Safe cheap place to stay within walking distance of beach and dozens of stores/restaurants… I suggest you read on though.
PARKING: This AirBnB is in a hotel of a tower that has 12 floors. Parking is located in the basement for a price where there are ~20 spots. It’s always full and there is no where to turn around, so you end up having to reverse up the ramp you came in. The parking garage they listed if that lot is full is probably 5 blocks away and cost $30 per night. Do not rent car, just Uber everywhere! Trust me when I say you don’t want to drive here anyways.
CHECK-IN: Once we lugged our our luggage the 5 blocks, the search for the place was on. The entrance is sandwiched between two shops and is heavily under construction. All you see is cones and plastic liners hung up through the window. I was sure we were at the wrong spot. Luckily we bumped into another couple was there also confused on how to check in. With the help of a construction worker, we figured it out. We literally saw confused travelers outside this hotel on a daily basis.
THE HOTEL ROOM: 👌 to the person who took the pictures of this place on the listing. Mad respect. It’s definitely the same place, but the pictures are a little deceiving. It’s not a bad place, just a little rough around the edges in the most literal sense. The wort part was the bed! Ever lay on an old mattress that is all springs? Well, it was like that, but there is a decent chunk of the mattress that has defunct springs. The person on that side is in a constant battle to stay on the bed during the night and not end up on the floor.
LOCATION: This hotel is located in a busy area. Skyscrapers everywhere. This hotel is a few blocks from the beach and tons of stores/restaurants.
SAFETY: With any busy city, there was a surplus of homeless people. I gathered that this hotel also has some long term tenants in addition to tourist as each room has a mailbox and the building has a huge laundry mat. Not a bad thing, just anticipate two different crowds. The hotel has a key fob to use the elevators, so I never felt unsafe.