Hollywood Inn Express South — Hotel in Los Angeles

My friends and I recently stayed here as we were in the country for a concert. Since there was 5 of us we booked the room with 3 queen sized beds when we arrived the front desk guy was knowledgeable about our reservation when we got to the room we were shocked at how huge it was. There was more then enough room for 5 of us and there was a pretty mural on the wall when we first walked in.

the room had a working fridge and air conditioning the sheets on the bed were thin but given it's hot in LA and we came from a much colder country we didn't mind. The lighting in The room was bad at night but during the day we had two huge windows letting in the natural light. The furniture was definitely dated and a little ratty my friend discovered quickly that the end table by her bed was broken and she could lift the top of it off completely and hid her passport there for the trip since the room did not have a safe.xD

the bathroom had the toilet in a separate little room and two sinks and a wall long mirror in the bathroom which is great when you have 5 girls trying to get ready in the morning my only complaint about the bathroom was the TINY shower. probably about a quarter of the size of a regular tub and you couldn't even move in there without the shower curtain rubbing and sticking to you ( it was a fabric curtain) which was really gross.

I can't say much about the breakfast since I did not ever eat it but my two friends went down everyday and said it was fine nothing special but it worked for them. If you stay I recommend making sure you put everything away that you don't want housekeeping to touch none of our stuff went missing but we did come back early one day when they were still cleaning and the one lady was using my friends charger to charge her phone. This didn't bother us we had a good laugh about it but it might bother someone else.

as for the area I never felt unsafe in my hotel but this is definitely an area you want to be careful of at night. We normally ended up staying pretty close to the hotel in the evening. The hotel is close to public transit. the corner of the street the hotel is on has a bus stop and the nearest station is only 8 blocks away however if you choose to walk to the station you will end up walking through blocks of tents and homeless people. we took the bus to the station and still ended up having to walk through about a block of it and outside the station they have a sort of 'market set up with people selling stolen tourists luggage, shoes, cell phones etc. No one actually bothered us when we walked through but we were there early in the morning and people were not awake and just setting up. After that we never took that station again we found different ways around the city and took the longer bus ride to the next station which was in a much better area in comparison.

If you stay in this area without your own transportation I recommend uber we used it a lot and it worked amazing and the drivers were also so nice and it was cheap too!

would I stay in this hotel again? Yes if I had my own transportation it's a cheap hotel so I did not expect much. if you are going to rely on public transit maybe look into a little more expensive hotel in a...

Pros: It doesn't look creepy. It's not a motel full of prostitutes, or if it is they aren't visible. The pool looked alright. The room itself was nice. The area isn't bad at all. Only a mile from Westlake Park/Redline.

Cons: There were ants and roaches coming out from behind the toilet. The TV didn't work when I got there. Bad lighting in the room.

The buildings are painted a light color that's pretty welcoming. It's not the usual greyish tones of the motels I'm used to. You wouldn't look at it and think, "Oh man I've made a mistake." You wouldn't think that by the area either. You would think, this is how motels used to be when I was a kid. I walked in to my room and it wasn't the Renaissance but it wasn't terrible. I could tell they mustn't have gone through anything making sure the room was prepped. There were things on the floor, of different sizes so whoever vacuums just...Idk. The boss should have a talk with whoever vacuums.

The bed was horrible. I felt like Goldilocks and I had to choose between the left side of the bed with a deep indent under the hip, the right side of the bed with a not so deep dent, and the middle which was more like a little hill between the two so that when I woke up I would either be at the bottom of the valley to the right or in the sea to the left.

The bug thing wasn't so bad. It's not like they were coming out in waves. There were a few curious tiny roaches and ants. It was just creepy so I called the office and asked them if they had bug spray. About 45 minutes a man came in and sprayed around the walls. I probably should have killed them but that's gross, so I just had to walk around in my shoes.

There is a bed, dresser, mini fridge, TV with fuzzy cable, a desk and night stands. There are like 5 light switches for lights that are pretty weak and oddly placed. For example, the light over the area with the sink was a few feet behind. It's more sexy lighting that might help you hide those little lines in your face but it's not so great for doing your make up. The same with the light behind the other mirror in the main part of the room.

I called for maintenance twice and both times it took about 45 minutes. So, again, it's not the Renaissance but then it's pretty cheap for this city, even for the area.

I would stay there again. I would bring my own shampoo and conditioner and body wash and Raid, but I would stay there again. No one stole anything I could tell but I think they accidentally threw away one of my contacts. There are none of those little signs that say "No service today." They didn't vacuum on the days I didn't have anything on the floor but they threw out the trash and left new towels...

What can I say about the Hollywood Inn Express South...

This small chain Inn is one of three locations.

I've only had the opportunity... Of staying at H.I. Express South most recently and let me tell you... I'm not sure if I would or wouldn't do it again...

Hollywood Inn of Historic Filipinotown, Los Angeles resides on Alvarado St just before the intersection of Beverly Blvd. They have a solid nostalgic lobby area for check-in as well as check out or service. The rates are unbeatable without a doubt and the beds are comfortable to say something about them...

It does seem like improvements are being made very gradually overtime to this two star stay... However they're definitely not there yet.

Due to Covid housekeeping/maid service isn't really provided until the end of your trip, however they will bring you fresh towel, toiletries, etc. as needed.

The rooms have a functioning mini fridge only, solid showers and separate sink vanity. The carpets are a bit dated though fairly clean minus a very visible burn mark for an iron the room I had the pleasure of resting in.

The first few rooms just before the slightly elevated parking level (close to the lobby) are probably some of the nicest and most spacious with beautiful wall art of Hollywood and Hollywood stars past.

The pool area is very clean though was rarely used if at all during my three day stay here.

Was the service good? It definitely wasn't terrible...

Was the WiFi great? It definitely was spotty if almost non nonexistent the entire three days here except for when closer to the front half of H.I.E.S.

Was the parking spacious? If by spacious you mean full every single night like clockwork making it impossible to find a space after 10pm... To the point you end up parking a block up the road or in a sectioned off space of the driveway entrance to the Inn to be called early in the morning when parking is free again everyday then yes/...

Dated furniture, vending machines and fixtures aside we did get assistance when needed.... which is always a plus.

We weren't able to do any work here with no internet, but were informed the internet was spot and mostly down due to some updates being made however the issue has been going on for over a month.

Other than a harmless spider in our room and those seasonal mosquitos we didn't have any pest problems are some others have mentioned and I'm grateful, but also sorry for any and all who have in the past.

We definitely made do with what we did have versus what we didn't. I do hope they continue to make improvements and know running a business like this is costly, but comfort and care are super essential...