet and complimentary. They made me feel like a VIP before I even got inside. This is my go-to hotel when I stay in LA now.

Most of the staff gave terrible service. When we arrived, we were immediately judged and got dirty looks, maybe because my friends and I look younger. The morning front desk staff were rude and unwelcoming at check-in and checkout. The night or evening front desk woman was super nice, though I didn’t get her name to give her credit. It felt like they gave you worse service if you didn’t tip valet. Valet only helped with our luggage after we tipped, even though a 5% staff cover charge was automatically added to the stay. Valet is required, not optional, and costs $40 a day to leave your car there. The continental breakfast called “included/free” wasn’t free, since there’s a $5 per person charge for the server. Yes, $5 is cheap, but don’t call it included or free then. There’s also a $100 deposit, which is returned. Rooms were tiny but decent, and the elevators were tiny too. If you’re on a higher floor, it takes forever to find an empty elevator to bring luggage down on a cart. Outside alcohol isn’t allowed, and you lose your deposit if you bring any in. Outside food is allowed. They want you to buy from their restaurant or bar. It was a terrible first experience, and I’m not staying at Hotel Angeleno again.

The room was hard to rest in because the highway noise came right through the poor sound insulation. I attached a video to show what I mean. Parking also felt like an unavoidable extra: valet is mandatory at $45 per night, even though self-parking would have been straightforward, and there was no way to decline the service. Breakfast was said to be complimentary, but they still charged $5 per day. If noise or compulsory fees matter to you, keep those things in mind.

We came from Central Time, so the early mornings meant we got to watch the sunrise each day. From the rooftop restaurant we could see the mountains to the east and, thanks to the recent rains, all the way to Catalina Island in the west. The food was great, and the staff were so friendly. There’s also a heated pool and nice workout facilities. We were staying over Thanksgiving, just a 10-minute walk from our daughter’s apartment. I’d seen comments about noise from the nearby 405, but we didn’t notice any.