The Langham Huntington, Pasadena — Hotel in Pasadena

This is a mixed review with a negative outcome because we expected a lot more given the type of luxury hotel that Langham brands itself as, and the importance we place on hospitality.

First off I will say that the grounds are beautiful and there's a lot to do such as tennis, a game area (ping pong, air hockey, etc.), and an award-winning spa. They also really speak to the pocket dog crowd - if you love to pamper your dog with spa treatments and a special dog food menu, this is perfect for you.

Like I mentioned above, Langham brands itself as a luxury hotel and people with quite a bit of extra income choose to stay there, and locals visit and spend the day there. So that's why my husband and I were so put off by how poorly we were treated by most of the staff, either intentionally or unintentionally.

They were (and apparently often are) extremely busy because they have a huge property that hosts multiple weddings, bridal showers, conferences, etc. The weekend we arrived there were 3 weddings, a baby shower, business meetings, a quinceanera and a sweet 16 stuffed into just 2 days! So if you're always so busy, hiring the right amount of staff is probably the most important next step.

The valet were some of the friendliest, most helpful staff but so impacted by the constant traffic that we stood in a valet line (no self-park options) for 5 minutes each time we arrived and departed. The front desk gave us an upgrade to a patio King room across the pool (very loud and lots of kids so I actually wouldn't recommend if you're looking for quiet and privacy, but it's good for families and dogs who like patios). Unfortunately, we had to call and get them to move us because there was a kid that had a tantrum for an hour straight and because of our adjoining doors, it sounded like he was IN THE ROOM with us. Be warned: these are very thin walls. Our dog couldn't rest and kept barking, and they had the nerve to call and complain about him barking as a result of their kid screaming and crying. So that was fun. In the end, we were moved to a room with two queen beds, when we initially had a King room before they "upgraded" us - so we weren't ecstatic about how that turned out.

We tried calling the valet desk, help desk/concierge, and front desk CONSTANTLY over the stay and the phone just. kept. ringing. They never picked up and when I left a message, they didn't call back. We couldn't get any assistance or any questions answered and their reasoning every time was that they were so busy.

Finally, restaurants... The food we ordered from both the late-night bar and the Terrace restaurant was pretty good but over-priced. However, we expected this and can't fault them for that since it's a pricey hotel. Even when not crazy busy and packed, we were forgotten about by our server and on separate occasions had to get up and go track someone down for the check.

When we went to the late-night bar, we ordered a few small bites and had a nearly full plate taken away when the server came to ask us if he can clear the EMPTY plates. Next thing I know, I don't see the full plate that we paid way too much for. The waitress sent the manager over and she was defensive and tried to argue with us, asking why we didn't stop him from taking the plate away. I didn't realize I had to keep watch over everything while trying to have a nice time and conversation with my husband. Finally, they offered to bring out a new plate for us to-go.

The final day we checked out early and tried to call valet to come to help us pull a dog and three large, heavy pieces of luggage but of course, no one picked up. We had to make several trips across an expansive hotel just to check out and load up the car. It sucked.

It's a convenient stay in Pasadena, a place I love to go out in and explore, but we just won't be coming back to this hotel because we can get a far better experience at a...

Our recent stay at The Langham was unfortunately a major disappointment, especially for a property that positions itself as a five-star luxury hotel. This was our first time staying here, and based on the experience, likely our last.

We arrived after a long drive and a family event, hoping to unwind before another evening commitment. Traveling with our infant daughter and my husband, who is currently on crutches, we had booked a more expensive deluxe accessible room to ensure a comfortable, seamless stay. We’ve stayed at many luxury hotels over the years and expected a certain level of care, service, and attention to detail. Sadly, The Langham did not meet that mark.

The room itself felt tired and neglected. The carpet was stained, lighting was dim, and the bed was carelessly made with wrinkled bedding that looked unwashed. There was a strong artificial air freshener smell, clearly masking an underlying mildew odor. Adding to the discomfort, our room faced the hotel bar, which meant loud noise throughout the evening and zero privacy unless we kept the curtains closed the entire time.

One of the main reasons we booked an accessible room was the need for a shower chair, which we requested in advance. It wasn’t there when we arrived. Despite calling down for it, it never came in time, and my husband had to leave for our event without being able to shower. This lack of follow-through was frustrating and unacceptable, particularly given the hotel’s reputation and rate.

The next day, we returned to the hotel around 3 PM for a bit of rest before checking out. We had arranged a late checkout for 4 PM, hoping our daughter could enjoy the pool briefly before the drive home. But our room key had already been deactivated. I had to wait in a long line at the front desk with a restless baby until a kind housekeeper eventually let us in.

We still needed our key reactivated to access the pool and return to our room, so I approached a staff member I believed to be a manager. I explained the situation and asked for help with the key and a checkout extension due to earlier delays. He initially agreed and asked for our name and room number, but then abruptly demanded ID—even though I had the room key and had clearly just come from the room. I explained my ID was inside, but he insisted it was protocol and asked me to follow him.

As I chased after him with my infant, he repeatedly talked over me and began asking a series of unnecessary and invasive questions, such as whether I was with a specific group, and then, “Which group are you with?” and “Who are you here with?” His rapid questioning felt less like help and more like an interrogation, which was completely inappropriate.

When we reached the room and he saw the door was open, he looked confused—despite my earlier explanation that a housekeeper had let us in. I offered to get ID, but he suddenly changed his tone and said it wasn’t needed. He then walked off toward the pool, and I had to stop him again to explain we still needed the key reactivated. Only then did he take us to the front desk, where it was finally resolved and our checkout extended to 5:00 PM.

What should have been a quick, simple request turned into nearly an hour of stress. This, combined with a worn room, ignored accessibility needs, and disorganized service, completely derailed the rest of our stay. We left feeling exhausted and disappointed. The level of service simply didn’t reflect what we’ve come to expect from a hotel of...

Would maybe give 3.5 stars if it were an option, but I can’t bring myself to round up to 4, due to the totality of bad experiences during our stay.

The property is beautiful, though the service falls flat. This hotel should tell you that they only have 1 breakfast restaurant and that the wait is over an hour to be fair to families with young children. When heading down for breakfast, it’s not reasonable to tell people it’s an hour wait (after they’ve stood in line for 10-15 minutes to see the hostess). I asked the concierge at the front desk for an offsite breakfast place since their restaurant couldn’t accommodate our family— and he gave me a lunch place that wasn’t even open despite my question being specific about us looking for a breakfast place (at 10am) because their only onsite breakfast place had an hour + wait. This concierge experience was shockingly unhelpful and immediately followed our experience with the unnecessarily rude hostess at the Terrace restaurant. The hostess seemed ready to quit her job at any moment, as she was abrasive with each guest in line.

The rooms are mediocre in relation to how nice the property grounds are. We had reserved the “Huntington suite” and the king bed felt like the mattress was old and/or cheap. It felt springy and way less comfortable than most hotel beds, so it was frustrating to not be able to get good sleep on our stay.

Speaking of good sleep, I also heard a significant amount of gas leaf blower noise (awful noise) in the morning from our room. This was surprising, as Pasadena seems to have a ban on gas leaf blowers that was enacted over a year prior to our stay. Perhaps the noise was generated offsite, though it was so loud that it seemed onsite. It would be nice if the hotel management could prioritize tranquility and act on behalf of the guests to keep extremely loud noise like gas leaf blowers from being used—as appears to be the Pasadena law.

The furniture in the room also didn’t appear very clean, as couch cushions had stains on them, wallpaper had stains, etc. Although a small item, most hotels these days have an outlet to charge one’s phone bedside and this hotel lacked this. One other small item would be a lack of water refill stations. (Their tap water is awful). They offer plastic bottled water with no refill stations, which seems like an environmentally disconnected way to manage a higher end hotel in this day and age.

Overall, I felt like the management of this hotel didn’t treat and/or train their staff in a way that helped them to create an enjoyable guest experience. We stay in a lot of nice hotels, as a frame of reference, and this hotel service is on par with a 2 or 3 star property. We would be hard pressed to want to come back for any reason.

On the bright side, our bellhop “Sean” was very welcoming. The valet staff were friendly despite it often being impossible to get through on the phone lines to request the car in advance. The “Terrace” restaurant also had some friendly servers that we greatly appreciated.

Note: this hotel advertises heavily with Amex platinum members and it seems as though they’re after a volume of one-time guests as opposed to looking for repeat clients. They have a long way to go in order to get their service and overall experience on par with the...