Star Track Tours Hollywood — Local services in Los Angeles

We had a wonderful time with DJ as our tour guide . He was full of energy, extremely knowledgeable, and an absolute riot. Tour was a little over 2 hours but I felt it was the perfect, condensed way to see Hollywood when you're pressed for time , or if you're looking for a big overview before you delve in and want to visit things in detail. We were able to book our tour through my credit card rewards program which came out roughly to about $30/pp. It appears the full rate is about $50pp, which I do feel is pretty pricey, but not too different from similar tours that are offered. DJ helped to make our 2 hours fly by, and I can't say that all the other tour buses would have a guide that would give you that kind of experience . Here's a breakdown of a few things to expect -

Parking - for those of you visiting Hollywood for the first time ..this business does NOT have a store front that has parking for customers , and meters on the street only go up to two hours which is not enough for this tour considering u must show up early and may very well return later. I strongly recommend parking at Hollywood and highland shopping center parking structure and just paying the day rate ($15 at the time we went ) so you can enjoy your tour worry free of your car being towed or being slapped with a fine .

Point person/location - you literally are just meeting this person wearing the company logo and carrying flyers at this Google map point, which is right in front of the wingz restaurant. There is nothing else really to indicate that this is the meeting point . This was not something I'm used to and it felt a little sketchy, but the point person was very sweet and was happy to answer any questions and I was happy to know everything was legit . Down side is since there is no storefront , you must use the restroom at one of the surrounding businesses . Tour does not really stop except near Hollywood sign for photos, and even then I don't recall seeing a restroom , so be sure to empty your bladder prior to departure .

Bus/van-. Van is covered but depending on the sun , you may still get burnt since the sides are wide open . Wear sun protection. Van was not filthy, but could've used a good vacuuming . Was decent enough and comfortable considering tours go back to back which is not an easy feat in LA traffic.

Pacing - depending on traffic and security, you will see sites at varying distances , for varying amounts of time . Some sites are not accessible and can only be seen from the other side of the mountain , whereas others you may park right in front of. It varies so be flexible and bring binoculars if you're interested in seeing the homes of Kim k, Gwen Stefani, ice t and Coco, been Stiller , sly Stallone , and the Kardashians just to name a few because they are waaay far away. I didn't mind it because we saw plenty of other famous sites up close to make up for it . Driving was a little fast at times for our comfort , but quite typical of southern California .

Humor - I noticed someone had criticized the tour guide's humor , but I can honestly say DJ was absolutely hilarious and threw in just the perfect amount of innuendos to keep us chuckling . If youre extremely conservative and sensitive , this won't be the tour for you ... Then again , Hollywood altogether may not be for you either to be honest!

Gratuity- our tickets did indicate that gratuity was not included, but recommended , as did our tour guide. I'm not a huge fan of this as I believe cover charge should account for that, but I didn't find DJ to be pushy about it at all and thought he did a great job so our family did give him a small tip which he...

I do NOT recommend this Tour.

The positive thing was, that we actually saw some celebrity homes.

Now the reasons for 1 star review:

We booked the 5:30 PM Tour and started of into the usual LA Traffic. About 23 mins into the Tour (and only 3 short general hollywood comments from the Tour driver) our driver got a text Message (driving!) From his boss who told him to turn around and pick up more customers. So he went back to Start and our tour delayed for about 45 Minutes (obv same Traffic problems). I guess I don't have to tell you how we felt as 5 paying customers to stand around in Traffic just so the boss could make an extra Buck. If time is Money, vacation time is Gold. The promoter told us that the tour lasts about 1,5 to 2 hours and that we would see Bel Air. It took 1 h and 15 mins and we didnt See Bel Air. You could say it's not a Big Deal, but we really wanted to See Bel Air and it's 15-35 % less Time that we Paid for. And we paid full with no discounts negotiated. The driver wasn't really into it. He didn't tell us one bit that one might consider an insight or exclusive. More often it seemed that he just quoted something he read from a celeb Magazine. The Hollywood sign View was a joke. There was no stop For a picture either - even if you would've wanted to take a picture from that Bad Angle. I would advise anyone to rather Go to the griffith observatory before noon (bc of sun lighting) to See it. The driver told us Justin Bieber had been in the Luxe Hotel on Rodeo before - I personally asked two employees there after the tour: Noone heard of Justin Bieber being there any Time at all. You figure your own. The promoter said we would see Kim Kardashians house. This was basically a 25 MPH driveby at a street entrance saying "in this AREA Kim Kardashian and Jennifer Aniston have their homes". We didn't even See a Gate or a rooftop. One Passenger already did a hollywoodtour before and told me that he went a different route where he could see houses we went by that day from a Lot closer and other Angles (I.e. Jackie Chans House).

I could list a few more minor things but I am done wasting more Time.

I don't know if this "DJ tour guide" everybody is referring too does a whole different Tour. But ours was really...

I can't say much about the tour itself because I never made it, but I can certainly attest to their customer service. I came to LA with my mom to visit a cousin and we all pre bought tickets for this tour because it had the best reviews in Hollywood. Well, that night, we all came down with food poisoning, and by 5 am we were all in urgent care. This was the day of our scheduled tour. I called them to reschedule, and the first gentleman I spoke to was happy to move it to the next day. Later that day, my mother was moved by an ambulance to the hospital from urgent care because her blood sugar was through the roof and she was experiencing some cardiac distress. She spent the night in the hospital (this is my luck when I try to vacation). The next day, they wanted to keep her for observation, so i called the tour back to see if I could get a refund or a raincheck because their website said they do so for special circumstances. THEY MOST CERTAINLY DON'T. In fact, I spoke to a man named Jeff the second time, who proceeded to tell me that I was wasting his time and everyone elses. He said they moved my first appointment as "a courtesy" and were not going to work with me anymore. He would not even let me explain the situation. He literally wouldn't let me talk on the phone and explain the situation. He spoke to me as if I didn't understand how business worked. He told me they were turning people away because of me, even though I called hours in advance. Dude. I bought my tickets online for $30. You sell them on the strip to oblivious tourists for $50. Just sell my tickets and make your profit back. Nope. No help. No refund. No service. Nothing. I hope they don't treat everyone like cash cattle, but what can you expect...