The Hotel June West LA was my recent choice for an LAX airport overnight, because I wanted to try something different. The Hyatt Regency LAX was sold out, and my last two stays at the Ritz-Carlton Marina del Rey were disappointing (the Hyatt Regency LAX was better, even).
Hotel June is a less upscale brand from Proper hotels (see, for instance, the Santa Monica Proper which I thought was gorgeous). The West LA property has 250 rooms. Both are part of the Design Hotels brand, which is owned by Marriott but only partially-participating in Bonvoy. Upgrades are supposed to be available, for instance, but Suite Night Awards are not.
The hotel has a view of LAX airport operations, with the ocean in the distance. It’s less than a 10 minute drive to the airport, but more a city than airport hotel (for instance, no shuttle).
At check-in I was proactively offered 4 p.m. late checkout based on Bonvoy status. I was not offered a complimentary upgrade, though an entry-level suite was available. I had asked about the upgrade in advance and was quoted $115++. At check-in I was told they had a note that I wanted to upgrade to a suite – and it was available if I still wanted it at $115? Traveling with my wife and daughter, and wanting a sofa bed in the living room, I accepted. Off an overwater flight, with family, that worked.
The hotel public spaces are very attractive, from the lobby area to the pool across from the hotel’s entrance.
The room, however, was highly functional but not attractive. And service was lacking. Since my daughter was going to sleep on the sofa bed, I needed bedding. I called down to request it. An hour later it hadn’t arrived, so I followed up. They were going to ‘prioritize it’ but another hour later still nothing. On our way out to dinner I asked at the front desk for it, emphasized how much I needed it before we returned in order to do bedtime, and with the third request we did see the bedding next to the sofa when we came back to the room (they didn’t make up the bed).
In terms of the room itself, I think the best description is spartan. There was limited artwork on the walls. There was furniture but it reminded me of a cross between what I had in my dorm room at UCLA, and my first apartment. The base boards were in poor condition, carpeting was rough and cheap and coming up in the corners.
Here’s the bedroom.
And the living room.
The bathrooms were fine, tiled, and offered Aesop amenities (great!). Water pressure was very low. There was hair on one of the bath towels.
And the view from the room. My daughter loved watching planes line up to land and touch down.
Ultimately I got a good night’s sleep. The hotel has coffee in the lobby starting at 5am.
The property usually runs 30,000 – 35,000 Marriott points, and is average value against its room rates. (I’m told the hotel receives $73 from Bonvoy.) In addition, Marriott lets hotels bill you extra charges when you redeem and in this case Hotel June West LA adds a $17.43 destination fee and a separate $5.98 “wellness fee” neither of which were explained by the hotel.
Gary, you may have done this before, but it would be interesting to do a blog post about some of the fees hotels get charged by Marriott for a paid stay. I have to imagine some of the seemingly low costs of an award stay reimbursement are in part due to the fact that a portion of a cash stay goes to Marriotts coffers (i.e. franchise fee, Bonvoy fee, etc.) so the net revenue to the hotel at the end of the day is not quite as stark as it may seem. Even something like the lack of a CC processing fee on the rev they make in the reimbursement (albeit maybe 2 dollars here) adds up.
Spartan rooms and indifferent service? A perfect addition to the Marriott family.
It looks like a repurposed affordable housing project.
Woo hoo, fellow Bruin alum here, class of 98!
Nicely done, but is there anything to add regarding the pool area, outside bar, food offerings, menus, etc., at the June, West LA?
Is there any compelling reason to choose this hotel over the more convenient LAX hotels, which offer regular free shuttle services?
Similarly, to note that The Proper , Santa Monica, has an attractive roof top pool and bar / restaurant (popular with locals as well as guests so can get busy), as well as a separate downstairs bar / restaurant, which weren’t covered in your earlier reviews of that property.
FWIW IME The Proper has one of those crazy daily resort fees (which they readily removed from my bill during a recent stay hen politely challenged) as well as a wellness fee on everything (which the guest experience manager couldn’t explain), ridiculously dark elevators in the Heritage Building (I was told the designers refuse to let practicality and safety determine the lighting, which is too dark to even read the numbers on the buttons when you enter the building on a sunny day).
On the positive side, the rooms were comfy and well appointed, the shower pressure was awesome, the staff professional and friendly and the rooftop pool / bar / restaurant area a standout feature.
We aren’t travelling with kids, so our priorities may differ to Gary and others.
It was quite chilly, no one was swimming, and the hotel’s restaurant is actually next door so in reality happens to be a ‘restaurant convenient to the hotel’ not a restaurant ‘in the hotel’.
@JetAway
This used to be called the “Custom Hotel” when it was pre-Marriott and was downright terrifying. I stayed there for one night and basically just pretended not to be there to get through the night. Why I didn’t leave, I’m not sure haha.
I’m glad to see they vastly improved it as the location wasn’t so bad being near the airport. Not sure if they still do it, but the parking lot was also used as Turo’s parking which I suppose is both good and bad in some ways (you’ll have people coming and going picking up cars).
Destination Fee at an airport hotel! ? laughable
That was the Airport Marina Hotel and Restaurant back in the 1970’s , later Furama and at some point was leased by Loyola University as dorm rooms.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airport_Marina_Hotel
@ Gary Leff
“the hotel’s restaurant is actually next door so in reality happens to be a ‘restaurant convenient to the hotel’ not a restaurant ‘in the hotel’.”
That’s strange.
The hotel website promotes the Caravan Swim Club for all day dining. The photos provided appear to show that to be on-site (by the pool) and feature many ceiling-mounted heaters for cooler days (just like the rooftop of The Proper Hotel).
If this hotel, like some others, advertises restaurant facilities that aren’t consistently open, it would be good to know.
On the other hand, if this restaurant is a reliable go-to for tasty tacos and other nice nibbles, it would enhance its calling as airport hotel alternate.
@platy – there was no food service at the pool while i was on property. i chose not to dine at the nearby hotel restaurant, there are too many great places in the area which could well be the subject for another post
@ Gary
Thanks – arguably hotels promoting facilities such as restaurants / bars, which are unavailable on the day, present just one of the annoyances of modern travel…;)
If you want a quirky airport hotel: Citizen M at Schiphol in Amsterdam. Fun, fun rooms – a wall to wall King bed, which you can lie in any which way you want. Change the lighting to the color of your mood – you may want to bring a friend. Walking distance to the airport gates to catch that early flight. Nice public space, with some snack type food that is attractive. And it’s quite reasonably priced.