Arrived July 9 for 4 day reservation. There was no one at the front desk to check us in. Had a look around while waiting. Place looked fine as others have commented. Lady arrived and checked us in to room 108. Went to room and it smelled like urine and musty. Turned on air for a while and it was better. Went to the front desk to request an extra pillow and the lady was most helpful...we went to the storeroom and she provided the pillow.

A short time after the wife went to make a coffee with in room maker. She found an old very moldy used coffee filter in the maker. I took the coffee maker (minus the carafe) to the front desk and showed the lady and asked for a different maker. She explained the room had not been used due to a lock replacement issue so that sounded reasonable as to why the filter was that moldy, having been left there for sometime. The lady and I went to the storeroom but she was unable to find an extra. I told her my wife really didn't want to use or have the moldy coffee maker in the room so the lady said she would have it cleaned and replaced. It never was replaced but since wee were busy touring hollywood and universal over the 4 days it wasn't a major issue.

A couple days later I saw a 50.00 usd charge on the visa so I called choice hotels international (ashley) to report the illegal charge. Ashley said hotel has 7 days to respond. I confirmed our home phone number but said we would be on the road for another week..

Arrived home and there was no message from the hotel so I called the hotel direct on July 23 and gave date of stay and clerk was confused why I was calling about a past stay and said to call manager (Karen Anderson).

In the meantime I called choice hotels international to follow up on the file and Sarah said her records show the hotel never responded but also said the complaint is marked "international" and she didn't understand why. She said international complaints have 7-10 days to respond and it has only been 7. She put me on hold to call the hotel direct then came back on the line and said the hotel rep had hung up on her! I asked her to document this as it doesn't seem wise for an employee of the franchisee to hand up on the franchisor! Sarah said she would try to contact the manager later and get back to me. Sarah said to check my original bill as I didn't know the name of the lady who checked me in and had possession of the coffee maker so I did. The invoice indicates Karen Anderson, the helpful lady, had checked us in so it seems that housekeeping hasn't communicated with her or they would know why, and where the coffee maker is.

I am somewhat annoyed that I have had to spend this much time resolving the 50.00 charge particularly as we never had use of it for the 4 days. That is where I am at right now so we'll see how Choice hotels and Karen deal with this.

Rooms were clean and spacious, beds comfortable. Had trouble making the wireless internet work while we were there, and staff was slow checking us in. The price was reasonable and the pool was nice and well kept. Walk of stars and Hollywood sign are nearby. I'd recommend it if you're in the Hollywood area.

I had to find an affordable place near Cedar-Sinai as I had sinus surgery scheduled the next day. The manager Karen allowed me to book a room at the last minute. What was really impressive is that the staff took very special care of my elderly dad when I had to unexpectedly stay overnight at the hospital.

Kudos to Above and Beyond service!

The first couple hours of the stay really were pretty good. The manager was kind enough to fax a couple important documents for me without any charge which I thought was quite nice. Then my girlfriend and I settled into the room and noticed that the bottoms of our feet were both filthy dirty, and we had just taken off our socks ten minutes earlier. We cleaned ourself up and then took a wet rag and wiped across the carpet and the dirt had come from there. The entire carpet was dark colored and filthy. We asked them to provide us towels so we could at least cover the carpet which they did do but at this point, we had lost all confidence in the cleanliness of the room. I totally realize that it is an economy motel, but to have my feel get dirty by walking around in my room is pretty sad. Kind of made my skin crawl.