Elan Hotel — Hotel in Los Angeles

Staff are friendly and interested in helping, but they are very disorganized and some have inadequate training. Beds were comfortable enough. I'd rate them 2.5 due to all the energy I had to expend to fix things. I stayed 3 nights, 3 different reservations because the online system didn’t show availability with the first two dates in one reservation, so I did them separately; I added the third date later. I added a request to the first two reservations to remain in the same room; never heard back. The first two reservations were for a room with 2 beds – when I arrived I was told I was “upgraded” to a king suite – with 1 bed. I told them that is not okay - we need 2 beds, but they said they had no other rooms available. |Night 1: the room had a strong chemical smell, likely related to the construction. (They had sent an email advising me of the construction and I had called to see if there was a lot of dust. I didn’t care about daytime noise as I wouldn’t be in the hotel then. They did not say anything about putting people in rooms that hadn’t been aired out properly.) |Night 2: due to having to change rooms, we had to remove our belongings before check-out time, and return to check back in in the afternoon. (They did store our belongings.) The room was okay. (Not great for the prices charged, but okay.) |The first two nights we were on the second floor – that is where the construction is happening. There is a sign saying the construction will continue into Summer 2025. |Night 3: they said the room would be ready by 11am, so I vacated the 2nd night room at 8am, and returned at 11. I was shown room 118, which had a running toilet tank, and it didn’t flush (handle disconnected). Moved to room 107 – heavy cigarette smell mixed with cleaning products (which didn’t conceal the cig smell). His response: "it is a non-smoking hotel' - that sounded lame to me - it doesn't mean people follow rules. Moved to room 103, which was adequate. These rooms have not been refurbished, but if everything is functional, they are okay. After I returned that evening (with a room key given to me at 11am), a staff person knocked on the door to 103 to ask if everything was okay - I said yes, although I hadn't been in the room for more than 3 minutes. Then, I got a phone call from the front desk asking for my information. Since this was odd, I went to the front desk instead of giving any info over the phone – it turned out that they didn’t have me registered in 103, were expecting a bus load of people and would have given someone else the key to 103. He straightened that out. (It was good the people on duty figured this out before the bus arrived! The problem was that the guy who checked me in, showed me 118, 107, and 103, didn’t update the record to indicate I was in 103.) |Soap/Lotion: The first night’s room had lotion in the body wash bottle, and a lotion bottle on the counter with something that looked like soap in it. The second night’s room had no handsoap on the counter at all. I can understand confusion around construction, and I knew there was construction. However, filling bottles has nothing to do with construction. |The hotel seemed more intent on filling rooms, even when they weren’t adequately aired out from paint or other chemical materials – that is also not okay. I did ask for a discount for the third night and got a little discount, but not enough to compensate for all the issues that arose. On the first night they offered to move us to another hotel on Robertson, but I reserved at Elan because I could walk to Cedars Sinai where I would be visiting a family member for five days, and where I could park at the hospital to avoid parking charges in both places; the Robertson location is too far away. After I had checked out I noticed charges on my credit card that were each about $100 over the reservation amounts for the first two nights, so I returned to the hotel to straighten that out. |Computer settings also need some adjusting. From the day I made the first two reservations (a few days before arrival) to the day I checked out I received 41 emails – many of them duplicates sent at the same time. It seemed that every time they logged into my reservations, the computer generated numerous duplicate emails at the same time. When they “upgraded” me I did not get any notice of that, only an email confirming the reservation shortly before check-in – when I went back (two days later) to look at it there was a new room type listed, but no text indicating that they changed my room from 2 beds to 1 bed. For night 2 I received a cancellation notice, and had to ask at the desk why. (They said it was because they moved my room so they cancelled one reservation and made another. That was not explained in the email.) They send “check-in” emails one or two days before the day you are due to arrive, which confused me, since I’d expect to check-in on the arrival day. (It seems these emails should be ‘confirmation’ emails, not check-in emails?) |Overall, the location and the friendliness of the staff are the hotel’s strengths, but their efficiency is rather low. I stayed here in 2023 also, and the service was great then. The updated rooms on the 2nd floor are brighter than the older ground floor rooms (more white walls, less brown, and wood floors, not carpet). I hope they get it together after construction is over (or before!). And, I wish the Cedars discount was a larger discount – that would be helpful for families from out of town (like us) that have other stressors and have no choice about paying for hotels and food. I would have stayed another two nights, but didn’t have the energy for more challenges – it was easier to sleep in the recliner in my husband’s...

Elan Hotel: A Faded Memory of Luxury I recently revisited the Elan Hotel, a place I vividly remembered from the early 2000s. Back then, around 2005, it was a brand-new, luxurious experience. I stayed there multiple times (3-5 visits) and was always impressed by the complimentary breakfast, free parking, and the exceptionally attentive staff, including the front desk who would even park your car for you. This recent stay, however, felt distinctly average. While the staff were still nice and friendly, the five-star service I remembered was missing. And to add to the disappointment, they no longer offer breakfast, which was a real perk in the past. The biggest shock was the $36-a-night paid parking, which felt excessive, especially since I booked two rooms for three nights. Given my past experiences, I expected a courtesy parking offer. The parking garage itself was a nightmare – incredibly narrow, leading to a dent in my luxury car's driver's door because of how close cars were parked. Another major inconvenience was having to call the front desk every single time to enter the garage. You have to stop your car, call them, and then wait for them to open it. It's baffling why they don't have some kind of sensor, CCTV, or a more efficient system for guest entry. The cleaning crew this time around was quiet, almost to the point of being unresponsive, sounding tired even when I tried to say good morning. Compounding the discomfort, the air conditioner in the room was consistently warm and uncomfortable. Even set to its lowest at 67 degrees, it just wasn't cool enough. On our last night, around 10:30-11 PM, we called the front desk, and while she rebooted it, it only got slightly better. For a newly constructed and renovated room, having an uncomfortable AC for three nights is pretty disappointing. I appreciate that the hotel informed me about ongoing construction, and I proceeded with my booking despite it. However, the parking garage was cluttered with construction materials, making the already tight space even more challenging. It makes you wonder why the manager isn't ensuring the garage is clean and organized for guest safety and to better accommodate parking, especially with the ongoing construction. A cleaner parking area would have allowed for more careful parking and potentially avoided the damage to my car. The room remodels are indeed nice, and the rooms themselves look good. However, the overall experience was marred by the decline in service, the inconvenient parking situation, the lack of amenities like breakfast, the uncomfortable air conditioning, and the cumbersome garage entry system. They even missed cleaning my room one night despite me following their instructions. Would I return? It's a tough call. While not a terrible stay, it's a definite three-star experience now, far from the luxurious...

A few weeks ago I needed to book a hotel room by Cedars Saini Hospital at the very last minute for my son. He was flying into LAX straight from his job out of state and would then Uber to the hotel that I chose. I was going to pick him up the next morning early to go to the hospital to be with our dear friend who was not in good shape. I hopped online, checked a few hotels in the area and chose Elan Hotel both for the online pricing and the close proximity to the hospital. I chose a room that looked just right and quickly booked it. I let my son know to take an Uber to Elan Hotel when he arrived the next night. He texted me the next day saying his hotel reservation was cancelled due to him not showing up! I was very confused…but once I focused I realized that in my extreme haste I had booked his reservation for the same night I was online booking the room instead of for the next night which was when we needed it. I called the hotel right away. I spoke with a woman who listened patiently to me as I explained what I had done. She took her time with me and checked the already cancelled reservation and asked me a few questions. She asked if I would please hold on and said it may take a minute but she will be back. I held on hoping the hotel would still be able to accommodate the reservation in some way. She came back on the line and spoke to me in the most professional, informed and kind way saying they would reinstate the reservation for the correct date – which was that very night. I was beyond grateful especially at such a fraught time. I arrived the next morning pretty early with a large coffee in hand for my son (because I knew he would need it!). I sat in the lobby and waited for him to come down so we could head up the street to the hospital. As I waited I enjoyed looking around the hotel lobby and noticing how nice everything looked. Everything was neat and clean and holiday decorations were all set up. Sitting with my back to the front desk, just looking out the big front window I listened to Karla engaging and responding to guests and their questions both arriving and departing. I listened to how she answered the phone and how she spoke with the callers. I listened to her warm, friendly, and highly efficient manner while interacting with everyone. Once my son got off the elevator I handed him his coffee, we said goodbye and thank you to Karla. Driving to Cedars Saini he let me know the room was great, he slept great and he was just sorry it was such a short stay. I want to thank Elan Hotel for taking really great care of us at such a delicate time and especially thank you to Karla. She made all...