Cara Hotel — Hotel in Los Angeles

I stayed at the Cara in autumn of last year (Sept. 2024) so for full transparency, a bit of time has passed between my stay and this review.

Overall, I personally would not recommend this stay at all based on my experience. Upon reflection, frankly, I feel like I kind of got taken advantage of. This has not been the case at other hotels I've stayed at. With the good reviews, the 4 star rating, and the price point, I would have expected a better stay and - more pertinently - MUCH better customer service. My main issue was with the latter point.

This is why:

I booked the room via telephone a few weeks before my stay. I emphasized that I was only staying one night (popping into L.A. for a concert) and therefore, I was really just looking for a place to sleep for a few hours. I prefer cleaner, "nicer" spaces, so wanted somewhere fairly nice to sleep. However, I literally asked for the smallest accomodation/cheapest they could offer me, due to only spending a night's sleep there.

-The concierge I spoke to did not put me in one of their "mini rooms" with the small bed like I had requested. I had checked their website and there WAS availability in the mini rooms upon my booking, from what I could see.

-They decided to put me in what I believe is the most expensive room they have (pool facing balcony King). Perhaps ignorantly, I thought it was a free upgrade and was really impressed by the customer service. Definitely not the case.

-To be clear, during the booking phone call, I was asked if I wanted a larger balcony room. I explicitly stated "no thank you." I also did not really want a balcony due to safety concerns as a young, solo female traveler.

-Under the impression that the balcony was a free upgrade still (not the case I guess. I did not ask for a balcony room at all or a king room), I decided to make the most of it and ordered room service. This was on the morning I was checking out. I ordered around 10:30 or so, figuring I could enjoy the balcony for a little while before checkout. I ordered: 1 slice of cake from the brunch menu. (Presumably premade?), and 1 latte. That is it. They did not deliver it to me until almost 12:30pm after 2 calls from my end politely requesting assistance/explanation because they had not delivered it to me .

-They had the audacity to charge me for this order (lol!).

-I was explicitly told I could stay in the room until I was finished eating without incurring a late checkout fee. The room service needed to clean the room, though. I am not sure if I was charged for late checkout or not.

I am now under the impression that I was charged the premium price for the upgraded room, which I did not request.

-Upon calling them a couple weeks later, the man I spoke to apologized and stated he would refund me for the stay. However, he did not take down my name, information, date of stay, etc. This is another reaosn why I'm leaving this review. I got a, "Oh yeah, we'll refund all that for ya, thanks for calling," and then essentially a hang up. I was left with the impression that this hotel is untrustworthy and that I got swindled. With the holidays approaching by that point, I kind of had to let it go, as I had to plan my holidays.

Overall, I feel tricked and kind of grossed out. I have to wonder if these same interactions would have occurred with, like, a businessman. I personally kind of feel like they saw: young, white, female, blonde, designer clothes, and then charged me unfairly. Who charges for a coffee that took 2 hours (approximately) to deliver and a room that was not requested? I requested the smallest room they had and no balcony.

Ultimately, this stay was disappointing. I feel comfortable leaving this review because I do not expect to ever stay at this location again. Beyond all of the issues I had, location was a problem for me/safety of this particular location (walking up the street to check into the hotel, a man aggressively yelled that he was going to mace me, and when I jumped in surprise, he started screaming that I was a racist)......

A few weeks ago my sister and I came down to LA from SF to spend the last 10 days with a terminally ill loved one at the Sunset Kaiser. I searched for a clean hotel closest to the hospital so my sister and I could freshen up and get some rest between the hospital visits. I selected Cara Hotel where we stayed for 9 nights. First of all, I want to thank all the hotel and valet staff for their excellent services and hospitality. Everyone truly made us feel comfortable as possible during this very difficult time. In the early mornings, Adi warmly greeted and directed me to my car when I left the hotel to the hospital (valet staff starts working at 7 am). Also, when I had an issue with the safe box in the room, Adi and the other staff addressed the issue right away. Late at night when I return back from the hospital, Alex welcomed me with the sweetest greets and even on the sold-out Saturday night, she managed right away to book us a canceled room for us. She gave me so much bright and positive energy during our most difficult times. And Alex, you’re such an angel 😇. Danner at the valet, even though one of your staff members mixed up my key card with another guest caused so much trouble for me but your service was excellent every night when I return back to the hotel after an emotionally long hard day. Lastly, Marlon the general manager, I want to say thank you for the valet credits and for letting us stay day by day without knowing the checkout date. I heard you made that happen. You have an awesome, professional, and friendly staff that makes your guests happy and satisfied. As for the review of the hotel itself here are my thoughts. This hotel is a rectangular-shaped structure with 2 floors. Most of the rooms have a balcony upstairs and a courtyard downstairs. There's water in the middle with restaurant tables along the side. So any room you stay in you can see and hear people eating and drinking. Pros: The hotel is beautiful and chic (good for social media). Very clean room with a comfortable bed, luxurious sheets, and blankets. Good quality amenities. Great location for everything. Professional and friendly staff. A beautiful restaurant and bar on site. Cons: The hotel is not ideal for people seeking relaxation and quiet. Day, night, weekdays, and weekends there's a crowd hanging out at the restaurant and bar with loud music. $38 a day valet parking only.

Unfortunately during my visit, I didn't get a chance to try the restaurant and bar due to the circumstances but I'm coming back in June with my husband to celebrate our 22nd anniversary. I already made the reservation for the room and the restaurant. This time, I want to fully enjoy the hotel. Hopefully, the restaurant is good as the rest of the hotel. I'll post the follow-up restaurant and bar...

Ambiance = 5 Food = 4.5 Drinks = 5 Service = 3... The table service was amazing (5), but we had a reservation for 7:45pm and we weren't seated until 9pm. It was absolutely ridiculous. Everyone was waiting extremely long past their reservation times to be seated. They apparently have a table time limit of 2 hours, but they don't start asking people to leave until 3hrs after!! This sets them very far back on timing and thus you wait forever even with a reservation. With all of this being said, if you're thinking of coming here without a reservation, DON'T. I doubt you'd ever be able to get in.

Now, to the review.. This is a true LA Hidden gem. My friend found this place through Instagram and I was sold when she showed me the photos. We were seated at a table right next to the pool and there were beautiful views of palm trees. I loved the scenery. It's the perfect ambiance for a ladies dinner or date night. Be sure to take lots of photos!

Drinks: Late Check-Out: AMAZING!! You must try this. Infante of Oaxaca: my friend thoroughly enjoyed this one.

Food: Buffalo Mozzarella: I love this. It is served with delicious grilled sourdough bread and a bean salad. Highly recommend dipping the bread into the olive oil sauce it's sitting in. French fries: the ketchup and thousand island sauce these were served with were very delicious, but the fries weren't cooked very well. Many of them were very squishy and undercooked. I wouldn't order these again. Broccolini: YES YES. Perfectly charred and served with lemon. It was a good portion size.

Dessert: Olive Oil Cake: I really enjoyed this dessert. It was my first time trying olive oil cake and it was tasty, yet light. My friend who has had several olive oil cakes in her day did not think they was as good as the ones she's had, but obviously it was still delicious enough to eat :)

I can't wait to come back and see what this place looks like for brunch...