A hotel with a personal touch
Before staying in Magic Castle Hotel with my family during March 2012, I always felt a little surprised that such a small hotel has been able to maintain its 2nd position in Tripadvisor for such a long time in competition with much larger and more glamorous rivals. After our stay I think I have found the answer. It is the staffs at this hotel, starting from Front Desk to Housekeeping, which has made this a traveller’s favourite. It is not only the service but the way you are getting the service makes a big difference. May be the small size of the hotel helps the staff to cater to individual needs but the main factor here is the positive attitude and it comes through quite clearly.
It is not that everything is perfect at this hotel. As other reviewers have mentioned, this is an old apartment block which has been converted into a hotel with a pool in the middle and some part of the property shows its age. Some of the furniture and fixtures needs improvement and looks and feel dated and if you are staying at the upper level of rooms like us then anybody with a mobility issue will have a problem. Of course the lady at the reception helped my wife with her luggage but as there is no elevator at this property you have to climb a few stairs. But apart from these we do not have any other issues with this hotel. The rooms are actually one bedroom apartments with plenty of space. The hotel provides free soft drinks, snacks and DVD movies throughout the day which was a big hit with our son. The breakfast is a small affair with limited choices but whatever was offered was of good quality and enough to start our day. The hotel does not have a restaurant but if you are feeling tired and do not wish to go out then the staff provides menus of a number of nearby restaurants and will help you in placing the order. We ordered pizza on one occasion and the delivery was fast and the taste was good. Of course being just next to the Hollywood Boulevard there are number of eating options nearby covering all kind of budgets and taste. Major tourist attractions like Madam Tussauds, Kodak Theatre and Grauman’s Chinese Theatre are all within five minutes walking distance as is the Hollywood and Highland metro station from where the Universal Studio is just a station away. The area felt quite but totally safe during our stay and we did not encounter any problem even during late evening. The hotel provides secure parking at the ground level but it is not free. Free Wi-Fi is provided and the connection speed was pretty good. We could not find any convenience store nearby and bought our necessities including water from the petrol station next to Renaissance Hotel which is a short walk away.
All in all we are very happy with our stay at the Magic Castle hotel and it has remained as one of our favourite during our 16 day vacation even though we stayed with bigger properties and brand names at other cities and will not hesitate to come back at all.