Priceline Hotel: 4* Los Angeles (Beverly Hills-West Hollywood) Le Montrose Suites

[gilders]

Please could anyone suggest which hotel the following could be;

Glendale - Burbank - Universal City Area Airport shuttle, pool, restaurant $64 p/n for 3nights in September?

Don't know if it's ok to ask the following question so just ignore it if need be. Is there any 4* hotels in the Beverly Hills or Hollywood area that don't charge high price carpark/valet fees?

[Colfax]

Welcome to BetterBidding, gilders.

Is there any 4* hotels in the Beverly Hills or Hollywood area that don't charge high price carpark/valet fees?

No. All 4* hotels in those zones charge for parking, in the $20-40/night range.

Please could anyone suggest which hotel the following could be;

Glendale - Burbank - Universal City Area Airport shuttle, pool, restaurant $64 p/n for 3nights in September?

What exact dates are you seeing this for? Are you searching on "2 adults/0 children"?

[gilders]

The dates are 13th September until 16th September and it is for 2 adults only. Thank you.

[gilders]

Please could somebody identify 3* Beverly Hills-West Hollywood with Boutique, Smoke Free, High speed internet, Golf, Tennis.

The price is $109 for 3 nights, September 13th until September 16th.

Forgot to mention, it's for 2 adults. :)

[thereuare]

Please keep all posts for the same stay in the same thread.

Neither of the properties above have been identified.

However, for the 3* in Glendale HOTWIRE shows a 2.0/5.0 Tripadvisor rating, and this is not very good :) If you change your search to 4adults/0children a different 3* property shows up in this zone with:

Shuttle, Restaurant, Pool, Fitness, Hi-Speed Internet, Laundry

This is a match for the Holiday Inn Burbank so that would be our best guess (reviews for this one aren't great either, but at least they're 'acceptable' at 3.0/5.0)

Regarding the Beverly Hills-West Hollywood stay...

Is there something in particular you're looking for from this stay? For just a little more than the 3*, there is a 4* hotel for $119/nite with: Restaurant, Pool, Fitness, Business, Golf, Tennis, Laundry icons.

This is a match for the Le Montrose Suites so that would be our best guess... and unlike the others above, this has great user reviews with a Tripadvisor rating of 4.0/5.0.

Do any of these alternate properties work for your needs this stay?

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.

Let us know what you decide and how it goes or if we can be of further help.

[gilders]

Thank you so much for your reply and help. I had actually started a different post for the second (Beverly Hills) hotel but forgot to mention how many people it was for and accidentally added a reply to the wrong post.

I will be spending 3 nights (4 days) in the LA area. As I was wanting to visit attractions in different areas of the city (Universal Studios, Walk of Fame, etc) and I will have a renat car, my choice of hotel location primarily was for a safe area where I could walk to a restaurant at night.

I didn't really want to spend more than $100 per night but could stretch to more if it was a high quality hotel. The only problem with the high quality hotels is that they charge for parking which means going over my $100 budget to say $120 would in reality be more like $150 with parking fees.

I had originally made a reservation (direct with hotel) at the Econolodge Glendale at $71 per night with free parking as it was rated #1 for Glendale on Trip Advisor, but since then it has been receiving poor reviews and to be honest I usually stay at a higher class hotel. Therefore I was hoping that using Hotwire and upto an extra $30 would get me something much better.

Any further help and advice would be greatly appreciated and I'll make sure I use your links.

[gilders]

I keep noticing similar statements such as the one you replied to me "However, for the 3* in Glendale HOTWIRE shows a 2.0/5.0 Tripadvisor rating"

I use Tripadvisor and find it very useful, but I've never seen the Tripadvisor ratings on the Hotwire site, so how do you show them?

[yellowdog]

I use Tripadvisor and find it very useful, but I've never seen the Tripadvisor ratings on the Hotwire site, so how do you show them?

Click on the continue button in the red box with price and star level for the hotel. If there is any (not allways) TA rating will you find it to the right of the map on the next page.

YellowDog

[gilders]

Click on the continue button in the red box with price and star level for the hotel. If there is any (not allways) TA rating will you find it to the right of the map on the next page.

YellowDog

Thanks yellowdog. I've just tried that on a variety of hotels but the ratings haven't shown. I even checked the exact same one as what thereuare had seen a rating of 2/5 but it does not show for me :) .

It's such a shame it doesn't seem to be showing for any of the hotels on my pc as it would make it so much easier to figure out the hotels without having to ask everyone to help identify.

[gilders]

Hopefully third time lucky with this one as no one has been able to identify the first 2 I've asked for help with. :)

3 1/2* Glendale-Burbank-Universal City Area staying September 13th until 16th (3 nights) price is $119 for 2 adults.

There's a 4* hotel for the same price in BH that should be Le Montrose, but with the parking charges it takes it to about $150, so if the 3 1/2* is still a good hotel and has free parking it might be better choice.

[Colfax]

The TripAdvisor ratings can come and go from day to day, even for the same hotel. I agree it's frustrating. In this case the only hotel thereuare wasn't able to identify was the 3* in Glendale, and since that hotel has a very low TripAdvisor rating of 2.0, you probably don't want it, whatever its ID.

I've gone through stretches of hours or even days when it seemed I wasn't getting TA stats on any Hotwire hotels that I checked, to the point that I wondered if it was an issue with my computer or browser, and not that Hotwire wasn't displaying stats. But eventually the stats came back.

I have some additional thoughts about your stay that I'll post later today. If you see this before I get back to you I'm wondering are you driving to LA or flying? If flying which airport?

[Colfax]

Please keep all posts regarding this stay in the same thread. One of the mods will merge this with your other thread.

You didn't post icons but I see a 3.5* for $119 with these:

Smokefree, Fitness, Pool, Restaurant, Business, Highspeed

No TripAdvisor stats are given and I can't find a hotel with those icons in Hotwire Vacation Packages. The Marriott Burbank and Glendale Hilton have gone smokefree, so probably this is a new icon set for one of those two. There's some speculation that the Sheraton Universal has been upgraded to 4* but that hasn't been confirmed with a purchase yet.

This stay isn't until September so there's time to wait a few days and see if TripAdvisor stats appear, if this hotel interests you.

Most of the 3* and higher hotels in Burbank/Universal/Glendale charge for parking now too. Where there are parking charges the rates are typically lower than in Hollywood and Beverly Hills zones though, like $10-20/night instead of $20-40. The Glendale Hilton charges $16.

[gilders]

I'll actually be flying into LAX, collecting my rental car, then staying in Anaheim for 3 nights. I will then drive to San Diego for 7 nights and finally I will be spending the last 3 nights in LA, again driving up in my rental. I don't mind which area in LA I stay (so long as it's safe and preferably has a restaurant fairly near by, but not essential) as I have the car and know I'll be travelling around. I probably would be least interested in Santa Monica as I'm wanting to go there on the last day before I catch my evening flight home, so it would seem a bit pointless spending the 3 days prior to my departure driving away from the area I'm staying in. But I wouldn't discount a great deal in that area.

I'm definitely happy with my San Diego choice which is Old Town Inn for less than $100 p/n with FREE parking and a good breakfast according to reviews.

I've also booked the Super 8 Anaheim. It seemed to be getting good reviews on TA when I booked it and the negatives points all seemed to be about the free breakfast which didn't bother me. But it seems to be getting other negative comments now so I may look into changing that choice after I've sorted my LA accommodation.

After finding Old Town Inn I thought if I could find a hotel in the top 10 recommened on Trip Advisor in San Diego for less than $100 including parking by booking direct, I'd be able to get something better in LA for the same price using Hotwire.

I'm really tempted with Le Montrose that seems to be available for $119 but with the parking it comes out double the price of what I already have booked, but I guess even using Hotwire you still have to pay for quality which is understandable.

Thanks again for the help

[Colfax]

Your goal for the LA/Universal leg is a 4* under $100/night including parking charges then; is that correct?

Unless you want to stay at LAX or in Downtown LA zones I don't think that's feasible and something has to give. Either you'll need to increase your limit for Hollywood and Beverly Hills zones or try for a 3.5* or 3*.

First do you really need a 4* hotel? Would a well regarded 3* hotel that meets all your other criteria (safe, close to restaurant, etc.) also work? I'm thinking of the Residence Inn Beverly Hills, for one, which Priceline rates 3*. 3* doesn't necessarily mean a worse hotel than 4*. The ratings are more about amenities. Priceline won't rate a hotel higher than 3* if it doesn't have a full service restaurant serving three meals a day, plus room service. If you don't need the restaurant with room service then why pay more for amenities you don't plan to use?

The ResInn sometimes comes in around $60's, plus parking around $25, would get you in under $100. Breakfast is free. The hotel is in a quiet residential area of single family homes. There aren't a lot of restaurants in the immediate vicinity, but the Crowne Plaza Hotel is across the street and has a restaurant. Factor's, one of LA's best known delis, is a block away, and a block the other way is a Lucky supermarket if you want to bring food back to the Res Inn.

I don't know if Res Inn is available for your dates and you might win some other 3* in the zone too, like the Courtyard, which I think would also satisfy your stated needs, other than it's not rated 4*.

The other "under $100" option is to bid for a Priceline 3* in Burbank-Universal-Glendale. That's probably the least expensive option. You could get a room in the $50's or $60's perhaps with parking under $20. A range of hotels could come up, from Holiday Inn to Hilton. Some are beter than others but all will be in safe suburban areas with restaurants nearby, though probably a short drive rather than a short walk.

Or if you're willing to go higher than $100, there are 4* in Hollywood, WeHo, or Bev Hills.

Also I want to caution about relying too much on TripAdvisor ratings, which are relatively easy to manipulate, up or down, and often are. Last week I had a mediocre stay with multiple issues at a hotel that was rated 4.5* on TripAdvisor. I've also enjoyed excellent stays at hotels that were rated 2.5* or 3* on TripAdvisor. TripAdvisor stats are useful but need to be taken with a huge grain of salt, and I think it's a mistake to automatically exclude hotels that aren't in TripAdvisor's "Top Ten" or "Top Twenty", especially in an area like LA where there are hundreds of hotels.

I've also booked the Super 8 Anaheim. It seemed to be getting good reviews on TA when I booked it and the negatives points all seemed to be about the free breakfast which didn't bother me. But it seems to be getting other negative comments now so I may look into changing that choice after I've sorted my LA accommodation.

Anaheim is usaully a real bargain zone on Priceline. It's likely you can do better than a Super 8 there for less than the Super 8 price. You might start another thread in the Orange County board if you want to discuss that in more detail.

[gilders]

You are totally right about amenities, I rarely use any of them. What I need in a hotel is peace, quiet, safe location. What I WANT and prefer is high quality furnishings and a nice view. It's the quality furnishings that makes me look towards a higher star level hotel and although it is not gauranteed in an expensive hotel, you are less likely to have young drunken guests waking up the whole hotel in the early hours. I'm in NO WAY suggesting that lower income people are more rowdy, it's just that in my experience people tend to behave differently in higher class hotels (rich or poor).

I would be completely happy with getting the Residence Inn BH or Hyatt West Hollywood in my budget (both of these along with Coutyard appear on the list on this site for 3* BH-WH for Priceline), but not the Courtyard as it's on a busy, noisy street apparently. This is what worries me about about using Priceline as I may end up in the one out the 3 hotels in the 3* range that I wouldn't be happy with. That's why I've been looking on using Hotwire with the help of this site as there's a good chance we can figure out the hotel before I pay for it.

If you know of anyway of working out if it's not going to be the Courtyard that would be great, but I guess impossible.

By the way the Trip Advisor ratings appeared on Hotwire again and I managed to figure out all the hotels. Unfortunately all the good ones were well above my budget. I'm guessing that I'd probably get a better deal on Priceline, but I find it quite risky.

[gilders]

Thank you for all your help. You can now help others if you like as I have made a booking.

The only area where I was happy with all the 3 1/2* hotel on your Priceline lists was in Santa Monica and Marina Del Ray so I put a bid in for GBP

[thereuare]

Thank you for sharing your results with the board.

It would be appreciated if you used the requested PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your future travel purchases.

Enjoy your stay.

[Colfax]

Le Montrose seems like an excellent outcome after all your hard work and research.

I'm glad it worked out and for $20 less than you almost paid for the same hotel on Hotwire. Enjoy your stay!