Vibe Hotel Hollywood — Hotel in Los Angeles

Weird. This property goes to market under 2 names - Vibe Hotel and Banana Bungalow Hostel. Here is how it works: looks, feels, and operates like a hostel. If you book a room as a "hotel room" they dedicate one of the hostel rooms to you which means there are extra beds and locked doors in your room. Zero frills - huge garbage bins placed outside my front door for the duration of my 2 day stay gave it that grimy alley feel. Literally the hardest bed I have ever encountered in my life. Side sleeper kept waking up with a sore shoulder. But the worst part was the utter lack of professionalism of the management. I timed my arrival to give me an hour before a show I was in town for. When I arrived, I was locked out on the street which is..um..not the most pleasant block in town. Nobody responded to the buzzer or the phone. When I FINALLY got into the property, the front desk was empty with a hand written "be back in 10" post-it. 15 more minutes roll by, and now there are a number people backed up to check in. My hour-long window is now looking more like 30 minutes. The attendant strolls up at a snails pace like he just woke up and with zero empathy. I asked others if I could please check in first so I could change and get going (Not to mention go to the bathroom, eat something, you know) There were very nice and let me go first. So he assigns me a room and when I get there, it is already occupied as a hostel with several occupants. Now I am having to head back to the front-desk, shoehorn my way past the other waiting guests and ask for a room that is not already occupied. Even scarier, I had easy access to their room and valuables - what about mine? This is only exacerbated by the fact that there is NO DEADBOLT and closet safe didn't have any obvious instructions, and I had no time to try and figure it out. So I crossed my fingers, booked it to the theatre and hoped that my stuff would not be stolen. It was not. When I got back I ignored the pounding music going till midnight, put in my earbuds and crashed on the concrete bed.

TL;DR: This is a hostel. They will charge you hotel prices if you want your own room. Stay here only if you are not on a schedule, don't mind staying in hostel-basic accommodations, or staying amongst the garbage bins, don't care about security, and you bring earplugs if you're not planning to join a party on a...

The Lonely Planet book lists this as one of the five best places to stay in Los Angeles. We stayed there to find out. It is a funky hotel turned hostel. We stayed in a private room. We had an economy room wit a small refrigerator and microwave. Even thing was clean. What sets this place apart is the way it is run and some of its features. It has a large international crowd staying there. While most hotels try to make extra money from the people staying there they provide many activities for free or below cost to make sure people are happy and having fun while staying there. Wednesday night was Karaoke night. They provided food, tacos that were good. They had a live band. They had free drinks. Beer or mixed drinks and a live ban the first hour. All for free. Then they had Karaoke. No payment was asked for any of that. Later they took people for a bar tour. That got the noise for the activity out to somewhere else. The next night they had a five dollar diner. It was a good home made lasagna with salad. Get there early as it goes fast. On Friday night they had a red carpet party. For that people pay $20 and get free drinks then a dinner at 8:00 PM. Then later they get VIP admission to different night clubs. They have things like a pool table. ping pong table and basketball hoop. There is a large kitchen available to use if one wants. The staff is very friends as are the other people there. Their included breakfast is served until 11:00 AM. ||For some people this might not be a good place. If you want it quiet at 9:00 PM this might not be the place for you. With the activities there is some noise in the evening that does stop at some point. The bed I had was a little harder than I used too and they could have a thicker curtain to cut the light out. I could have given this a lower score for this but || overall it the place served a great function and was lots of fun. . If one is staying there they can meet many friendly people and have a good time. If they wish to go out that can go out with others so being in a strange place would not feel strange. It is located on Hollywood Blvd so a short walking will take you to the major tourist areas...

The Lonely Planet book lists this as one of the five best places to stay in Los Angeles. We stayed there to find out. It is a funky hotel turned hostel. We stayed in a private room. We had an economy room wit a small refrigerator and microwave. Even thing was clean. What sets this place apart is the way it is run and some of its features. It has a large international crowd staying there. While most hotels try to make extra money from the people staying there they provide many activities for free or below cost to make sure people are happy and having fun while staying there. Wednesday night was Karaoke night. They provided food, tacos that were good. They had a live band. They had free drinks. Beer or mixed drinks and a live ban the first hour. All for free. Then they had Karaoke. No payment was asked for any of that. Later they took people for a bar tour. That got the noise for the activity out to somewhere else. The next night they had a five dollar diner. It was a good home made lasagna with salad. Get there early as it goes fast. On Friday night they had a red carpet party. For that people pay $20 and get free drinks then a dinner at 8:00 PM. Then later they get VIP admission to different night clubs. They have things like a pool table. ping pong table and basketball hoop. There is a large kitchen available to use if one wants. The staff is very friends as are the other people there. Their included breakfast is served until 11:00 AM. ||For some people this might not be a good place. If you want it quiet at 9:00 PM this might not be the place for you. With the activities there is some noise in the evening that does stop at some point. The bed I had was a little harder than I used too and they could have a thicker curtain to cut the light out. I could have given this a lower score for this but || overall it the place served a great function and was lots of fun. . If one is staying there they can meet many friendly people and have a good time. If they wish to go out that can go out with others so being in a strange place would not feel strange. It is located on Hollywood Blvd so a short walking will take you to the major tourist areas...