Venice Beach Cotel

Ok but way too far from the action
I stayed in this Hostel for two nights in Early March. It's perfectly fine, relatively clean. Fairly quiet, they say that the lounge turns into a Bring Your Own Beer bar at night, but I never saw that happening. The Internet connections are on each floor which is great and they check your name and room number at the door. The lockers in each room are hugely noisy, especially if someone is arriving late. The windows rattle (I had friends in other rooms, all their windows rattled as well to the point of distraction) and the noise from the street is pretty loud, even from the third floor. The main problem is the location. It's a one-and-a-half-hour bus ride to Union Station then another half hour train to get to central L.A.. If you just want to stay in Venice then that's fine but if you want to actually see L.A., pick somewhere else. Venice is pretty seedy -- unless you are with a group I wouldn't stay here, I'd go stay somewhere in Santa Monica, which is much safer. The number of times we had people approach us as we waited at the door of the hostel was just creepy.

Traveler friendly, excellently run hostel
I stayed here for a couple of nights before and after my trip to Mexico to make connecting flights. I had no intention of making Venice Beach a tourist stop but merely it met my logistical needs. The bathrooms are brand new and extremely clean. Kerry, the manager, runs a super fantastic hostel. I felt very safe at the hostel. They have a buzz in system and a camera at the door to make sure only guests who have the right to be there are. I was very ill during my last stay as a result of an iced coffee purchased from a local coffee shop and the manager permitted me to stay in the same room and actually let me have it as a single and didn't charge me. She was also very kind as is all the staff. This is a must stay if you find yourself in the Venice Beach area.

Excellent
i stayed ten days in the cotel, very good location on the beach. The staff are very friendly, open twenty-four/seven. The rooms are basic but cleaned every two days. It is a hostel -- not a hotel.

Muy Bien
I stayed in the hostel a few times already, and I think it is great. The building itself is old, but they keep the rooms clean, the staff is very friendly, and the location can't be better. That's all you need from a hostel, and if you are a real traveler, you know what I am talking about. My favorites are the manager from Israel and the receptionist from Wales. They make everything just perfect!

Delivers what it promises
I was looking for somewhere basic, cheap, and close to the beach, yet close to L.A. too. The Venice Beach Cotel was perfect. I paid extra for the room with a bathroom and didn't regret it. The room was clean and neat. Extremely basic, which is exactly what I needed to chill out. Staff were great. They say the only way to see L.A. is by car. Wrong. Buy the $3 all day pass for the metro system, a car map for Central L.A., and get chauffeured anywhere for basically free. And then spend the rest of the time on the beach. Make sure if you're here, you also visit the restaurants at the foot of the pier just south of Venice Beach. They're a step up from those in Venice Beach itself, although the all day discount deal with the cafe across the road is nice. Enjoy your stay!

Ok
When i was in los angeles i lived at this hostel and found it to be well run, well located, and a bit noisy. Kerry is great a manager. the beach is beautiful and the people fantastic in and around venice, but try to avoid rooms one and two if you are needing a lot of sleep.

Focus!
Focus people -- it's clean, the money is ok, the best location on the beach, and the manager is very connected. put your bags in the room and go have fun -- there's lots of places around.

Great Location
The Cotel was a great place for me to stay! The price is right and I really enjoyed the beach life. The reception desk is open twenty-four hours and they were extremely helpful to me. The manager Kerry, she was so cool and helpful as well. In general things were clean and orderly, they are currently remodeling much of the building but I hardly noticed the construction because the staff was so great. When I return next summer I will stay here.

We stayed here in April and the location was great in the middle of the Venice Beach Boardwalk where we had a few restaurants to choose for breakfast even though they had coffee in the morning. The staff and manager are very friendly -- they always greeted us when we walked in. I heard that they are doing some renovations and hopefully we could come back and rates will not go up.

Due to ongoing renovations, only a single toilet provided for the entire hostel of forty rooms, which was together with a shower -- meaning there was no toilet access whilst anyone was showering -- quite a problem in the morning. There was no soap provided in the bathroom for washing hands. The window had no lock and no curtain, and faced straight onto other rooms where you could clearly see the goings on inside. A staff member got quite upset when we asked if we could have a curtain and lock which I should have thought would be mandatory. Our three-bed room consisted of two single beds, and a third mattress dragged in and dumped on the floor, which was full of bed bugs. The immediate area around the hostel at night was quite dodgy, with the standard beggars and large groups of youths.

All i have to say -- is this a joke?

There's no doubt about the fact that the Cotel is in a fabulous location right on the beach, although it would be dangerous to wander around outside after 9 or 10 p.m. at night. So, we found that we often had to use taxis after dark, rather than buses, because of the unsafe feel of the Venice Beach neighborhood at night. On our first night, we got a leak in the ceiling of our private room but we were moved and upgraded to an ocean view en-suite room because of this so we were happy. The Cotel will also book any outings that you want to do to Disneyland or Universal. I would stay here again. Having on-site internet is a real plus. All in all it's a great place to stay!

Very good location on the beach and offering tours to everything important in the L.A. area. The staff and manager are very friendly and the cotel almost always has a lively, bubbly atmosphere. Many of the residents just keep coming back (some of them year after year!). This is a hostel -- not a hotel -- and you simply cannot expect the Grand Hyatt when you pay these prices!

I have no particular quarrel with the staff or services at this hostel. We had a private room which could have been cleaner and airier, but the bathrooms in the hall were fine. Safe as houses -- nothing ever disappeared from our room, and the other guests, though a colorful lot, kept any vices they had to themselves. The coffee room was cheerful and the young folk seemed to be having a good time at the bar. The biggest thrill was staying in a place which had appeared in the Orson Welles film "Touch of Evil," due to its resemblance to a rundown Mexican border town.

Rude rude rude staff/manager. They don't give a crap about you and this place is a dump. Seriously. Try to stay in a real hotel. Stay the hell away from this place. One of my friend couldn't stay here because he didn't bring his passport. He tried to reason with them by showing three diffrerent IDs but those assholes wouldn't listen. I slept there for one night and had shitload of bug bites. Please do not stay at this place.