OVERVIEW and TIPS

Good News and Reasonably Okay News: The good news is that most decent hotels in Los Angeles are wheelchair accessible; meaning, rooms, bathrooms and doorways have a little more clearance than other rooms, and the bathrooms either have bathtubs with assistance handrails and/or roll-in showers.

The okay news is that hotel room costs in Los Angeles are not hotel room costs in the SE Asia.

Some Tips:
1. Stay away from hotels near LAX. The Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is not close enough to anything you want to visit or do. People think it is in downtown Los Angeles. It's not. LAX is pretty far from downtown Los Angeles.

2. The closer a decent hotel is to a major tourist area, the more expensive that hotel is going to be, even the same brand name hotel. For example, a Holiday Inn Express can go for $80 near LAX while it can reach close to $300 in Hollywood.

3. Unless you want to stick to a certain area like Santa Monica, you may want to stay in the midway point somewhere such as West Los Angeles or Century City. These areas are between the beach and Hollywood and Downtown Los Angeles.

4. Decide if you want to stay in a standard hotel such as the Travelodge, Courtyard Marriott, Holiday Inn or have a more authentic Los Angeles visit. Try the Foghorn Harbor Inn in Marina del Rey or the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel on Hollywood Blvd.

BIG CHAIN HOTELS: Budget to Mid-range

Best Western
Notes: Best Western is one of the largest chains of hotels in the world with good locations throughout Los Angeles at around $150 in places such as Hollywood. AAA members receive a discount.
Contact: www.bestwestern.com, ph: 1-800-780-7234
Rates: $80 to $180 in top places
Accessibility: Best Westerns in Los Angeles are wheelchair accessible.

Comfort Inn & Suites
Notes: Comfort Inn & Suites is another large international chain of hotels. In Los Angeles County, some Comfort Inns have bathtubs with handrails and some have roll-in showers. Call the location and ask.
Contact: www.comfortinn.com, ph: 1-877-424-6423
Rates: $69 to $200 in top places
Accessibility: This hotel is wheelchair accessible. The Santa Monica location has roll-ins showers.

Courtyard Marriott
Notes: Call the actual hotel. Some have wheelchair accessible rooms with only roll-in showers and some with bathtubs with handrails. Courtyard Marriotts are fairly standard but good, clean hotels. AAA members receive a discount.
Contact: http://www.marriott.com/courtyard/travel.mi
Rates: Average price for a room is about $150 a night.
Accessibility: Century City's branch has larger bathrooms, bathtub with handrails and toilets with handrails
Marina del Rey' has roll-in showers

Days Inn
Notes: Days Inn Hotel rooms are a bit less expensive than Best Westerns and Courtyard Marriotts.
Contact: www.daysinn.com, ph: 1-800-329-7466
Rates: $90 - $150
Accessibility: Bathtub with handrails

Holiday Inn
Notes: There is a Holiday Inn Express and Holiday Inn Hotel and Resort. The latter is more upscale and costs a bit more but the Holiday Inn is one of the largest hotel chains in the world.
Contact: www.hiexpress.com
Rates: $80 - $200 for Holiday Inn Express rooms
Accessibility: These hotels have roll-in showers and bathtubs with handrails.

Travelodge
Notes: Not all hotel branches are wheelchair accessible. The branch on Ocean Ave in Santa Monica does not have any specially designed rooms for accessibility - only has regular rooms with bathtubs. It also costs the most since it is a block away from the beach.
The branch on Pico Blvd on Santa Monica has wheelchair accessible rooms with roll-in showers and larger rooms. It costs about $100/night and is fairly central since it is close to the 10 Freeway.
Contact: www.travelodge.com, ph: 1 (800) 578-7878
Rates: $50 - $200
Accessibility: See notes above. Most Travelodges in Los Angeles are wheelchair accessible. Some Travelodges specially equipped with wheelchair accessible rooms.

Super 8
Notes: These are budget-priced hotels but their locations are not great.
Contact: http://www.super8.com/Super8/control/home
Rates: $59 - $100
Accessibility: Culver City location has bathtubs with handles but the location is fairly far from things.

LOCAL HOTELS

Foghorn Harbor Inn
Notes: This is a nice, quaint hotel right on Mother's Beach in Marina del Rey. Considering its location and scenic view, the hotel is reasonably priced. The hotel does, however, have a 13% tax.
Contact: 4140 Via Marina, Marina del Rey, CA 90292, site: www.foghornhotel.com, ph: (310) 823-4626
Rates: Summers: city view 159, bay view 179
Other seasons: city 139, bay view 159
Accessibility: the Foghorn Harbor Inn has bathtubs with handrails. The manager informed me that most visitors in wheelchairs have no problem fitting through the room and bathroom doors but there have been a couple of people who have very large wheelchairs and could not fit through the doors.

Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel
Notes: The Hollywood Roosevelt is a Hollywood legend and if you want a Hollywood experience, stay here. The hotel also hosts large events.
Contact: 7000 Hollywood Blvd, CA 90028, site: www.hollywoodroosevelt.com, email: info@hrhthompsonhotels.com, ph: (323) 466-7000
Rates: $269 - $309
Accessibility: This hotel is completely wheelchair accessible. It has both deluxe rooms that have roll-in showers and deluxe rooms with bathtubs with handrails.