The bed is so comfortable! The air is ice cold. The hot water is instant. The shower is perfect…read more Everything is clean. The coffee is delicious. Most importantly...the staff is AMAZING! So friendly and helpful. You can tell they truly care about the guests and want us to have a fantastic stay. My friend Debbie that is with me, she travels for a living and her company puts her in the big "chain" hotels. She says this is in her top 5 places she has ever stayed.

I've experienced amazing and shithole places, and Hotel Royal is firmly middle of the road. Good…read morevalue if you want to stay in downtown Long Beach. Take showers in the morning. Avoid odd hours, as hot water will take awhile to get to you. If a cold shower doesn't wake you up, enjoy complimentary coffee in their communal kitchen (served at 7am). Thin walls: - you can hear street noise and people talking on the sidewalk - if you have neighbors, you can hear them getting it ON (good for them!), but thankfully not any conversation Lobby closes at 11pm. When I booked via a third-party platform (to save money), that platform told me the lobby closes at 10pm. Shout out to Mario and Diana for helping me during my stay.

Our stay at Beachrunners Inn was exquisite. The property is beautiful, clean and well managed. The…read morehost/innkeeper was friendly, inviting, and made sure we had everything we needed. We were very comfortable and satisfied. The breakfast, too, was amazing. We will definitely be back!

I've always heard of bed and breakfast establishments and decided this would be the perfect…read moreopportunity for my boyfriend and I. We were welcomed by the mother and daughter duo who made sure our stay was met to the Tea! Pat and Courtney offered us their generous hospitality. The home had such a homey feel to it that both my boyfriend and I immediately felt so relaxed when we stepped in. It is located in the heart of Long Beach so we were able to do so much during our short trip. The best part is that it was super close to one of my favorite views of the 3 major cities in SoCal (Hilltop Park). If you are traveling to SoCal and need a place to stay, I highly recommend this place if you are looking to relax during your vacation.

A pleasant surprise!…read more A friend and I booked this hotel for the nearby Day Trip Festival for a single night. It is just a quick 10-15 minute drive to the Queen Mary Waterfront where the festival was held. The outside of this hotel looks a bit sketchy to be quite frank. It is a motel-style hotel, with outside-facing doors and only two floors. Don't let this scare you though. The interior was actually very nice and left me impressed. When we went to check in, we noticed a good amount of parking spots available at the front. There was also a cute little seating area surrounded by bamboo. The lobby was super clean and bright. There is a lot of seating available and a nice view of the pool. The pool is quite large and has some lounge area around it too. The workers at the front desk were super friendly. Check-in was a breeze and very quick. We retrieved our parking slip and left it in the car for overnight parking. We walked up the stairs and were very surprised when we got to our room. The room was huge. There was a ton of walking space around the bed which was fantastic. I was also not expecting there to be a balcony so that was a fun touch. There wasn't any furniture on the balcony but it was nice to stand on and get some fresh air. The decor and bedding was super cute. I'm glad there was a little mini fridge available too. The bathroom was also very spacious with a large shower. I liked the little stool in there and the attention to detail they paid with folding the towels and tissues. The AC blasted super cold which was great for the SoCal heat. Some of the amenities were dated like the AC unit itself and the TV, but is super understandable considering the type of hotel it is. The next morning, we called and were granted a courtesy late check-out! However, at 11:00am sharp, housekeeping knocked on the door to clean. We had to let them know that we had a late check-out. It was not a big deal but just a little annoying because we were expecting to sleep in a little longer. Overall, this was a very satisfying stay. The first impression was a little rough but it ended up being a great stay that exceeded my expectations.

We didn't feel a warm welcome by the staff when we entered the front office Memorial Day weekend…read more'26. The room was nice. We did have a view to the ocean and a balcony with two chairs. It would've been nice to have bigger shampoo and conditioner, and soap. We were only provided 1 ounce of each and a small Motel 6 budget type soap bar. We had to ask for more toiletries. Walking distance to restaurants and gourmet market. The clerk working the morning we left was warm and kind. Overall okay stay.

Spent 2 nights on the Queen Mary August 14 & 15th with my wife. The ships has great history and…read moreyou are allowed to explore the entire ship. The employees were every friendly and their attention your detail is great. The hotel is great for being a 93 year ship. Only thing I can say that was never was the bed in the room. Mattress was horrible. They really need to replace or change out the mattress. Other than this, the stay was excellent. They did have a concert the weekend of my stay so they had to accommodate parking. But they did this very well.

We called ahead to let them know we would be checking in a bit later to have dinner with family in…read morethe area. Why is that important? This gave them the opportunity to let us know there was a concert in the parking lot area and you would have to park a mile away and shuttle to the hotel/ship. Of course, there are no signs to indicate the alternative parking area, just an address that takes you to another hotel. Finally for the parking area and then had to wait for the shuttle. No baggage carrying options, carts, etc., other than your own appendages. When we explained our displeasure about the parking to the fount desk, Emma decided to make it our fault. If we had not booked through a 3rd party, Expedia, we would have been informed of the issue. See the first sentence above. We also had tickets to the tour, but, since they were having a concert, they were not doing the tours.... But, they would resume tomorrow at 1000 (10 AM for this that don't know military time). We are flying. Back home tomorrow and are meeting more family for brunch in the morning. So, we have vouchers for the tour that we may or may not use now. After eventually finding our room, which are not well marked, we decided to explore. We walked around the outside of the Promenade deck and enjoyed the views. We decided to stop at the bar for a libation. After being ignored at the bar after 5 minutes, even though there were two bar tenders working right in front of us, we left. We then went to the cafe to give it one more shot. The staff there were friendly, responsive and great! The ones we've encountered so far on this ship. So, don't go here if you want to park nearby as the concert venue appears to be a permanent fixture in the parking lot and you will be charged to valet your car and park a mile away. You may or not get service at any of the places on the ship. You may or may not be treated like you actually paid to visit instead of an inconvenience. You may or may not encounter an employee who recognizes they screwed up and should do something about it. If this is normal for the staff, then the management sucks and should be replaced. If it is unusual for this to happen, then the staff need to be trained better and the management should still be replaced for putting them in this position. In short, spend your money elsewhere, somewhere they will appreciate you as a customer.

This was my first stay at Snug Harbor. I visit Catalina/Avalon annually and of course had seen the…read moreInn right on the corner of Crescent and Sumner above Leo's Drug Store, but it was not until my stay last year at nearby Hotel Vista Del Mar that my interest in Snug was piqued. Last year, Vista and Snug were under the same ownership, which is no longer the case. Snug now has closer affiliation with Hotel Aurora a bit up the hill. Snug is a cozy and charming 6-room inn. There is staff on duty during the day; welcome in-room wine and snacks are provided as well as daily continental breakfast. There is no staff on the premises at night, although someone is on-call. My stay was lovely and somewhat surreal. I visited during the February rains which caused the cancellation of all Catalina Express boats on 2 days during my Avalon visit. This forced guests here for the long Valentines/Presidents Day weekend to leave early or relocate. I ended up being the sole guest for my 2-night visit! And with minimal visitors on the island, evenings were also pretty quiet, despite being right above the main drag (Crescent). Snug does provide earplugs and eye masks if needed. I moved up my arrival date due to the weather and Snug was able to accommodate me, even offering the same room, which was the Santa Catalina room, the inn's "crown jewel" situated on the corner with two large bay windows, one facing Avalon Bay with Casino, Bay and pier views, the other with a built-in window seat facing Sumner and the hills above. All rooms have a fireplace and deep soaking jetted tub. The rooms are not particularly large but are full of charm, coziness and warmth. No robes or slippers, but there were 2 clock/music/alarm machines. Complimentary reusable water bottles are provided; there's a water/ice machine in the hall. The welcome snacks offered were olives, pretzels and high-end nuts (i.e., no peanuts). The continental breakfast was quite ample and includes a small loaf of warm banana bread, yogurt, fresh berries, granola, milk, juice and coffee or tea. You fill out an order slip as to what you want exactly and what time you want it delivered. There are 6 delivery times for the 6 rooms, which of course was not an issue for my stay. There is a common room with a sofa, fireplace and machine for coffee and tea. There is a closet for luggage storage, a public restroom and umbrellas. The front door is open 8-5, key access is needed in the off-hours. Shout-outs to the great staff I met--Jackie, Destiny and especially Johnny at the front desk and housekeeper/breakfast preparer Alicia. Overall a fabulous stay. I usually split my time on the island between Mt Ada and a property "downtown". Snug Harbor has moved to the top of my downtown list!

I am in awe of how misleading the description of this inn is. Especially the San Nicolas room!…read moreFrom the website re: the inn: "From the moment you arrive, the pace of the mainland slips away, replaced by sea air, harbor light and the quiet thrill of being somewhere truly special." What we experienced from the MOMENT we arrived - absolute CHAOS. We were greeted with a horrible rotten egg stench as soon as we opened the door, steep stairs with no one elevator (yes that's on their q&a but just another annoyance), violence and screaming in the streets after dark until 3 am, bass from surrounding bars shaking the building until 2 am, overpowering chemical smell in rooms, single pane glass that sounds like people on the street are in the room with you, gaslighting owners and managers (Melissa - not Jackie), unreliable communication, absolute ripoff for what you have to put up with. Melissa ultimately minimized my concerns by saying "nobody else complained". Okay, and? People have different tolerance levels, different health issues, even if it was someone's first time at the snug harbor inn maybe it wasn't their first time to the island. Maybe they didn't care. Maybe they didn't have the energy to complain. That shouldn't invalidate my experience and the lack of transparency. Can you honestly say you laid the framework for guests to make an informed decision? Did you provide transparency around potential barriers guests may experience during your busy season? No. This went beyond just a fun foam party during the daytime hours, there were literal violent fights and screaming in the streets BOTH nights until 3-4 AM. See videos below from Saturday night around 1:30 AM. I do acknowledge they can't control this behavior but they can and SHOULD add transparency for folks who are expecting a soft experience based on their own misleading advertising. The unprofessional manager, Melissa, also loves to blame-shift. She told us we could press 0 or call a number provided if we experienced issues again on the second night. I called 2-3 times throughout the night and it rang endlessly. By this point I was exhausted and didn't even think to get the physical number from the end of the hall and just assumed they weren't answering. When Melissa told me she never received a call the next day I was shocked but instead of being apologetic she said "if it was me, I would have walked down the hallway and got the number". I'm so sorry, in hindsight, if I wasn't running off of 4 hours of sleep collectively over 48 hours I would have gotten dressed at 3 am and gone to the end of the hall after pressing 0 didn't "work". Not sure how I was supposed to discern between it not "working" vs someone not answering. Funny how pressing 0 during business hours worked just fine. Either way, what a ridiculous process to shoulder the burden of breaking up riff raff to the guest and then blameshift when the thing you said would work didn't... While I would love a full refund, I firmly believe we are entitled to at least one night of a refund because of the misleading description on the website and we couldn't make a truly informed decision. I was told they would consider updating the website in the future but that benefits my husband and I in no way. The right thing to do is provide a refund for tainting our visit to Catalina with 0 reprieve from street violence and drunken debauchery.

I'm a bit of a Mt Ada regular; this was my 6th stay and, due to the rainy/windy weather, the most…read moresurreal. I stayed just after the long Valentines/Presidents Day weekend. All boats to and from Catalina Island were cancelled on 2 days of my visit, forcing other guests to change their travel plans. I ended up being the sole guest for all 3 nights of my stay here! With some whispers of Mt Ada being haunted (but not as many as Banning House Lodge in Two Harbors), I was a bit concerned, but fortunately had no paranormal experiences. To briefly review Mt Ada's history, it was once the Catalina home of William Wrigley Jr. and family, of chewing gum and Chicago Cubs fame. He was instrumental in putting Catalina "on the map", and his descendants still own the Catalina Island Company, which runs Mt Ada, Hotel Atwater, Pavilion Hotel and Banning House Lodge, as well as other businesses. All my stays at Mt Ada have been with the Company, although it was previously run as a private B&B. Mt Ada still runs as a B&B, as opposed to a hotel. It's a pricey stay but has many many perks that justify the expense. These include transportation to and from the boat or helicopter terminals, use of a golf cart throughout your stay, daily made-to-order breakfast and lunch, pre-breakfast continental breakfast, afternoon wine/cheese/charcuterie, 24-hour butler's pantry with snacks like gelato, chips, cookies and popcorn plus alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, discounts on Island Company tours and activities. Currently there are about 4 main people interacting with guests at Mt Ada, plus "behind the scenes" kitchen and housekeeping staff. My past reviews have mentioned a stay here is more like a visit to a home, as opposed to a hotel. There will be times when you may not see any staff (especially at night). But Pierre, Liz, Tim and Yoli (Yollie?) work their hardest to accommodate guest needs--they are the chauffeurs, front desk, waiters, luggage handlers, concierges, etc. I applaud them all. One of Mt Ada's pluses is its location on the hill (Mt Ada) above Avalon Bay, even above the main Bay viewpoint that all the rental golfcarts stop at (traffic jams are common here). It's quite peaceful, although in busy times the noise from "downtown" does carry uphill. Mt Ada has 6 rooms. The room I booked was the Grand Suite, Mr. Wrigley's former bedroom. It's the largest room, with a separate living and bedroom, a bathroom with a separate shower and tub, and a large terrace above the first floor terrace. It has a fireplace, as do 3 other rooms, and a raised bed that requires stairs to access, as does one other room. The living room has an antique "radio" that is seen in photos with Mr. Wrigley. There are radio stations hand-written on it; I was appalled to see "graffiti" defacing this historic relic. The terrace is fabulous, but alas the weather prohibited much use; I feared the high winds would blow the cushions on the chaise lounges over the railing. Even the dining tables on the first floor terrace were stored; in more temperate weather it's the loveliest place to enjoy breakfast or lunch. The breakfast and lunch menus have some new items and some old faves. Once again a fabulous and peaceful stay. Thanks again to all the staff. With the Pavilion Hotel reopening soon, Mt Ada may be the next property to undergo renovations. I hope it does not lose its charm or homey character.

We stayed here from 11/11/25-11/13/25. We had booked out the mansion for the first day, leaving 2…read morerooms open the second day. We had a wonderful time. This place is truly magical. We saw many deer, a fox, and all kinds of birds. The staff here are very accommodating, we especially liked Pierre. His charming French accent was really enchanting. This place is full of really unique antiques, lots of snacks, beers, wines, hard alcohol, tons of nonalcoholic options too! The afternoon they place a very nice charcuterie, the morning they place coffee just outside the grand suite, with OJ, champagne, decaf coffee and hot water and warm, freshly baked muffins. I'm looking forward to coming back here again. Hopefully for our anniversary or my bday. It's apparently very difficult to book for July 4. The views of the island here is phenomenal.

Great location within walking distance to restaurants, shops and the beach…read more Warm, welcoming staff. Clean, spacious, well appointed rooms. Free breakfast.

This hotel is a little different from the places we usually stay, but we wanted something close to…read morethe beach. We were really pleased with this place. All of the rooms are on the second and third floor, as the hotel, except for the reception area, is built over the parking lot. It's kind of a combined indoor outdoor place, because the center is open air and then you walk into hallways. The pool and hot tub are on the second floor and the breakfast room is on the third floor. One of the best things about this place was the location, just around the corner from Main Street Seal Beach where we tend to spend a lot of time. Oh, and the chocolate chip cookies they put out in the evening is a great touch. The entire hotel is blue and white themed, which seems pretty common for Beach area hotel/motels. I really liked that there was a very long desk/counter along one wall, which we never get when we stay and our normal Hiltons. There was so much room for everything. We had an Arcadia door with a balcony that had two chairs and a table. The weather was perfect for sitting out. The fridge in the room was really cold. The beds were super comfortable. With breakfast is basic but fine. Each morning they had a hot egg dish, a potato dish, and a meat dish. It was also the waffle maker with batter, muffins, bread, bagels, cold cereal with milk, boiled eggs, and yogurt. One morning they had a full of perfectly ripe avocados for your toast. Of course there's juice and coffee. One nice touch is that they had plastic to-go containers so you can take food up to your room. You had a very enjoyable stay here, and when we want to stay in Seal Beach again we will come back here. It has received the TripAdvisor Travelers Choice Award winner and is a Yelp favorite.

This quaint hotel sits on a street that is very pedestrian friendly. You can walk to various…read morerestaurants, attractions, etc. I parked in the visitor lot for 16 a night and checked myself in. Room was nice and spacious. The mirror was dirty and couldn't be cleaned. I should've asked for another room or they should've offered. Bed was super comfy. The pool was tepid temp at best but I braved the cold and swam for about 45 minutes. We could also make out Venus as the night wore on. It was a beautiful night. Bar was closed, food they offer is just sandwiches and salads. We opted to stroll to a seafood restaurant. It was nice. I do not know if I would book there again. They need a hot tub.

Stayed here for a convention event. The hotel was conveniently within 5 minutes walk to the…read moreconvention center. The hotel is also located within a mall with shops and restaurants, and the Queen Mary photo spot. The hotel staff was friendly and helpful. We had 3 reservations. The staff was able to accommodate to our requests, which made our stay comfortable and enjoyable. Thank you!

beware! not all units are created equal. I believe that these are owned by separate individuals so…read moreI would try to find your room number in any reviews that you check. Our room was absolutely filthy. There was dust and grime buildup on all of the ledges, stains, crumbs, hair, dust, along the bed frame and in the crevices of the chair. just no attention to detail at all. we did contact the owner and opted to leave and were provided a full refund, but the kind of build up that was in that room was either from a long term stay that wasn't cleaned up properly or just terrible cleaning over and over. side note: wifi signal was not good, bedding was bare minimum and no hand towels or face cloths provided. I'm not looking to trash the owners, I just don't want anyone to be in the same situation we were, having to look for another place last minute after a long day of traveling, I was almost in tears, plus I had to pay way more to stay somewhere else because there weren't a lot of options.

I've been to Long Beach a few times this past year for conferences and events and usually am…read morestaying at the big box hotels that are immediately adjacent to the Convention Center (like the Hyatt Regency, The Renaissance, The Westin) but I was late to the game to reserve a room this time and missed getting the discounted conference block rate. So rather than pay an astronomical fee for the privilege of proximity, I did a quick search of the area. There are plenty of options, but many of them just seemed suspect. The I came across the Varden. Definitely a boutique hotel, but definitely worth checking out. The rooms are typically small with barely room for a bed, a partial desk and a small bathroom area. But the room was extremely clean, the fixtures and bed were new and cool and for one person, really perfect. Particularly since other than sleeping and checking emails, what else do you really need? Well, for starters you need to feel safe. And this place does a great job of securing the facility at night, but you don't feel you're in a bad neighborhood anyway. You also might like to enjoy a welcoming attitude, and the staff and place has plenty of that. The young staff were extremely friendly and accommodating. Being forewarned that the property has 3 levels and no elevator is important, but honestly, it's not a tough climb to floor 3. And as a testament at how great the staff are, they wouldn't take no, and they carried my bags to my 3rd floor room. Since I was there for meetings, I needed to press my clothes, so a call to the front desk resulted in a brand new Iron and Board appearing at my room within minutes. And being welcomed by a reception with snacks, wine and drinks between 5:00 - 7:00 everyday, is just super nice. They also do a continental breakfast from 6:00-9:00 daily. They have a hip space right behind the registration area for these treats so it's easy to walk through on your way in/out of the property. And best of all the price per night was less than 1/2 of what those big chain hotels were charging. And I was less than 4 blocks (and a very nice walk past lots of local stores/restaurants to give me a feel for the area) from the Convention Center. For all these reasons, if you're in Long Beach solo, I would highly recommend you check out the Varden.