Book over the phone or get a surprise on your credit card statement!
First, the good: The hotel is clean and in a great location, just off Washington Square in Venice Beach.
ow, the bad: We made our reservation through Southwest Airline's website in a package deal with our plane tickets. Weekend rates were slightly higher than weekday rates, as was expected, but the overall price was good. When we checked in we were told that we'd already paid (though the charge hadn't shown up on our credit card statement). Upon checkout, we asked for a receipt and were refused. Specifically we were told that since they'd already charged us (they hadn't), we didn't need to sign off on the charges, so a receipt wouldn't be provided. Uh okay... Then the charge shows up on our card, much higher than the rate we agreed to when making our reservation. After speaking with the manager on the phone, we were told that because the reservation was made with a third party (not an Inn staff member over the phone), the rates could change without notice and a refund would not be issued. We again asked for an itemized receipt and was given the run around. When the manager finally agreed to provide a receipt, he made it difficult. We had to receive a faxed form, fill it out, and fax it back just to have him snail mail a receipt (or so he said...we've yet to receive it).
The other issue was that the Inn was under construction. To be fair, we knew this was happening as it was mentioned in our reservation confirmation. However, it was stated on that confirmation (and posted all over the Inn) that the construction would be confined to 9am-5pm Monday through Friday. This was not the case at all! Construction noise could be heard at all hours on all days that we were staying there (Thursday-Sunday). Additionally, the water was turned off not only during the posted construction times, but on Saturday as well. When we mentioned this to the manager while discussing the room rate increase, he stated that he knew for a fact the water was not off on Saturday during our stay. After arguing, he finally said he'd take $30 off the bill after discussing the water situation with his construction crew.
All in all, we weren't in the room much during our trip. When we were, it was a constant source of irritation. We won't stay here again because of the poor customer service.