We spent three nights at The Magic Castle Hotel, from 11th to 14th July 2007, and decided it was a great place.
The Magic Castle Hotel wasn't our first stop while in the US on this occasion, as we arrived at the Magic Castle from just outside of San Diego, where we'd spent the previous five nights in a four star resort which frankly, we hated. So our disappointment of such a resort may have influenced our judgement slightly of The Magic Castle.
The Magic Castle was recommended in the guide book, and, as I was unfamiliar with LA and the trip wasn't booked well in advance, we decided to give it a go.
I booked the room via the hotel's own website. As the hotel is attached to The Magic Castle, which, according to their website, is the world's most famous club for magicians and magic enthusiasts, the hotel website has a magical theme. By the way, we're talking Paul Daniels kind of magic here, not the Harry Potter kind.
The website has a welcome home page, a guest accomodation page detailing what each of their rooms offers, an online reservation facility, and some further information detailing what additional facilities the hotel has, and what their philosophy is behind their hotel. Whenever you run your mouse over any of the different sections along the left hand side on the website, it generates sparkly stars, which is quite sweet.
There aren't many pictures of the accomodation on the website, or the hotel itself, so I ended up looking for more pictures from other sites, such as Trip Advisor. I also managed to find a virtual tour of the reception which was really helpful, as some pictures I'd seen had led me to believe that the hotel was motel style, meaning that just anyone could walk in and knock on the room door straight off the street.
Booking was very easy. The reservations section opens up it's own page where you can check availability before you book. Once you enter your dates, the system returns what kind of rooms are available for those dates. There is a choice of Single Room, 1 Bedroom Suite or 2 Bedroom Suite. Once you've chosen your room and selected dates, you're taken to the next page to enter your details and a credit card number to guarantee. This was very easily done, and I then received email confirmation of my booking almost immediately.
When we arrived at the hotel, we were early so were able to leave our bags with reception and go out to find lunch. Our first impressions were good. The staff who met us were friendly, and we were pleased with the look of the hotel.
We'd taken a cab from San Diego into LA, and this meant that the driver was unfamiliar with the area, so on arriving he drove us in error to the entrance of the Magic Castle instead of the Magic Castle Hotel. The Magic Castle Club is to the right of the hotel, on a small hill, and, I must admit, during the day, it does look really dingy. (If you've ever seen Desperately Seeking Susan and seen the outside of that Magic Club, you'll know what I mean). Having now visited the website again though and having found the Magic Castle's own website rather than just the hotel's, I really regret the fact that we didn't try it. Perhaps the hotel website should make more of the Magic Castle next door, as if I'd known more about it I probably would have made more of an effort to go in.
From the front, the hotel looked like any other two-storey hotel and was fairly unremarkable. The main reception area was in the middle at the front, and was accessed by some steps, which wouldn't be easy for disabled people or those with pushchairs. There were automatic sliding doors for the entrance, and once inside the reception area was nicely air-conditioned. There was some glass cabinets to the left, and an ornate glass water dispenser to the right filled with water and cucumber slices, which looked amazing. This water was available free to guests.
The reception desk itself was housed at the end of the reception area, to the left. When we eventually came back to check in, we did the usual paperwork, with the usual American friendliness but without the usual insincerity. We were also given a glass of limonada in champagne flutes each while we checked in, which was extremely refreshing, as it was about 100 degrees outside.
The reception area opened out via a glass door to the pool area. The pool itself was enclosed with a glass surround, presumably for safety purposes. There was a small patio area between reception and the pool, which had comfortable chairs and tables out for guest's use. This area formed the core of the hotel, with all of the rooms taking shape around this on the three sides in front of, and to the left and right of the reception area. It made for a really cosy feel.
Many of the rooms overlooking this area had balconies too, so it was possible to enjoy the pool and the area without giving up your own private space. The pool itself within it's glass surround had plenty of sun loungers, and during the summer, staff leave out silly inflatables for the guests to use while in the pool. Although the pool is open 24 hours a day, the hotel does request that any guests using the pool after 9pm and before 9am consider other guests. Given that reception is right next door to the pool area and is also manned 24 x 7, it's extremely unlikely that as a guest you'd ever suffer any pool noise, and we certainly never did.
The rooms themselves are arranged in a bit of a rabbit warren way. Our 1 bedroom suite was on the second floor, and we had to walk to the left side of the pool, up and down stairs and then up more stairs to reach it. This was fine for us but would be completely unsuitable if you had a pushchair, were elderly or disabled.
Our room was absolutely fantastic. It was extremely spacious, which was pleasantly surprising. Our front door opened onto a large living area, containing a large sofa, two armchairs, and a coffee table. There were also a couple of occasional lamps, a TV on a cabinet and a DVD player. A dining area was to the left, overlooking the balcony, and behind a wall behind the television there was a small kitchenette with oven, fridge/freezer, sink and a microwave. The kitchenette cupboards were clearly quite old, but they were clean and functional.
The bedroom and bathroom were to the right of the living area, off a small hallway. This hallway also contained a double fitted wardrobe, which again, like the kitchen, was old but functional. There was also a cupboard in the hallway, and a locked door adjoining it to the room next door.
The bathroom was a good size, made up of a toilet, sink and bath with overhead shower. The bathroom was again clearly old and in need of some renovation, but it was exceptionally clean. The sink was housed in a piece of worktop which gave you plenty of space for cosmetics, soap, flannels etc. To the right of the sink was also a small dish containing complimentary miniatures: the usual showergel, shampoo, conditioner and a showercap. However, there was also a useful travel sewing kit which I was very pleased about as my pendant had fallen off my necklace and I needed needle and thread to repair it.
I didn't use the bath but did use the shower daily! The shower was fantastic. Now, I often find in hotel showers that they're never quite as good as the shower at home, as either there's not enough water pressure or the shower runs hot and cold and you can never get the temperature right. Not the case here - in fact, I wanted to bring the shower home with me. The pressure was really good, and once you'd adjusted the temperature to where you wanted it (this was done on the bath mixer tap) then it stayed constant.
The bedroom was again of excellent size, with about ten feet of fitted wardrobe along one wall, and a drawer unit opposite the foot of the bed. The bed itself was about six foot wide and extremely comfortable, we both slept really well in it. There were also bedside cabinets either side of the bed, and an alarm radio on one of them. The bedroom and the bathroom both looked out onto a residential area, so noise from Hollywood never disturbed us, although we were fairly central to all the attractions there. All of the windows, which in fairness were old and needed replacing (indeed some rooms had clearly had their windows replaced recently) were covered with new shutters which kept out a lot of the heat and sun.
Both the bedroom and the living area had air conditioning. While the units were noisy to run, they made a huge difference to our comfort in the evening, as the weather was so hot.
The hotel doesn't have a huge amount of facilities, as it's of a limited size (approx 40 rooms I think) and is in the centre of LA. However, the pool is a real gem and had we been staying there longer we would probably have used it. Having only two days in which to see LA just wasn't enough to spend time during the day at the hotel.
As LA is a driving city, the parking facility at the hotel is a huge plus. There's underground parking, which is secure and for hotel guests only, and, at a charge of $9 a day, it's a complete steal. You'd pay more than that an hour for secure parking anywhere in Central London. We didn't have a car, but if we had we would have been really pleased with that facility.
As there are DVD players in every room, reception have a list of DVDs that you can borrow from them at no charge. It's a varied list with family films, chick flicks and thrillers on there, some of which we had seen but all with which we were familiar. We used this facility every night during our stay and found sitting in our room with a good film an excellent way to relax. The only difficulty we had was getting the DVD player to work. We eventually figured out that it needed some time to warm up first but once this was done we had no problems whatsoever.
There was no mini bar in the room but a complimentary mini bar at reception. We were over the moon with this service. We often ate lunch late and found we didn't really want to eat in the evenings, so when we went to reception to borrow films for the evening, we would also pick up a bag of popcorn, some crisps and soft drinks. The complimentary mini bar doesn't extend to alchohol, however we found a convenience store round the corner where we could buy wine and beer etc. The mini bar did however cover all kinds of snacks, so chocolate bars were also included as well as water, soft drinks and the crisps and popcorn.
This was also during the day, as we were able to pick up a bottle of water from reception on our way out for the day, already chilled. Given the heat, this was a brilliant service as often we'd got through it within the first hour or two of our day.
Guests at the hotel were also entitled to free entry to The Magic Castle club next door, where you could have dinner and watch the show. We never did this regrettably, and I think if we went back then we would certainly do so. The Magic Castle club does have a dress policy: men should be in shirt and tie and jacket, and ladies should be also dressed formally.
The hotel also has links to Yamashiro, one of Hollywood's most romantic and renowned restaurants. It is an exact replica of a palace located in the mountains outside of Kyoto in Japan, and was built about 100 years ago. Hotel guests receive VIP treatment when dining here. Regrettably, we didn't make it here either. Unfortunately there was no information on the restaurant in the hotel, with pictures and a sample menu, which would probably have enticed us up there.
The staff however were the real magic of this hotel. They were courteous, extremely friendly, but also genuine. I've not travelled extensively in the US, but have often if not always found that while the Americans pride themselves on their customer service and dealing, that often the greeting or questions are not genuine and an answer is not expected, nor would they be listening if you did give them an answer. I never experienced this once at the Magic Castle. Their website proclaims them to 'live customer service...strive to offer the friendliest, most personalized and accomodating service to every one of our customers'. This is completely spot on.
We were welcomed on our arrival with limonada served in champagne flutes, which was very welcome. Once we'd checked in, the receptionist helped the bell boy upstairs with our luggage, as we'd stored it with them for some hours, as the room hadn't been ready when we'd arrived. Many receptionists in other hotels would have turned up their nose doing this, but this struck me as evidence of real team work and everyone mucking in together.
On our way out each day we asked for one bottle of water, as we didn't want to take advantage of the free mini bar. (We'd just come from a hotel which charged $7 for a bottle of water). The staff would offer us two or three bottles of water, which made us feel we weren't taking advantage. They would also enquire about where we were going for the day as they were genuinely interested, and would volunteer information as to how best to get there - each day they printed off directions for either the bus or the underground service to get to our destination, and to get back again, and it was all done with a smile. Nothing was too much trouble, and they were completely wonderful. I just wish they'd had a tip box on that reception that everyone could contribute to, as they certainly deserved it.
Our stay for 3 nights cost us about $800 including tax. However, this also included breakfast in the morning, which is a huge bonus, and, from experience, unusual.
Breakfast was served each day between 7am and 10am. The tables on the patio were laid out each morning, and it was a buffet style continental breakfast. The breakfast was laid out in the reception area, and the guest has the choice of then taking breakfast outside by the pool, or in their own room.
We used to sit outside and have breakfast and it was a great way to start our day. There was coffee, a choice of tea, and fruit juice - freshly squeezed orange, apple or grapefruit. Jugs of milk (both full and half fat) and water were also kept cold, in ice, with the juice. There was a large range of cereal, plus also bread and a toaster, so you could make toast if required. Yoghurts were also available in a variety of flavours, and additionally a large selection of pastries. These were typically croissants (highly recommended, absolutely best croissants I've had for ages) and muffins and sweet scones of different flavours. This set us up for the day and allowed us to go out and get sightseeing done with our bellies full, rather than having to go out and find breakfast at a diner or elsewhere as we've done when staying in other US cities.
The hotel is right in the heart of LA, in Hollywood. They're just two blocks away from Grauman's Chinese Theater, the walk of fame, and the local metro station. Universal Studios is one stop away on the metro, so the hotel is ideally located. To and from the airport is perhaps more challenging given the number of tourists milling around Hollywood - while it was easy to get to and from the airport on the metro with a couple of changes, I think traipsing to the hotel with bags or away from it would have been impossible. However, we got back to the airport using a shuttle bus, which cost us about $60 for two people, and the hotel booked this for us.
This is a great hotel, which I can't recommend enough. While our room was tired and needed renovation, it was clear that some work was going on and renovations had been started. Their website now suggests that this work is complete. The hotel was exceptionally clean, and staff friendly and helpful. If you want to explore Hollywood and the surrounding area, then this is the perfect base.
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Quality of Food & Drink
Good
Cleanliness
Excellent
Family Friendly
Average
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