Howard Johnson Inn and Suites Pico

This hotel’s management appears to be trying, but it doesn’t live up to the standards of its Travelodge or Super 8 chain-​mates (they’re all Wyndham brands– I stick to that chain to get free hotel room nights through their Wyndham Rewards program, and Travelodge/​Super 8 hotels are generally a better value for the money than Best Western or others), and it’s dangerously close to the Knights Inn (in my experience, the super-​low-​end Wyndham brand) level of service, which is on a par with Motel 6. The furniture’s typical of a Travelodge — same dresser, table, chairs, bed, mini-​fridge, microwave, flat-​screen TV with weird cable/​satellite system most hotels have.
The Wi-​Fi is typical of many hotel chains — serviceable but not great if you need a lot of bandwidth. In fact, one night, I had to wait a while to get on because there were «too many subscribers» on the network, according to the third-​party-​managed Internet service.
My room (#121 — right by the conference room, which I could hear a little applause, etc. from during the day) had a rip in the blackout shade, a permanent gum or similar stain on the carpet, and some mold on the little shelf for shampoo. There was a little damage to the furniture, like missing trim or molding or whatever, but nothing that mattered. None of those defects was horrible — that’s par for the course for low-​budget hotel rooms.
Even the fact that the room smelled of chemical deodorizer that had obviously been used to attempt to mask a body odor or smoke smell (it was hard to tell) wasn’t too much of a deal for me — I got into the room at exactly midnight (seriously, I had to check my cell phone to make sure the clock hadn’t just been left un-​set after being unplugged) and wasn’t about to go complain to the desk clerk, so I ran the bathroom fan all night and all day while I was out, which took care of the problem.
As other reviewers have pointed out, the continental breakfast is pretty awful — some cereal, some Svenhard’s pre-​packaged pastries, coffee (there may have been some juice, I’m not sure), toast, and that’s it. No fruit. So I didn’t eat it. That’s not terribly unusual for such places, except that even Travelodges in neighborhoods that are so in-​demand that they don’t HAVE to provide a very good breakfast at least have some bananas, apples, oranges, etc. They’re not THAT expensive, especially in California… apples and oranges certainly wouldn’t cost very much. Again, not a huge deal for me, but a banana, apple, or orange would have been nice.
What really annoyed me was the shoddy job the room cleaners did on my room on Saturday. Someone came in and removed the towels, dropping the washcloth I’d used, and did not wish to re-​use, on the rug in the room. The bed wasn’t made; no new towels were provided; no new toiletries were provided. Whoever came in did, however, take the tip I left, which took a lot of nerve. So I didn’t leave a tip on Sunday, since they hadn’t earned the other tip. Sunday’s room cleaner at least made the bed, and gave me new toiletries and towels, so I left a tip before I left this morning. I would have complained about the room service on Saturday, but didn’t see any clerk at the front desk.
The front desk clerk who checked me in on Friday, and the one who checked me out today, were at least friendly and helpful enough — the check-​in clerk let me know what credit card I’d used to make the reservation (after I showed him my ID), so I remembered why I wanted to use that particular card. The check-​out clerk got me out of there in a flash, so that was good.
Basically, staying at the Travelodge or Super 8 in Hollywood would have cost me about $ 25 to $ 30 more per night, and would have been worth it for better creature comforts. Other neighborhoods’ Travelodges would cost less, even. This neighborhood was near my friends’ home, and isn’t bad (typical commercial strip where you’d find hotels, restaurants, stores, etc), but it’s nothing special.
My final judgment is that this place is struggling. I think they’re trying to improve their service, but somehow can’t find or can’t afford good cleaning staff. It would be a good idea for them to raise prices a little and hire better cleaning staff, then maybe invest in some top-​notch Internet access — hey, they have a little convention room, so they could use it for conventions.
If you’re considering staying here, just know it’s going to be sketchy service. It’s not a place that’s going to make you afraid you’ll catch a disease if you stay there, but if you want anything more than basic lodging on a par with Motel 6 or staying in a friend’s indifferently-​cleaned guest room, you’ll be disappointed. Spend an extra $ 20 or so a night and find a better place.

this afternoon i heard how the owner of this hotel argued with his employees. he was furious and was screaming very loudly. i overheard the employees asking for a 50 cent raise and how they get no break whatsoever. there was also discussion about how the employees are not being fast with the cleaning and how they’re suppose to clean each room within 15 minutes or less. is this even possible? how is a hotel room suppose to get satanized in that amount of time!!! i think these employees are being mistreated by their boss. i witnessed how aggressively he screamed at them while they held a calm reaction to his inappropriate behavior. i also heard and saw how he pointed at some employees and threatened them with loosing their job. in my opinion there was no need for him to mistreat his employees in the middle of the parking lot for everyone at the hotel to see. this just seams wrong!!! theses ladies are hard working ladies who service hotel rooms to make a living. I am never staying here again. my day was going great until i witnessed this. don’t support this place by staying here.

They were just 10 mind away and they were not that flexible with the delivery. Worse!

We stayed here for a week for $ 200. We booked on hotwire. You can’t beat the price! The place was way better than what we were expecting. Very clean room, good wifi signal and the location is close to everything. There are some great places to eat nearby. There is a small pool but it was cold so we didn’t use it. The staff was friendly. The one bad thing was the breakfast. They only had toast and cheerios… they advertise a verity of cereal but they only had 1 kind.

The room itself was fine. The rating is for the customer service, and the underhanded manner in which this company does business. I mentioned this in my review of the Vegas location, but here it is again: My boyfriend booked the room online and they placed a hold on his credit card for the amount owed. I can understand that, but at the Vegas location, they did not release the hold until several days after we had paid and checked out, and it required multiple phone calls to my boyfriend’s bank and to the hotel itself to get them to do so. When we asked the staff at the this location, they lied to our faces about having a hold on the card, claiming the company didn’t do that. Too bad that same day my boyfriend had called his bank to confirm the holds on his card and where they were coming from. Very suspicious. In addition, when we checked in, my boyfriend’s credit card would not work (because of the holds on it!) and I didn’t have enough funds available on mine, so I asked if I could put down the deposit in cash, and confirmed that the cash was just a retainer and we would pay with credit at checkout, when the hold from the Vegas HJ was removed from my bf’s card. The girl at the desk said that would be fine, but sure enough, when we went to checkout, they had already put my payment through as cash, and claimed they couldn’t change it because they «had no cash yet» that day (it was 11:00 am). Never again, Howard-​Johnson. Don’t trust these guys!

Do NOT stay here! Worst customer service! its a nasty hotel! Clogged toilet, called and asked to fix it an they didnt do nothing but bring us a plunger, beds are the WORST!!! If you stay here i highly suggest you bring your own pillow! Horrible place, save your money & go else where please!

WORST HOTEL EVER!!! Toilet was plugged and no one would fix it, asked what I should do they said they don’t know, my brother who is 3 rooms down had a toilet also plugged, also wouldn’t fix it, beds are horrible, lamp shades look like they are from a thrift store, toilet paper felt like sandpaper, water doesn’t hot, ac didn’t get cool, overall do NOT stay at this shit hole. It made me give it a star to post this when it deserves NONE. #SoNOTKidding

Area is nearby shops, theater, fast food, target so it wasn’t too bad. Wifi is extra slow, pool is sorta tiny, walls are thin as paper

Do not stay here. Probably one of the worst hotels when it comes to customer service. We got here and the fire alarm was beeping and instead of getting it fixed by having the battery changed out, they made us change rooms.
Their Wi-​Fi was not working and I asked them to reboot it and see if that would work. It did not so I called them again 10 minutes later and I was told that it took 20 – 30 minutes to reboot. Hmmmm. At this point, since the answer was a bit sketchy, I waited for 30 minutes, tried Wi-​Fi. Still broke. I called again but this time there was no answer.
TRAVELERS BEWARE.

I gave it three stars because it was clean.
Our queen bed was really a double. There were 2 pillows provided and they were the smallest and thinness pillows i have every encountered.
The bathroom was large, but the counter was tiny. There were no hooks provided close to the shower/​tub so you had to cross over the large bathroom to the towel rack on the other side of the room to get your towel and bathrobe.
Breakfast was really a joke. Rice krispies, sugar froasted flakes, a few pieces of bread, and coffee that was weak and lukewarm.
This is a motel for a one night stay. Bring your own pillows if you want a comfortable sleep.

Stayed here for 2 days. What I liked about this hotel is for 2 bed rooms, most hotels charge extra if you have more than 2 people. I had 4 in total and I wasn’t charged extra. The area is really not bad at all! I never felt unsafe. The hotel rooms are kinda hidden away from the Main Street which helps reduce noise. The rooms were really not bad for what I paid for. $ 130 for 2 nights for 4 people including tax. The drive from downtown LA, is about 20 min depending how u drive. Overall, my experience was pleasant. I noticed some stains on the sheets and pillow, however it did not bother me because I know they were clean but, the hotel probably didn’t use enough bleach? I’d stay here again.

Went to this hotel last Tuesday rooms were clean… But they need new bed spreads mine had a burn hole in it (non smoking room) also they need more pillows or get new ones. Breakfast need to be cancelled or just specialize in one thing.

I was a little skeptical based on the reviews on tripadvisor but this place was not bad at all. It is rated as a 1 star hotel but it was more like a 3 to 3.5 star with the 1 star price tag. Hotel looks like it was recently renovated. Everything seems brand new and the rooms are super spacious. There is a living room with a sofa, table, microwave, mid-​sized fridge, and a TV. The bedroom also has a TV! Linens, comforters, and bedsheets seem decently new. The bathroom is very clean. I didn’t feel the need to wear sandals into the bathtub. Hotel included a hair dryer, iron, complimentary Tom’s deodorant, shampoo (no conditioner), soap, etc.
The location is close to many stores and restaurants so finding a place to buy toiletries or food should not be a problem. It is also close to the freeway. The area seems very safe. There was not a time that I felt unsafe. The parking lot was also very spacious. We arrived at midnight and was still able to get a good spot near our room. Breakfast was standard to fresh donuts, coffee, and orange juice.
I knocked it down a star because I felt the walls are too thin. I woke up one morning to the tunes of my neighbor singing his favorite Spanish song. Then the next morning I could faintly hear my female neighbor moaned for a good half hour.
Overall, for the price I paid I was completely satisfied and would definitely come back!

Liars: You do not have a gym.
Lazy: Fix the smoke alarm — it was beeping in the room down the hall every single minute for the 3 days we were there.
More parking: If you’re going to advertise free parking, have at least ½ as many parking spots as you do rooms.
Coffee: If your breakfast starts at 7am, start at 7am — don’t wake up, roll out of bed (the owners live there,) and start coffee at 7:05am. If you want to do that, give me my own coffee maker.
Beds: Hard, but at least the linens are clean.
Hair Dryer: Busted. Had to POUND on the window for 10 minutes at 6:55am to get a replacement.
Ironing Board: None in the room.
Would not recommend — and my standards for hotels are pretty damned low.

Brand new hotel with cheap deals on
. Everything was new. Ample parking until after hours… the lot seems to fill up at night. It was a little hard to find because they use a banner as their sign and it is HARD to spot at night. Just know that its right next to the 99c store.
Decent continental breakfast (YES WE actually woke up early enough to catch breakfast… LOL) They offered cereal, packaged pastry and Juice thats not watered down (compare to the HJ in Torrance — STAY AWAY FROM THEIR BREAKFAST!!!) Lots of GOOD mexican food all around (just Unilocal it — we did… just make sure you are 4 stars and above)
There’s no coffee maker inside the room (to my girl’s dismay) and we
dislike that fact that there’s no smoking. Also on a low note, there’s no crosswalk to stores across street. You have to walk all the around to get to the other side. A very very inconvienient factor. We don’t recommend playing frogger to get to the other side as we were told there were many accidents!!!
For the price we paid ($ 44) Def worth the money!
We stayed there twice already and there’s a poss for return.
1^st stay: Got the room next to the cleaning room (RM 101)…MAKE SURE YOU don’t stay there… SO noisey early in the morning.
2^nd stay: Got a room upstairs… better :)
PS: not a place for people who can’t stand noise because all the Howard Johnson we stayed at so far have really thin walls… you can hear all kinds of noises.

Great little place to stay if you’re on a budget… spacious and clean. My room is getting a little run down. The lamp on the wall is leaning to one side and the carpet by be bathroom has spots — possibly from bleach. (I’ll post pictures later — I left my cable at home). It’s also missing a heavier curtain, so the mesh curtain let’s in morning light and evening neon light — reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Kramer has the neon sign right next to his bedroom window and his room is all red at night.
The breakfast had juice, coffee, cereal and donuts. USA Todays are in the lobby.
I’m glad they have a refrigerator to keep my beers cold. Internet is included (a plus for me).
The neighborhood is one big strip mall. My friends warned me not to venture out after 9, but I came back later than expected, midnight and the streets looked fine… no teens, drug dealers or hookers hanging out — damn — JK
Summary: I’d come back, and I’d recommend it to my friends. I gave this place 3 stars because of the lack of amenities and my room faces the main street (Whittier BLVD). I would have paid a little extra for a work out area, I guess it’d be more expensive…

Wow, one of the cleanest hotels/​motels i’ve stayed in in this area. If your around here, its a must. Very clean, and very new. Room comes with a safe, refrigerator, microwave, and HBO.
I would definitely rent again.