Los Angeles Travel Forum

Hi,

Just cannot find the right hotel! In my earlier post, i asked for recommendation, Santa Monica area was my choice but just cannot find any affordable hotel in that area. My budget is up to USD 180 (including Tax)....

Maybe got to find downtown near LA. Shortlisted a few:

1. Doubletree Hotel Los Angeles/Commerce
5757 Telegraph Road
Commerce, California

2. Radisson Hotel Los Angeles Midtown at USC
3540 South Figueroa Street
Los Angeles

3. Radisson Hotel Los Angeles Westside
6161 Centinela Avenue
Culver City, CA 90230-6306

4.Doubletree Hotel Los Angeles International Airport
1985 East Grand Ave.
El Segundo, California

5. The Marina Del Rey Hotel
13534 Bali Way, Marina Del Rey

Among these 5, any idea which is the most covenient, near to shops, mall, restaurants, public transport (as will not be renting a car, no confident in driving on the right side, being Asian).

I will be there for 2 nights. Or any other hotel to recommend with the above mentioned budget. Just want to visit a few well known places near LA like Beverly Hills, Hollywood area (Sunset Blvd), Santa Monica.

Absolutely stay away from the Doubletree in Commerce. It is an industrial area of LA and you will be stuck there. The hotel on Figueroa is probably not in the safest area.

Of the areas you mentioned, probably Culver City and Marina Del Rey are the best bets. If it is Hollywood and Beverly Hills you want to see, then try finding decent hotels there in those places.

Also, I suggest you check out any hotel you are interested in at tripadvisor.com

Good luck!

See VT member GracesTrips discussion of where to stay in LA (toogle the destination box to member, put her member name, GracesTrips in the box, then press "go"). I tend to agree with her point of view on this. She is a native and has tons of sound advice...

Have you tried searching through orbitz.com or hotels.com or priceline.com? Once you've found some in your price category go to www.tripadvisor.com and search for reviews.

i have stayed at the Radisson in Culver City, but none of the others. I live in New York, and have been to SF many times, but only once to LA. I stayed at the Radisson in January 2008 and found it pleasant, quiet, affordable (but I was there with a big group, enjoying a $98 group rate), with ample free parking. They have an outdoor pool, too. Close, but not too close, to the airport. Car rental was only $100, total, for 3 days (in January, mind you). Good lobby restaurant, as there's no restaurant within walking distance. Depending on the time of day, I was about 15 minutes from Venice Beach. I hope I've been some help to you.

As for your hotel choices, this is what I have to say about it in terms of its geographic location & desirability:

#1--too far away from where you want to go, an industrial area as already mentioned above, and way too suburban for your LA experience.
#2--not a desirable location to be in
#3--an okay selection; however, still a relatively far from where you want to be & go
#4--it's going further southwest towards the South Bay area, which will geographically disadvantage you because you will not be driving.
#5--a desirable location, but you may find it difficult to maneuver around without a car from there.

Doubletree & Radisson hotels are not luxury accommodations, but mid-range accommodations that are suitable for typical tourist-oriented purposes. As previously recommended, check travel-related sites for recent user reviews.

My suggestion is to stay closer to where you want to be, possibly around Sunset Boulevard; however, the problem is the affordability of accommodations in that general area. There may be a few budget/mid-range accommodations in that area though. Do check the VT travel guides for ideas or search through hotel metasearch sites (e.g., hotels.com, expedia.com, travelocity.com, etc.). From this general area, you will be at closer distance to tourist sites and there will be better access to public transport.

Goodluck & enjoy your Los Angeles trip!

me and my traveling partner decided to stay in Marina Del Rey, it might not be the most convenient place but looks good...

thanks for all the recommnendation...

Holiday Inn Marina Del Rey is nice and is only about 10 minutes from Santa Monica and 5 minutes from Venice Beach. The rates should be about $140 a night. Comort Inn Santa Monica I believe is about $120 a night. Don't stay in downtown or if you do, use priceline.com. I always end up getting the Hyatt for around $50 a night when I use the "name your own price" feature.

Holiday inn is at USD180 and no room in comfort inn for my selected dates..thanks for the info

If you are definitely staying in Marina del Rey, make sure you avail of the hotel's tour services since it will be hard to go all over Los Angeles, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, etc. without a car from there. The bus will take forever and is not a very efficient way to spend your precious time. Even what appears to be a 5-10 mins. driving adventure to nearby Venice & Santa Monica areas may end up as a whole day adventure with the public bus option.

Without a car around, another reasonable option will be to stay in your hotel preference located in El Segundo (option#4 above) that's close to LAX as there will be more access to the metro from there. I had forgotten about the rarely discussed LA metro system as everyone out there drives. I checked that hotel's website and it appears that they have a complimentary shuttle service from LAX. If they didn't have this service, I was going to suggest to take the free airport shuttle to the LAX metro stop and from there take the green line to the El Segundo stop on El Segundo Blvd., which appears to be only a few stops away. In the map, it appears that the hotel's location on Grand Ave. is not too far from El Segundo Blvd. You may want to re-check this w/ hotel staff if you end up selecting option#4 for its convenience. The trip advisor reviews were fair to good.

Study the metro map. It appears that from the green line, where the El Segundo stop is located, there are connections to other lines that will take you to Los Angeles, Beverly Hills area, Hollywood, etc. This option will rid you of generic group tours offered by hotels, and affordably will give you a more hands-on self-tour of the area if you're more the adventurous type. Here's the weblink for the LA metro:

http://www.metro.net/riding_metro/green_line.htm

Again, Goodluck & enjoy sunny Southern California!

Addendum:

Here's the link to the overall LA metro map:

http://www.metro.net/riding_metro/maps/rail_map.pdf

It appears that the El Segundo stop in the GREENLINE is only two stops away from the LAX metro stop. Also, from the GREEN line, you can connect to the BLUE line towards downtown LA, and from there connect to the RED line going west towards mid-Wilshire, Hollywood, Universal City, etc.

Goodluck!

Why don't you try Farmer's Daughter?
http://www.farmersdaughterhotel.com/

Right smack in the middle of LA.

Thanks again for all the information. I have decided to rent a car now, not because cannot afford it, but just afraid to drive on the right side of the road as I have been driving on the left (Asia) since day one (20 years ago)...
:) and stick on to Marina Del Rey...

That's the best recourse! Driving is the most efficient way to see LA and its surrounding areas.

FYI...everyone here drives on the left side. You may have mistaken this driving business with the UK & perhaps other European countries, in which right-hand side driving as the norm.

Goodluck!

Risse73 has it backwards. Here in the United States you will be driving on the right side of the road. Perhaps what she meant is that here the driver sits at the left side of the car instead of the right side as you do in Asia and as is also done in the UK.

"brotherleelove," you are correct--that's what I meant to say! I was referring to the driving position inside the car (left-hand side), and right-hand side driving in roads! I initially misunderstood the poster's statement.

I'm not sure if this driving business is generalizable to all of Asia though. If I remember correctly, back in the old days, my father drove around in the Philippines in the same manner as we do here in the US.

Goodluck in your L.A. trip!

yes, you are right, some part of Asia, like China, Philippines, steering is on the left but road on the right. However, me from Malaysia, steering is on right and the road on left. This is going make me nervous as i have never driven on the right (road). :)

"jhhlim," it's natural to be nervous as you are not used to this; however, this is by far the best mode you can take to see Los Angeles & surrounding locales. If I were in L.A. right now, I wouldn't mind taking you & your family/friends around as a host. Again, goodluck & enjoy!

at last i was there. stayed in Marina Del Rey Hotel. Had a good time, it wasn't so difficult after all driving on the opposite side of what i used to drive on back at home. Still somewhere in Texas now, and driving, so far twice i have drove on the wrong side but realised it very quickly....lol...US is a nice country after all...