Hotel Mac Rae — Hotel in Avalon

I was in in town to attend and partake in the 2023 Catalina Film Festival from September 21st thru the 26th. A relative and I shared room #201—with 2 Double Beds and the Standard-Courtyard Patio view. First off, for a 2-star hotel, never judge a book by its cover. Long before I booked the room, I did extensive research on other 3-star and 4-star Catalina hotels, and I discovered that a majority of those popular places had numerous complaints about bed bugs, roaches, and unsanitary conditions. You'd be a shocked by what was discovered on a repeated basis. But... not at the Hotel Mac Rae! We never saw a single bug once because it was so clean and spotless!

Upon arriving at the Hotel Mac Rae, the entryway and the hotel was super clean. There's no elevator—only two short staircases to haul your luggage up. These steps are minimal compared to other nearby hotels that have 2-4 long staircases (or more) to climb before you get to your room. And Hotel Mac Rae's stairs are slip-proof too. Upon entering room #201, we saw a small, but quaint room that was professionally cleaned and presented. And there wasn't a stitch of dust in the AC filters either! We were absolutely impressed! The room, was comfortable and livable during our entire stay. There was no in-room safe, but it has a fridge which is a super plus! Every early morning, the entrance, stairs, and patio are mopped and sanitized. And the housekeeping staff are excellent! And each day, our rooms were thoroughly cleaned and spotless before 11:30 AM.

The hotel is also very secured at night, where the main stairwell door is locked and only accessible upon entry with your room key card. One day, we returned in the late afternoon and our keycards wouldn't let us in our room. I walked over to the wall intercom near the main entrance doorway at the top of the stairs and pressed the talk button. It immediately alerted the hotel office attendant. And she graciously reactivated our cards within seconds, and we were good to go. She and the housekeeping staff were professional, outstanding, and super nice. And it was great to see families and their kids quietly playing board games in the patio while basking in the sun.

And most of all, Hotel Mac Rae is in the heart heart of Avalon, just seconds away from the beach, stores, and restaurants. Would we stay here again? You bet! It's a historic hidden gem hiding in...

What a beautiful gem in Avalon! Booked two Courtyard View, King-Ensuite-Superior Rooms. Our trip to Catalina was to celebrate my daughter's 35th birthday. After booking online on their website, I received a call from Jackie to confirm my requests. A day before we were to arrive at the hotel, Daniel called me to confirm and asked if I had any questions or needed anything just to give them a call. This was the first time I have ever been called directly when I booked a hotel room. It made this experience alone such a wonderful thing, even before getting to the hotel!||Jackie checked us in and gave us all of the information we needed about the hotel and our stay. Both rooms were very clean and just the right size. The rooms were equipped with air conditioning, television, coffee maker, plenty of clean towels, hotel toiletries, and hair dryer. They also have beach towels and irons available at the office. This hotel is located at the center of it all. Right as you exit the hotel downstairs, you see the gorgeous view of the beachfront, and then all of the shops and restaurants right along the hotel. You are close to everything!||This hotel is family/kid friendly! My 4 year old grandson came on this trip with us and everyone at Hotel Mac Rae was very accommodating. Because of the location, it was wonderful to be able to come back to the hotel to reset after going on our excursions and doing activities. Jackie, Daniel, and staff helped make this a memorable experience for all of us! For future trips to Catalina, we already know where we will be staying! Thank you...

Hotel Mac Rae was the most terrible experience we ever had with hotels. First of all, rooms were very small, old, and the shower room smelled bad, like mold. We booked 3 nights and when we arrived, our room had a terrible smoke smell so we asked for a different room. All other rooms were booked but after discussing all possibilities nothing was confirmed with us. But they gave us another room. The next day, THEY MOVED OUR THINGS TO ANOTHER ROOM while we were out hiking. This was absolutely not ok! They could have told us when they first gave us a different room, or even the morning they saw us. All I got was 2 voicemails saying that they needed to move us into a different room and that they will move it for us if we don’t show up in half an hour. We were so upset how they touched and packed our stuff and transferred them. We asked for some kind of compensation but the owner Karen refused to give us anything. How rude and unprofessional is that? As an owner, she could have apologized and given us a free night or something, but we got nothing. We didn’t want to spend another dollar at this hotel so we checked out and stayed at a different hotel for the next 2 days. I’ve since read other reviews and several mentioned how rude and mean Karen, the owner was. She’s the 4th generation owner of this building and she definitely doesn’t know anything about customer service. I do not recommend this hotel, and if you do, you will regret it once you get there. The rooms are super small and bathroom stinks and most of all, very...