Sonesta Los Angeles Airport LAX — Hotel in Los Angeles

TLDR: The booking extension process was a nightmare, a minority of staff were rude, the shuttle and rooms were good; it was a good backup plan overall; wouldn’t come back.

I had my arrival plans fall through after an international flight. I booked this place online on my layover. I needed a hotel with a shuttle, and Sonesta was there for me on a last minute, same-day booking.

The phone recording gave directions to where the shuttle was and said they were approximately every 30 mins. I would have preferred to talk to someone to confirm they had my booking, but it was hard to get through to someone on the phone.

The shuttle was nice, clean, and safe. I arrived relatively late at night and got all checked in. I believe that most food was closed at 10:50pm when I arrived, so I was glad I bought food at the airport before leaving.

The rooms are spacious, clean, well-designed and well furnished. My basic room came with a closet, luggage bench, desk, couch, entertainment center with a large wall mounted TV, 1 king bed, 2 side tables, a safe and a fridge. No robes or slippers. The fridge and safe were nicely hidden in the entertainment console. Dynamic lighting in the room (lighting from a variety of sources and styles). I also liked the double curtains; they darkened the room and fully closed, but they weren’t blackout curtains. Also, many lighting fixtures had the plugs and USB ports in them, which was very clever and convenient for guests. The bed and the pillows were too soft for me. Apparently I need a little bit of firmness.

The bathroom was clean and safe. The shower had mini tiles with grout, so it wasn’t slippery. They had a magnifying mirror with lights for makeup/grooming. My friend even commented on how she wished she had a bathroom like this at home. The toiletry products were quality and not too scented (I have allergies). Specific toiletries were available upon request. The linens were cleaned in unscented detergent. A few hairs that weren’t mine were found in a variety of places, but it was clean overall.

Fridge was clean and already cold. Electricity stays in the room when you leave (your key card doesn’t activate the electricity), so you can safely leave perishable food in the fridge. I walked around the lobby and the restaurants. They looked nice. The grab and go cafe was well-stocked with a variety of foods.

Elevators worked well. Doors were extra wide, which is good for those in wheelchairs or using mobility aids.

My gripes were the process to extend the booking and that not everyone on staff understood hospitality. I needed to extend my booking due to the original issue (plans falling through) not being resolved yet. I’ve extended stays numerous times at numerous hotels (frequent traveler) and it’s always been a breeze. It’s good for the guest and good for the hotel’s revenue to easily allow guests to pay for additional days. Instead, I had to pay another $200 deposit ($400 total). They had to check me out and check me back in again, but they couldn’t do this at midnight (it was the next day already). Instead, I had to come back downstairs the next morning before 11am. The whole point was to be able to sleep in the next day without worrying, and that wasn’t an option. Management needs to address this because I wouldn’t come back as a result. I was there due to chaos breaking out, and the hotel only added to that.

Most staff were lovely, friendly, and incredibly helpful. There was 1 person who I worked with at the front desk who was unpleasant. I know that people are human, but you need to be professional as well. I felt like I was more amiable than she was, and I had come from a full 24 hrs of international travel.

It seems like the area is walkable. Uber Eats came...

We stayed at this hotel for one night while in transit back to Australia, and unfortunately, it was a disappointing experience from check-in to check-out.

We arrived around 3pm and found about five people ahead of us in line. Despite the short queue, it took over 30 minutes to check in, with only two staff members on the desk. When it was finally our turn, we were served by Gilbert, who we later learned was the Assistant Manager.

We handed over a card for the $200 pre-authorisation, which he claimed didn’t go through—despite the funds already showing as deducted from our account. When we politely asked for clarification, he snapped, saying, “I’m trying to fix it so I don’t charge you again.” He then handed us our room keys with no explanation about the facilities, lift location, or amenities like the gym, pool, or restaurant.

To make matters worse, multiple charges appeared across two cards:

$228 from AMEX (for the accommodation)

$200 attempted twice on a different card (pre-auth)

$198.91 again on the AMEX

We returned to the front desk to clarify the charges. Although confusing, the helpful bell attendant explained the charges:

Earlier room charge was a pre-auth Second charge Incidentals pre-auth Third charge again was the first preauth clearling (with a different amount for unknown reasons)

No manager was available to assist us at the time, despite the long queues and clear understaffing, they werent out helping the staff on the desk. We were told someone would visit us in our room, but after waiting two hours, we gave up and went to dinner.

Later that evening, we finally spoke to Alex, the Front Office Manager, who listened to our concerns and kindly offered a complimentary 8pm checkout, which we appreciated.

However, the issues didn’t end there. The next day, despite the approved late checkout, housekeeping banged on our door at 5pm and again at 6pm, waking us while we tried to rest before a long international flight. Clearly, the checkout had not been communicated internally.

At check-out, there was no line, so thought I'd be iut if there quicky, but the staff were unable to provide a proper invoice—printing attempts kept resulting in blank pages. Another staff member incorrectly claimed the booking was paid through a third party, and that's why no invoice could be issued. She said it was blank, because there was no deposit, or the deposit had cleared. I work in the accommodation industry, so I know this isn’t correct and i was being gaslight. It was a hotel collect booking, and the hotel is responsible for issuing the invoice. After 10 minutes of back and forth, I had to leave without one due to our shuttle departure.

The next day, another unexpected charge of $87.26 appeared on the prauthorisation card with no explanation. No incidentals were incurred, and our booking confirmation clearly stated that all fees and taxes were included. I’ve reached out for clarification and an invoice—no response.

While I do want to thank Alex for his professionalism and goodwill, overall, the service, miscommunication, and unexplained charges left us with a very poor impression.

Be aware and double-check your charges. This stay caused unnecessary stress at the end of our holiday, and unfortunately, I...

My wife and I chose to stay here since we had a 13 hour layover waiting for our last domestic connection after returning from a trip overseas. The good parts: The location couldn't be better for ensuring that we had a quick and free shuttle back to the airport for the crack-of-dawn flight the next day, and the 24-hour service was very convenient. the check-in process was easy after booking on HotelsTonight app. Room was clean, shower was decent and bed comfortable.

For the bad parts: One of the pains that we had to deal with was the extremely long wait to be picked up at the waiting area with our luggage when we first arrived. The shuttle service claims that it runs every 20-30 minutes 24/7. We did wait til the very end of the 30-minute window and when the shuttle finally arrived, my wife, myself, and one other person went towards the door. The third person got on first, and then the driver exclaimed "It's full!" and slammed the door and drove away, leaving us two lanes out into traffic thinking "What in the hell was that?". There were roughly a half dozen seats left on the bus, and 50% more capacity left on the luggage rack. Even some of the people inside looked pretty incredulous that the guy took off, probably counting their blessings that they didnt get the same treatment. I called the hotel to report this and I did get through pretty quickly. Someone who dealt with the shuttle dispatch took up a tone that she had a feeling why the driver did this but didn't explain more. She then let us know another would be by in 5-10 minutes. It was another 20. This time we boarded ok, but were in a bigger mob of about 15 people with heavy luggage all storming the door of the shuttle.

Later on, hungry, and realizing it was a holiday with no other nearby eateries open, we decided to go downstairs and order some food. As with any hotel, the prices are enough to make your eyes pop out of your head but the pizza was a pretty good value for the size so we ordered that. They messed up the ticket somehow, and I have to give our waiter some credit in that he offered us some free chips, free waters, sodas (that we kindly declined) and sincere apologies for the wait and mistake. The problem is that the kitchen staff probably rushed to make things right too quickly instead of just doing a thorough job. The pizza come out looking and tasting really good but we did notice that the center did not seem quite as melted and a little watery from the fresh tomatoes on top. But, we let it slide in the interest of going to bed and actually getting some sleep in a fairly pricey accommodation. 12 hours later would lead us to realize we ended up with food poisoning from the undercooked pizza and we pretty much turned inside out for a day before finally being able to recover.

I hate giving bad reviews, and I hope some credit was given for the kind souls that are stuck working for this company; they put in a great effort. But at the end of the day this place, amongst many others in the LA area just feels like another corporation taking advantage of everyone...trying to churn through as many customers as possible to keep revenues up and margins maximized....