Le Méridien Pasadena Arcadia — Hotel in Arcadia

I first visited this hotel back maybe two years ago within weeks of it opening. I will just say that it hasn't been kept up very well to be a little over two years old.

Disclaimer: I typically stay in 5 star hotels so my view of this property may be skewed by that fact. However, I do stay in many 4 stars when that's all that is available. I've also visited other Le Meridien's and this one, comparatively, is lacking.

Parking: no self-parking, all valet with the text and QR code to get your car daily. I had no issues with this other than there's no option. All parking appears to be outdoors. They were quick which was good.

Hotel condition: When something is labeled as 4 star, you expect a certain level but this place is bare bones. If you took away the lobby (that lacks a place to purchase anything substantial with random, poor offerings on a stack of open shelves) it doesn't feel much different than a mid-tier establishment. They once had an active, "name" restaurant but now it's something nondescript that never seems open with a menu that cannot be found anywhere. The lobby has a bar and in the mornings the only coffee that can be found sits off to the side- one option, no decaf and tea packets that just say black or green. This is the only option - nothing in the room - and it disappears after maybe 9 or 10 in the morning.

When I arrived in the rooms, they were more worn than the last time. The bed linens didn't appear to fit the beds as they were short on one side for both beds. The bathroom lacked counter space and there was one bar of soap for the hands and a small lotion bottle that was mostly empty with a safety seal that had obviously been opened. On the floor near the TV were a lot of crumbs from someone else which tells me the vacuuming is spotty and when I wiped down everything with Lysol wipes (as I've done for years pre-COVID), the wipes did not return to me clean. The TV remote seemed to be on a little lag as you attempt to flip through the channels. The Do Not Disturb sign for the door was dirty and worn. There is a fridge which was great but if you needed a microwave they charge $10 a day for use. Why is an alleged 4 star hotel not providing a microwave but then charging a daily usage fee? They should be embarrassed to even tell people that.

Other: The elevator requires a key to get to the floor. There are 6 floors and this hotel is in the middle of nowhere. I'm not really sure why that's necessary but I appreciate safety precautions.

The gym has decent offerings. Plenty of cardio, weight machines and free weights. However after the first day the gym ran out of wipes and I had to alert the staff to this. When they brought some they were individual small packets of alcohol wipes and not the industrial wipes that get loaded in the large silver bins. How does a 4 star establishment completely run out of anything for more than a day? Who is managing their supply chain? Two days later, still small packets of wipes and I think if I had not said anything, no one would have brought out anything. Disgusting.

Service: this is make or break for me. I stay at certain locations like a Grand Hyatt or a Four Seasons because the service is impeccable. A property has to stand on something whether it's state of the art rooms, cleanliness to call home about, service beyond compare, amazing food offerings or with higher level hotels it can be all of these things. Surely this place had to excel somewhere. In service, they did not.

When I checked in there was a youngish woman with long dark hair and caterpillar eyelashes who could not tell me what I was being charged for incidentals. Now I've never checked into a place where the charge was not a flat fee ($100 a night for example) but a percentage of the stay (according to her 3%) but why could this person not tell me what that charge was? I had to ask her what the total was being put on my card and then say to her "I suppose I will have to take your amount and subtract it from the amount in my email confirmation to know what portion is being...

Beautiful but disappointing... When I called to find out if the pool amenity was open, the reservation help desk told me that they are NOT allowed to call the property and ask? (We were traveling from CO with two kids so it would have been nice to know); When we arrived, we were then told the only parking available was valet for $27/night (room rate + valet + and for people that are not from CA they have an occupancy & tourism tax... which made it closer to $270/night) and that location does not offer anything that lavish - we were visiting family for health reasons; They do not offer free WI-FI (we used our own hotspot but I think it was $12/day); This hotel is not kid-friendly... there is not a vending machine on the floor, no convenience store, the pool is small and without a hot tub, the bathrooms in the rooms are NOT very private (barn door track that leaves an inch opening, yes, you can see someone in the shower) + a long mirror in front of the barn door bathroom door so you absolutely need to keep it closed if you want any privacy (we were traveling with our 17 year old and 3 year old - so some privacy was crucial with our 17 year old); Walls are thin - we had a few rough nights above us... I swear I thought the gym was above us because it sounded like kids jumping off bunkbeds Speaking of the gym... where is it? This hotel lacks signs... no signs in the elevator or in waiting areas to tell you where anything is. The only reason I found the gym was because I looked UP... Elevator... sometimes you need your key card for the elevator to work and other times you can push your floor level without needing to scan it? Save your ticket number for valet otherwise it will take longer to retrieve; We stayed for 5 days & 4 nights with my husband and I and are two kids... not having a mini refrigerator, cups for drinking water (finally had to call and ask room service for them) and NO housekeeping was absurd and maddening; Because we never had housekeeping over a 4 night stay, I had to call each time for extra towels, soap, and toilet paper... which just leaves me to #11... For such a nice hotel, one would think they would have softer toilet paper; The light switches in the rooms are my nemesis... there are TWO MASTER switches... one by your bed and one by your door... the lovely power off switch will turn off EVERY light (yes, including the bathroom if someone else is using the toilet or taking a shower)... happened multiple times; Breakfast downstairs was just OK, we preferred to go somewhere else where we did not have to deal with flies on our food (flies are EVERYWHERE!)

Let me just say... that if it was just me and my husband, we would stop by to enjoy the bar area 100%, it is beautiful... it's hip and would be a great place to hold an event in their courtyard, they have live music from time to time... it's a cool vibe without question. I believe they have high-tea that would have been lovely to enjoy in their suede blue lounge chairs (super cool)... their cocktails were yummy, they have a great cocktail bar menu... so it's a fun place to swing by and enjoy a drink and see what's happening... there's a fairly LARGE construction site in front of their entrance (looks like a lot up and coming - luxury condos, restaurants etc.) so I think that will add a lot to this property once that is completed (a few years I would imagine?)... this property has a lot of contemporary beautiful details that they hit on the nail - very well done but this is not a hotel my family and I will be...

NEW UPDATE 11/16/21 We ended up staying here for a couple of nights as we had work done around the house. The rooms are really really nice, comfortable and spacious. The food , although limited, is excellent. The staff were extremely nice and this trip was a really different experience... and I am happy that the teething issues are gone. Its really nice having a nice place like this so close to work and home

UPDATE: 6/19/21... Before you read this update.. please look at the original... as this can be an amazing place

I have dropped my rating for this hotel... hoping to be able to place the 2 lost stars back on there again. Third time here and the third time that they had run out of a lot of food. Running out of burgers at 6 pm seems to be a problem with a hotel that is Category 5 on the Marriott scale. Almost everything we ordered didn't come out when it should have and the waiter had to keep going back asking the kitchen where the orders were... this is in no way the fault of the server... he was severely lacking the help he needed and deserved. he was certainly doing his best... a drink we ordered never came and when we got the cheese plate... even the server thought we were not given enough crustini ... I think 5 slices in all.... and said he would get more.... he returned with sandwich bread toasted like you get for breakfast. We were told that they only had one type of beer only to find out before we left that there were 7 beers on draft. One full section of the menu was not available... and again this was at 6pm... how can you run out so early? The servers were severely under staffed and thats who i felt sorry for.. they were set up to fail... and in all honesty they should be thanking the servers for doing as well as they did .

So .... fingers crossed that I will have the opportunity to replace the 2 lost stars.

Original Review We decided to go here this evening for drinks 🍸and small plates of food. Lovely place, really nice bar with a beautiful open wall to the outside seating area. The staff were really really professional and pleasant... there were a few hiccups that you have to expect on opening night , but otherwise this is definitely a place we will frequent.... IF they cancel the mandatory $10 valet parking.... that will be a deciding factor for us on how often we will go there from work... which is just next door.

I hope they get more beers in from micro breweries, as Arcadia and the surrounding areas are filled with people that like micro brews.

But an amazing array of cocktails 🍸 and liquor.

Definitely a great addition to Arcadia, well...