6/10 Rating
I found the City Center Hotel to be an affordable, cute midcentury hotel in the heart of downtown Long Beach. There is a lovely courtyard with plentiful seating and a French-inspired restaurant with cocktails open Tue-Sat from 5pm to 9pm. (Though it seems they close at 10pm on the weekends.) Also, there is a kidney-shaped pool surrounded by lounge chairs. I picked this hotel because they allow dogs.
I would give this hotel four stars if it wasn’t for two things:
1) I requested a quiet room away from the ice machine and was quite dismayed they put me in the only room RIGHT NEXT TO THE ICE MACHINE. Not only was it next to ice machine, but it was also one of two rooms with a giant window that looked out onto the noisy, downtown street. Along with the sound of car alarms and people yelling, my dog barked loudly every time someone came to get ice. (Fortunately, they moved me to a quieter room the next day.)
2) The property appears to be a small, boutique hotel but it is run by a large corporation that manages 75 properties and uses Artificial Intelligence to communicate with you. If you request a late checkout, AI will tell you it’s not available or route you to a page where you can only get a late check if you pay for it. I found this lack of customer service off-putting.
Things to know:
• There is no designated hotel parking. There isn’t even a passenger drop off / pick up area in front of the reception area. Also, it is challenging to find parking downtown, and it is not safe to leave your car on the street overnight.
• There are no luggage carts… you will be schlepping your luggage and other items to and from your room.
• There is no elevator. If you have been assigned a room on the second floor, you will be schlepping your items up and down the stairs.
• Homeless services are directly across the street from the hotel, so there are many indigent folks wandering the streets. Over one weekend, I saw two men sitting on the sidewalk smoking drugs and watched the police arrest someone for mugging a pedestrian. Though, on the bright side, I paid someone scavenging food out of a dumpster in the back alley $20 to help me load items into my car.