We stayed here for a week, and have stayed at dozens of Holiday Inn Expresses around the country. Rooms are pretty clean, though the housekeeping staff can be a bit overzealous in trying to get into your room. The WiFi network is not great in all rooms, but works if you bring your laptop out into the courtyard (which can be noisy during breakfast). The front desk is probably the only complaint: they raised our rate from $129 to $159 when we tried to extend our stay. Only after talking with the Assistant GM where we able to keep our original rate.

It's right off the 405 freeway, so don't expect a fancy getaway retreat type hotel. However, you can expect extreme convienence if you don't mind the view.

From the outside, the hotel is nothing special. But I found the rooms well decorated, with a spacious bathroom and very comfy sheets.

A nice complimentary breakfast is provided (muffins, bagels, hot cinnamon rolls, fruit, cereal) and parking is free.

I was very happy with this hotel.

This review has one purpose: To communicate that this hotel/motel is located immediately on the busiest intersection perhaps in all of LA, at the Santa Monica blvd. entrance to the 405 fwy. If you're not from the area, this is like having a motel above the entrance to the Holland Tunnel.

As I passed by this hotel, it appeared to be a very tall and thin building, constructed so that you would see the most of it from the fwy - and guess what, that their guests would get the most noise from the fwy.

I notice the picture above has the fwy airbrushed out. Seeing as how this is the busiest fwy in LA, now being widened to 10 lanes, I'm not sure this is a "small detail" that it is OK to not mention.

I have not stayed at this place - I wouldn't do it for $3000. I just imagine getting a room next to the fwy and horns waking me at 5:00 AM, or ealier, when I have a big presentation to give the next day. I also think of the many experiences I have in bad motels elsewhere: The A/C is too loud to sleep with, but when you open the window, some other noise makes it too loud to sleep that way.

If you want to stay there, ask them if they will guarantee a quiet room and A/C, and back the guarantee with promise of a cash refund. Maybe they have great soundproofing and super-quiet A/C - I don't know. It just seems to me, the idea of building a hotel next to, and I mean immediately next to, the busiest fwy and onramp anywhere is just so nakedly uncaring, even contemptuous of guests, it is just unimaginable to me. I have no idea what Holiday Inn was thinking, or how they can live with themselves pulling something like this.

If you do stay here, please please report back in detail on the noise. Are there good rooms and bad rooms do you think? Other travelers will definitely want to know!

-Bruce G.

I have stayed at this property over 20 times for business reasons. Though it is not flashy the rooms are nice, recently upgraded and the rooms are clean. I would have given this a 4-5 star review if management had not unceremoniously yanked the hotel general manager - Rodney. As a 20-year traveler for business who has stayed at many a Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons, etc, I was amazed at the level of attentiveness that Rodney showed on guests. After the first visit, he knew my name on site. I watched how he handled guest, made the hotel run smooth. Holiday Inn took over the hotel early in '06 from Best Western, and I suppose there was some mid-level corporate flak who decided he knew what was best - but boy did they blow it here. This hotel will never be the same. It's still cheap and loud but cozy, and now it lost its soul.