The Good: This apartment is on a high floor of a high rise. The building appears to be very new, and the first thing we liked was that the reserved parking spot was excellent and convenient. There are lots of layers of security in this building, and it took a minute for us to figure out how to operate them, but once we did, it was reassuring (because the building is located near Skid Row, so there are many street people loitering outside.) The apartment itself is modern. The furnishings are comfortable. The linens were plentiful and good quality. The floor to ceiling windows in both the bedroom and living/bed room offered spectactular views of of the skyscraper skyline and mountain backdrop. The tower has a rooftop deck lounge with a fire pit that is amazing, and the fitness center was huge, well-appointed, and in beautiful condition. We didn’t use the pool, but it was beautiful as well.
The Bad: Gary was easy to communicate with initially, and he asked that we communicate about our arrival time. The night before arrival he sent us instructions to retrieve the key fob from a convenience store that was more than a mile across downtown LA from the apartment, and he asked that we give him our ETA. On the morning of arrival day, I texted that our ETA would be close to the check-in time of 3pm, and I sent another message when we were one hour from the convenience store.
Despite all the above, after fighting our way through downtown LA traffic, when we arrived at the convenience store, the fob was not there. I sent Gary a message, and a few minutes later he replied (without apology) that I could get the key from the housekeeper if I could get to the apartment within 15-20 minutes to meet her. We again fought through rush hour for over a mile, and I texted the housekeeper when we arrived. She met us at the curb and gave us the key.
When we got into the apartment, we were surprised to see that the second bed is in the middle of the living room. (None of the photos show this.) I also immediately noticed that the windows, while offering amazing views, did not include blackout shades (so if you are a late sleeper who needs a dark room, you’re out of luck.) There were no stands or furniture on which we could place our suitcases, so we improvised with a couple of plastic storage bins from the closet. Then we noticed that there was only about 20 squares of toilet paper left on the roll, and no spare rolls. At that point I sent Gary a message. He said that he would direct the housekeeper to return, so we took some time to wander through the building and look at the amenities. When we returned, the housekeeper was there with the paper products. After she left, I tried to turn on the TV. The power light would come on but there was no picture. So I again messaged Gary, (it was now about 7pm on a Friday) who informed me that he would have to “troubleshoot” with me, but could not at that moment because he was going into a doctor appointment. He did ask what “controller” was there, so I sent him a pic of the TV remote. I didn’t hear from Gary again Friday evening.
We had no entertainment…the apartment doesn’t even include a Bluetooth speaker or anything else besides the TV. After our walking tour on Saturday morning, I sent Gary another message on Saturday afternoon asking for help with the TV. I got no reply until 3:15AM on Sunday morning, when he sent me a message that merely said, “That’s the only remote.” Then on Sunday morning, about 2 hrs before checkout time, I got a message asking if I wanted to troubleshoot the TV. We had already spent 2 evenings without it and I almost simultaneously received Gary’s reminder message about getting out on time, so I didn’t bother trying to fix the TV during my remaining time there.