Hampton Inn Los Angeles/Arcadia/Pasadena Review

Booking & Stay Details

As usual, work brought me back to the area and I needed a place to stay nearby our office. I used to stay at the Home2Suites in Azusa but as this will be a rather short stay of only two days, I decided to try a new property in the area. Because the stay is so short, it didn’t matter to me if the hotel room has a kitchen/kitchenette or not. I basically just needed a place to sleep and shower. 

Another reason to pick the Hampton Inn over some of the other nearby properties was an existing Amex Offer where I get credits for staying at a Hampton Inn or Garden Inn. There is a Garden Inn nearby, so why not stay there? First, the Hampton Inn had the better rate and it has breakfast included with the stay. The Garden Inn doesn’t except for some special rates.

The reservation was made via the Hilton HHonors app on my phone about 2 hours before check-in. After work, I grabbed my gear and drove over to the Hampton Inn Los Angeles/Arcadia.

Location

The Hampton Inn is located in the city of Arcadia which is located about 13 miles NW of downtown Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley and at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. There is easy access from the hotel to the I-210 Interstate just down the road from the hotel. This hotel is located next to a bunch of other hotels, which includes a Marriott Residence Inn, Hilton Embassy Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, and a SpringHill Suites by Marriott. All these hotels are located within a block of each other. There is also a DoubleTree by Hilton down the road, as well as a Courtyard by Marriott on the other side of the freeway. Lot’s of Hilton and Marriott properties in the area. 

Another plus for this hotel or one of the other ones is the proximity to a bunch of restaurants. There is an Outback Steakhouse just a block away from the Hampton Inn but there are also a ton of other restaurants all around in the area. A Starbucks is within walking distance as well. Those are a few reasons why rather stay here than somewhere else. 

Check-In

The hotel parking lot was pretty empty. There is one feature I love a lot about Hilton. Most hotels have designated parking spots for Diamond Members. Most of the time, these spots are not enforced and are based on an honor system that only actual Diamond members park there. This hotel had a few Diamond Member parking spots right in front of the main entrance. I picked one of them and grabbed my bag to head inside to check-in.

The front desk agent pulled up my reservation and I had to show my ID and credit card. I had the choice between a welcome amenity, which is any two items of the nearby showcase, or bonus points. I chose the bonus points and the agent offered me a complimentary bottle of water either way. The elevators are to the right of the main entrance and have a little foyer. There you can find also a lot of flyers for local attractions while waiting for one of the two elevators to arrive.

1 KING W/ FRIDGE-MICROWAVE NONSMOKING (Room 402)

This room is on the fourth floor and located at the far end of the L-shaped building. Next to my room is one of the staircases of the hotel. There was one issue with my room door. It doesn’t close shut by itself. I had to give my door a pretty good push to actually have it lock. In the beginning, I didn’t realize that it just barely shut and everyone can just push it open. My room was not the only room with that issue. While walking down the hallway, I saw a few doors only half-way shut. Be aware of this, when you stay here.

As you walk in you have the bathroom on your right. The bathroom can be separated from the rest of the room with a sliding door. The door has also a large dressing mirror mounted on the outside. The same sliding door also covers the room’s closet. So by closing the bathroom door you open the closet and vice versa. Inside the bathroom, you have a vanity on your right with a single sink and a large mirror. Shelves at the end of the vanity hold towels and shampoo. There are no shampoo dispensers inside the shower. The shower/bathtub combo is located opposite the vanity. The shower has a curved shower rod that allows more light and space in the shower. The shower also features a WaterPik showerhead with multiple adjustments for your liking. The toilet is located between the shower and vanity at the end of the bathroom. 

The entryway and bathroom have a tiled floor. As the entryway continues it goes over to the sleeping area where the rest of the room has a carpeted floor. The King bed is on the right side. On either side is a nightstand. One side had a wall-mounted lamp while the other side had a lamp on the nightstand as well. The left side of the bed, with the wall-mounted lamp, has power outlets and USB ports built into the nightstand. On the other side, you have a power outlet and USB port at the base of the lamp.

Next to the bed is a red chaise lounge with a laptop stand. However, the stand is too small to sit on the lounge with your feet up and have the laptop stand over your feet. No matter how small your feet are ;-). In the corner, next to the chaise lounge, is another lamp. The room has one window which is facing north toward the San Gabriel Mountains. Besides that, you also get a view of the hotel parking lot and the Residence Inn hotel next door. Below the window is the AC unit which is controlled by a wall-mounted remote next to the bed.

Luckily, the AC unit is mounted in a way that it won’t blow constant cold air onto you when you sit at the office desk in the other corner of the room. The desk comes with a height-adjustable chair with rollers. On top of the desk, you have another lamp as well as a wall-mounted mirror. Power outlets and USB ports are located to the left of the desk and at the side of another closet. This closet comes with a 32″ TV on top of it. The closet itself houses a well-sized refrigerator, coffee maker, and a microwave. There are also additional shelves inside one of the doors for additional storage. The TV is not directly opposite the bed. It’s slightly offset to the right but with that, you can watch the TV from either the bed or the chaise lounge. Next to the closet with the TV is another table with two sitting cubes underneath it. 

There is one small issue with having so many hotels close by. You have many Wi-Fi networks. From my room, I was able to get a good signal from the Residence Inn as well as the nearby Embassy Suites. You also have to be careful which Wi-Fi to choose or your computer chooses automatically. Since there is another Hilton property you might log in to the wrong one. The Wi-Fi of the Hampton Inn Los Angeles/Arcadia is called Hilton Honors not hhonors. Also you need to login again every few hours and yes, less than 24 hours between logins. I don’t know if this is a glitch or on purpose. 

Housekeeping was only offered on request and only during the week. You had to make arrangements a day ahead of time. There was no housekeeping service during weekends because of staffing issues.

Public Areas & Amenities

Lobby

Most of the lobby is part of the dining area during breakfast. However, this area is also open during the rest of the day to sit down and mingle. Other than that there are not many other seating options in the lobby. 

Business Center

The hotel used to have a business center. It is located around the corner from the front desk. It consists of two workstations and a printer. However, both workstations were shut down and had an out-of-service note on them. I am not sure if that’s due to the ongoing Covid pandemic or just in general not working. There were also no chairs in front of the PCs, which makes it hard to use them.

Swimming Pool

The pool is located at the backside of the building. Take the little hallway passing the business center and you will get out to the back of the hotel. You need your room key to enter the pool area as well as to get back into the hotel. The pool area has a few tables and chairs as well as pool loungers to hang out. There is even a little grass patch passed the pool but within the gated area. There is no whirlpool at the Hampton Inn Los Angeles/Arcadia.

Guest Laundry

Unfortunately, the Hampton Inn Los Angeles/Arcadia does not have a dry cleaning service or a guest laundry facility. However, you can talk to the front desk and they will arrange for you to use the guest laundry facility of the Residence Inn property next door. It’s a little inconvenient but if you are planning on a multi-week stay, I assume you rather stay at the Residence Inn anyway or another long-term property.

Dining

Breakfast

The breakfast area is located near the front desk in the lobby. The actual buffet area is closed off outside of the breakfast hours which are as follows.

Monday-Friday 6:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.
Saturday & Sunday: 7:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.

Market

Next to the front desk is a small market offering snacks and drinks. There are also soda dispensers on different floors of the hotel. However, the one on my floor was not working and only the ice dispenser next to it was working.

Conclusion

This is definitely an older hotel building. Noticeable by the low ceilings in the main hallways of the hotel as well by the elevators. However, they upgraded all their rooms to touchless entry, which I love. No more room keys with a magnetic strip on the back which can get demagnetized. That way, I never have to take out the key of my wallet, just open the wallet and push it against the reader.

Overall it was a great stay at the Hampton Inn Los Angeles/Arcadia. Nothing to complain about. Friendly staff and decent breakfast.