Hotel MdR Marina del Rey - a DoubleTree by Hilton — Hotel in Los Angeles

I don't normally stay in hotels, but staying here was a genuine and kind experience. It's comfortable, it's cozy, it feels like a soft quiet place amidst what can be a bustling city. It feels like a giant home.

Front staff was very kind and helpful. They often offered their famous warm cookies which are so so good, it melts in your hand as you break it apart! No idea how they do it so well and so consistent!

Their gym was small but efficient, nothing too heavy but enough to stay active and well. Also, there's plenty of stores within walking distance and many things to do without leaving via car so that's an awesome place to be.

I don't normally eat breakfast as I tend to do intermittent fasting nowadays, but eating breakfast here was always a kind experience. I often ate from the breakfast buffet that had plenty of generous options. I was served often by Sergio who effortlessly and quite humorously made me laugh and was a very genuine and caring person. Seeing him work here honestly left an impression on me, heck I wanna work there now cause of him! To be very honest, if it wasn't for him, this place would have had 4 stars, but people like Sergio, along with the other servers that I got to interact with, made it so personal and friendly and real.

I definitely see myself staying here again, and I will make sure to mention it to my friends and family.

I will now proceed with some constructive criticism and some tips as well.

TIPS: I had a struggle with the internet for a bit. At times, it wouldn't pop up with the screen to connect to the wifi. Should you have the same problem as I did, just type in "cnn.com" and it will take you to the page so you can put your room number and last name and voila, you're connected c:

Constructive Criticism/Cons: I personally don't like that my restroom in the hotel room didn't have a lock. If it does, I must have missed it. The door just slides open and closes, which is fine I suppose since it is in your room, but it is a minor annoyance to me, and can be for those who perhaps stay with friends/family and are super aware of anyone just walking in. There were times where I would prefer using the restrooms in the lobby just because those actually have locks.

The hotel itself honestly doesn't have any "view". There's no gazing into the sea or looking far to the mountains. The hotel is in a place where its surrounded by buildings, and its not "pretty" to look at, so don't come here expecting a great view. The upside is, like I said earlier, that there's many places to check out nearby within walking distance, so there's a balance. I do however think the hotel could work on the improvement of the sight in the pool, by perhaps arranging some more flower work of some sort and some mini palm trees inside, even if its fake. I think that could overall add to the aesthetic look of the hotel/lobby area. Something that makes it stand out, a pattern, that "wow" factor.

I liked the idea of the ping pong table in the game room in the lobby, but considering where the seats are, and how they are positioned, you can easily "hit" someone with a flying ball, especially if there's a lot of people in the room. I would suggest opting for perhaps a pool table or one of those machines where it has little soccer players and handles on each side and people can move the handles to control the players to kick the ball to each side. Heck, having those two in one room would be amazing! I think that would be a "safer" alternative, considering where the seats are located.

Also... there's no security on patrol... that was...

I arrived at hotel MDR with a friend of mine and must say it is very nice and the first thing I noticed was the smell. Fresh and inviting. The digital room key worked, the room was clean and tidy.m however the box for the ac and heater did not work. I called the front desk asked if the pool is heated, it is. So we went downstairs. This is when I encountered Dejay at the front desk the first time. She asked how she can help and I asked for a physical room key. She was rather cold and uninviting, but she was helpful and I received the key. My friend and I had an amazing experience in the hotel restaurant. The food was amazing the waiter was super friendly, had a smile on his face and cared to serve everyone at the bar and in the restaurant. Later on someone was smoking weed outside and the smell found its way inside! The waiter immediately ran outside and asked the person to stop and leave. Very pleasant and guest friendly! After eating I had went back to the front desk. Dejay asked what I wanted. I tried to find out if Hilton Honors members receive a free water still? She said yes. Then she said rather annoyed: So what do you want? You want water and cookies? The attitude I received was indescribable. I asked her if there is a problem with me asking a question and she responded feisty: I want to know what your question is and if you want something. I responded I would like to get the waters as a Hilton honors member, so please. She handed us the water. Since I received this attitude and kind of hostile behavior I started looking around and noticed a box to my right and asked if there are any survey or suggestion cards that I can fill out. ( I did not notice the box was for the room keys) I also must say, English is not my first language. Absolutely annoyed this time so she asked: what cards? I asked if the box is for surveys or suggestions? She said: Nope, you get those in your email. I decided to leave as me and my guest got really uncomfortable by the behavior from her towards us. While we walked to the elevator we heard her talking about us with her coworker, I do not want to repeat what was said. My friend was also shocked and asked me what the problem was and I have really no answer. Our neighbors in the hotel were very loud, they were watching a Rocky movie on TV until 3.18 am. That is when the movie was finally over. The TV got turned down, then they decided to go on the balcony and smoke weed. This kept us up almost all night. I was afraid to call the front desk and ask for help after the experience we just had earlier that night. We both were nauseated from the strong smell. At about 8 am people were coming into the neighbors hotel room it became so loud that even the person that was on the phone with me was able to hear their screaming and laughing. We also got the taste of some more weed smell. We were happy when it was time for us to leave to catch a flight. The hotel is conveniently located to get to the LAX airport within a few minutes. I have to say even tho the hotel is really nice, this was the worst experience I have ever had at a Hilton. We will most definitely not be returning to this...

For years this has been our family's most favorite hotel to visit. We have been staying at this location since long before the remodel and name change to Hotel MdR. We stayed for 3 nights at the end of July 2018 and sadly, I think it is probably our last time.

Part of this is not the fault of the hotel but is worth mentioning. Marina del Rey has lost quite a bit of charm with the massive building of multi-level shops and living in the past few years. The views are not what they once were and the traffic, always bad, is horrible pretty much any time, any day. It is my understanding that much of the shopping right next to the hotel is going to be changed in the coming year or so and I am sad to see that happen as it has a variety of shops including a bookstore we like to frequent.

As far as the stay itself, we were disappointed by several issues. For one, the pool was not kept clean. The deck was covered with droppings of some kind of fruit or pod from the trees. These also were in the water along with several items of trash (bandaids, etc) and I have not experienced this before ever at this hotel. Usually it is exceptionally clean so I do not know if this is unusual or more of a current trend.

There are several things that detract from a "family friendly" atmosphere for me. The price of the rooms make it cost prohibitive to have more than one room when traveling with more than 4 people or in my case traveling with teenagers who are the size of full grown adults. Three adult bodies and one child makes the rooms feel very small but at $320 a night there was no way we were going to spring for a second room.

The restaurant in the lobby does not have much "kid" food options and we ended up getting food elsewhere when we had a family dinner for the adults poolside. There is a hamburger and pizza on the menu but they are not the traditional version a child might wish for. It is also expensive, in my opinion, particularly for what you get.

It used to be a treat for my kids to get a couple items from the snack/refreshment area of the lobby. I expect to pay a little more than at a store but $5 for a regular size candy bar or $3 for a single serving bag of chips is ridiculous! We paid less for bottled water in Disneyland than we did at the hotel!

We usually treat ourselves to the breakfast buffet once or twice per stay and the kids look forward to it. This time we decided $19 per person was just a waste of money and ate elsewhere.

On the plus side, the rooms are always clean and the staff are by far some of the best I've encountered at hospitality establishments. It must be a good place to work because we see a lot of the same faces from year to year when we have been there. It was also very helpful that we were able to check out of our room but stay poolside for a few hours while waiting to go to the airport for our flight home. We have wonderful memories of Hotel MdR and will always cherish those...