The Hostelz.com Review
USA Hostels Hollywood is highly recommended thanks to its immense activity schedule, location, and cleanliness.
The Location
The hostel is located just off of Hollywood Boulevard and within easy walking distance of several famous Hollywood sites, including the Kodak Theatre and the Chinese Theatre. The closest subway stop is at most a ten-minute walk and the hostel is easy to locate and provides great directions on its website.
Rooms and Bathrooms
USA Hostels Hollywood offers private rooms in addition to bunks. All rooms offer en-suite bathrooms. Inside the rooms, each guest has access to a generously sized locker that features a power point inside offering security when charging electronics. Room sizes vary from private to semi-private and dorms with six or eight guests. Female or mixed options are available.
Common Spaces
The hostel offers a guest kitchen and provides all-you-can-make pancakes and oatmeal for breakfast. Coffee and tea are available all day. A computer room holds paid access computers, however Wi-Fi is free. Upstairs the hostel has a common room featuring a bar, television, multiple couches, and a foosball table that is converted to a beer pong table nightly.
The hostel offers an enormous amount of activities for guests, some paid and some free. Daily they offer tours or evening events a sample of which include pub crawls, limo tours, walking tours of Beverly Hills, hiking to the Hollywood sign, and a free Venice Beach shuttle service. These activities foster interaction between guests and are perfect for both the solo traveler or groups looking to meet other guests.
Summary
USA Hollywood boasts a great location and possesses a very social and fun atmosphere with its various activities and is highly recommended as a safe and clean option for anyone traveling to the Hollywood area.
The Location
The hostel is located just off of Hollywood Boulevard and within easy walking distance of several famous Hollywood sites, including the Kodak Theatre and the Chinese Theatre. The closest subway stop is at most a ten-minute walk and the hostel is easy to locate and provides great directions on its website.
Rooms and Bathrooms
USA Hostels Hollywood offers private rooms in addition to bunks. All rooms offer en-suite bathrooms. Inside the rooms, each guest has access to a generously sized locker that features a power point inside offering security when charging electronics. Room sizes vary from private to semi-private and dorms with six or eight guests. Female or mixed options are available.
Common Spaces
The hostel offers a guest kitchen and provides all-you-can-make pancakes and oatmeal for breakfast. Coffee and tea are available all day. A computer room holds paid access computers, however Wi-Fi is free. Upstairs the hostel has a common room featuring a bar, television, multiple couches, and a foosball table that is converted to a beer pong table nightly.
The hostel offers an enormous amount of activities for guests, some paid and some free. Daily they offer tours or evening events a sample of which include pub crawls, limo tours, walking tours of Beverly Hills, hiking to the Hollywood sign, and a free Venice Beach shuttle service. These activities foster interaction between guests and are perfect for both the solo traveler or groups looking to meet other guests.
Summary
USA Hollywood boasts a great location and possesses a very social and fun atmosphere with its various activities and is highly recommended as a safe and clean option for anyone traveling to the Hollywood area.
— Exclusive Hostelz.com Review
July 2010
Their Description
USA Hostels Hollywood Details
|
|
(To add or correct information for this listing, please use the Listing Update Form.)
Map Location/ContactHow is USA Hostels Hollywood rated on other websites?
USA Hostels Hollywood Reviews on Other WebsitesHostelz.com Guest Reviews
Great location, helpful staff After staying in hostels all over Europe, I decided to stay at a hostel in my home country for one night before staying with my CouchSurfing host. I arrived at 1 a.m. and there was still someone at the desk, ready to help. My room was dark, but I dropped everything and crawled into bed. Comfortable beds. I like that they had en suite bathrooms and power points on the bunks. There are also magnets to claim your bed. I had my free breakfast the next morning of tea, pancakes and cereal. After exploring in Hollywood, which is right around the corner, I spent the day waiting for my CS host and using the free wireless. I didn't go upstairs, but they have a common area up there too. I found nothing wrong with this hostel. — Caroline , USA (2011-08-02) Good, especially if you want to party I was only here for two nights in May, I wasn't actually that keen on visiting LA but was in transition between an organised tour and another part of my trip so mainly spent the time sleeping and doing laundry. However, the hostel is very well located for the Hollywood area, but bear in mind Hollywood is not a particularly pleasant area! The hostel itself though feels very safe. There are some very impressive facilities -- the bar, the computers (the only hostel that I found in twomonths traveling the States that has Skype set up with webcams on their computers! Bonus points for that!) and the best hosteling idea ever -- the power sockets inside lockers, so you can charge your phone/camera without fear of it being swiped! Why don't all hostels do this? Its not the cleanest or most spacious hostel, and not the quietest as its certainly a party hostel. But my only real complaint was that the toilets got blocked very easily and the staff response was have you tried unblocking it yourself?! (although otherwise staff were very helpful!). The organised events seemed great, the BBQ I went to was fun, and apparently the limo ride is amazing! So, in summary, if you want to meet people and party in Hollywood, a great hostel! If you're less keen, still a good safe place to stay with lots of amenities. — Jenny , UK (2009-07-03) Compared to its sister hostel in San Diego, USA Hollywood has a lot of catching up to do to capture its hostel charm. Kinda built like a prison, the multiple concrete rooms had other rooms attached, all sharing one bathroom with shower. Additional showers were available, but in awkward locations (TV room? common!) where it looked like, only the people working there were using at times. Outings were phenomenal and had great nights planed every night. The bbqs were cheap, but hey, for the price it was good. Dont let the area full you, Hollywood is a dirty part of town, full of homeless and crazies. But if you stick to the main streets and stay with the hostel group, you should be fine. No bigger groceries stores were close, area full of bodegas and smaller markets, but was able to survive with no prob. Kitchen and areas were super clean as to be expected with the USA lineup of hostels. The staff just seemed to be into their own group with the exception of staff guys constantly hitting on the foreign girls. All in all, this hostel was just ok. Good for a few days stay. — Neil , USA (2009-04-19) Nice, nice! We went to this hostel in May 2008. We chose this hostel due to its location. Very well located -- minutes walk to services nearby and barely more to Chinese Theater. Nothing bad to say, the place is fun, very clean, they organize tours and have prices to Universal Studios. We really appreciated the staff -- they were very nice, fun, and helpful! — French guy , France (2008-12-08) Just a great place to collapse after a fourteen-hour flight I have stayed at this hostel several times, over the years, including for two days each in March and September 2007. The staff are wonderful, the facilities all that is required, and the beds comfortable. The bathrooms are cleaned daily, as are the bedrooms and common areas. Lockers for each bed gives one the security to go out and enjoy the sights without worry. The organized activities and community meals are taken up by a large majority of the guests. And in times of need, the staff are not only friendly, but ever so helpful. Being old enough to be the mother of most guests and staff, and the grandmother of some, I really appreciated the help from Erin when I unexpectedly became quite ill. I would highly recommend this hostel to all travelers of any age. — Lifemagician , Australia (2008-08-18) Drunken Girls having Sex with Stangers -- in OUR room! Hated it. They go off to bars, then, come back around 2-3 AM, and start to have SEX in a DORM room, LOUD as we tried to sleep -- then told the front desk clerk, and he tried to excuse them, as ONE of the sex person was a WORKER THERE -- so they cover up for each other at YOUR expense! We checked out the next day! have all the sex you want, but do it discreetly somewhere ELSE but a dorm! Respect yourself and the others in the room! — James , American (2008-08-15) Very good a very good place to get in Hollywood! pretty clean, cool breakfast, really nice staff (except maybe one). got there to go to coachella. staff helped us out for everything, how to go there or there. didn't have much time to party but i guess it s cool. didn't manage to sleep well on saturday night because of drunk guys in the hostel. really good location in hollywood and L.A. many offers for city tours, amusement parcks, car rentals three minutes' walk and walk of fame within one minute. should come back! — shaff , france (2007-10-08) Fun, clean place I was impressed with the hostel. Personal bathrooms were nice and the whole place was kept in good condition. I did have problems with a leaking toilet, but it wasn't a big deal. The hostel was the only good thing about Hollywood, I hate L.A., mostly because I don't have the money to do all the expensive stuff there. I did however have the money to buy cheap drinks -- dollar beers in the lounge room upstairs. Comedy night was kind of funny, but most of it was pretty cheap and obnoxious. The staff got really drunk one night and sprayed champagne all over everybody. They said it was someone's birthday, but i think they just like to drink. Anyway, at the bar they don't check IDs, so all you underage travelers will have a good time. Random people (not guests) like to hang out on the patio, that was a little odd. Over all, good place to stay, I enjoyed it. — tex (2007-07-26) One of the better hostels We were traveling by Greyhound bus so its location was great. The staff were friendly, I get the feeling we didn't have the most comprehensive of hostel tours (one of the staff will give you a tour of the hostel once you have checked in) but it wasn't important. We had a room with a new bathroom so it was really nice. Lockers are available in the rooms. The kitchen is nice but there isn't much space to cook anything. I liked the outdoor seating area in front of the hostel, it was a nice place to sit and have breakfast. — Cat , England (2007-07-03) Me and my travel partner stayed here in late march-early april. we had booked a private room with en-suite. when we arrived, there was the usual sight of nearly the entire occupants of the hostel guests sitting outside smoking and drinking which is fine, the counter staff were very friendly and helpful and one of the staff members gave us a quick tour of the hostel and its facilities and was more than happy to answer questions about L.A. The room however was a bit of a downfall, one medium sized room with a bunk bed and absolutely awful bedding, a broken television set, and the shower and toilet was actually within the room's four walls. so if you wanted too have a shower or use the toilet either you had to kick out your friend or just let them lay on the bed facing the opposite direction. The toilets were always blocked and there are warnings about not putting much toilet paper in them because they keep blocking up, there's basically nowhere to put your clothes or your things, and staying in the room to chill out is not an option. However the hostel and rooms are perfectly safe, we didn't have a problem once. There is very reasonably priced high speed internet access downstairs, great priced international phone card specials, and the hostel offers all sorts of entertainment in the bar, and all-you-can-eat bbq nights for around $5 which is great, and the free shuttle to santa monica was awesome. if you wanna go to theme parks, check the notice boards as other guests always have spare tickets to sell, we saved a bundle on universal studios. The location is another upside, just off hollywood boulevard, and a five-minute walk to the hollywood/highland subway which takes you everywhere. there's no homeless or seedy people hanging around the hostel so you feel very comfortable about being there. honestly if you really like the surroundings and comfort that hotels have to offer just spend the extra money on it, cause the rooms and beds aren't that hot. but if you don't mind roughing it up i would absolutely recommend this hostel. — Australians in America , Australia (2007-05-18) This place was a sauna -- no air con anywhere in the building -- it was so hot you couldnt sleep, eat, or move! When we arrived the bathroom was dirty yet the cleaner was just leaving the room -- hair was all over the sink from someone shaving and i wont even mention the toilet. We mentioned this to the staff but no one took notice of it -- it wasnt even cleaned the day after. One of the people staying in our room never left the room -- we payed for a couples room but he was alone and obviously living there. The kitchen had bugs running all over the worktops and -- nothing ever clean even if put away in the draws, the fridge wasnt working but no one was told of this. People has food in the fridge but due to it not working everything had gone bad and the smell was awful! There was however a second fridge which must have been for staff as it had a lock on it. A couple of days after we arrived we heard a dripping noise coming from the bathroom -- we couldnt figure out what it was but found it was the toilet upstairs with sewage and everything seeping through the ceiling and dripping onto our toilet. Thankfully we left the day after. — Jon and Laura (2007-03-25) USA Hostels Hollywood was fantastic. I stayed here for 4 nights and it really made my visit to Hollywood great. It's clean, new sheets, cheap laundry, free pancakes, free comedy (although some artists kinda sucks), dirt cheap tour (USD7 for Beverly hills star homes tour). I met lots of friends from all over the world with the likes of Japan, Germany, Australia, China, Taiwan. Highly recommend and will certainly lodge in if i will to go back to Hollywood. — Eric (2007-01-17) I stayed four nights. I arrived early evening and checked in, I was then shown around by a member of staff called Jade who was one of the friendliest people i met during my time in the states. There's free pancakes for breakfast if you're up early enough to take advantage of it, its usually all gone by 9 a.m., but there is a very nice diner a few blocks down. there's two comedy nights a week in the bar upstairs as well as an open mic night and movie nights. I didn't have any problem with anyone smoking in there and had a great time overall. — Faldor (2006-11-28) Meh -- this was not the worst hostel or the greatest. I stayed a total of four night. I left for a couple days to meet up with a friend in another city, but the hostel would not let me take advantage of the full reimbursement from the airport, because the four days were not consecutive. The shuttle took two hours to get to the hostel and overcharged me. The hostel only reimburse me for what I should have been charged, not what I was charged. One night I rented a car and parked in the unloading zone (five minutes max), ran inside to ask where I could park that wasn't expensive. In the three minutes I was inside, I got a forty dollar parking ticket! No joke, it was as if the meter person was waiting for me to leave my car. Again, the hostel would do nothing about it even though it was their unloading zone. When I did repark my car it was ten dollars to park there over night and it was a block and a half away. They have some good organized activities, but sometimes the cost of them seems ridiculous because you don't understand what you are paying for (example -- a hike to the hollywood sign. Amazing, but why did I pay six dollars plus a bus fee. I paid for some guy who didn't talk much to show me the way to the top. i could have figured that one out myself). I met some interesting people. The pub upstairs was smoky and smelly. Rooms were a little cramped and people take the bed assigned to you. — anon (2006-07-21) I stayed at this hostel for nearly three weeks. The hostel is well kept and generally pretty clean once the staff get around to doing your room in the mornings. The only gripe i have is the cleaners come around with their vaccuum cleaners very early, disturbing any sleep you have. Also do not get a room on the left side of the hallway as you are woken up by very loud everything in the carpark next to the hostel around two to five a.m.! The kitchen closes at a very very weird time of the morning. i understand the need to clean but i would think the space for a late breakfast, early lunch before heading out should be changed! The front desk staff were friendly enough although i found they didnt have a clue how to get places, things to do in the area and any hopes of figuring out a bus route you would be better getting it off the net! The hostel is centred around its staff. If you dont belong to this "clique" it can be difficult. The bat upstairs is incredibly smokey. Although the comedy shows are really good i end up leaving the bar feeling ill without even having a drink due to smoke inhalation! A great location if you want to explore hollywood, universal studios, beverly hills, even the beach buses are easy to navigate! — New Zealander (2006-07-17)