Los Angeles

harz99

Put this address into a google search and you come up with a map showing a Dennys diner, plus all the hotels nearby, all of which are served by the hotel shuttles from LAX, should be simple enough to find one of these at a sensible rate on Booking.com and most will also be able to sort out or offer car hire.


5535 W Century Los Angeles, CA 90045

John259

The first time I visited the USA I'd never driven an automatic car, nor sat on the left side of the car to drive, nor (obviously) driven on US roads. So I booked a hotel near the airport and used their free shuttle bus, using it again to go back to the airport to pick up the car the next morning. That worked very well.

On all subsequent visits I've done as Cubegame suggested earlier: picked up the car immediately, got as far out of L.A. as possible, and used a motel. I've usually headed up I-15 the next day so stayed the first night in San Dimas or Chino or nearby. Obviously you can vary that if you're headed in a different direction. That method also worked very well, and saved money, but relied on an early landing time. With a 7pm LA time landing you'll be lucky to get the car by 10pm LA time (5am UK time), so I don't think this option would be viable for you on this occasion.

You can use Google Maps to search for hotels or motels in the area and at the price range you want, then check their features on the chains' web sites if they're not already displayed by Google Maps.

Hope this helps a bit.

bleepandbooster

We have just recently returned from CA. We flew into San Diego and flew out of LAX. My wife booked us into the Hotel Erwin Venice beach for our last night, lovely hotel with great staff. We took a Lyft car to LAX airport that only cost us $18.

Cofion
David

Alan_Bowen

When I had the misfortune of arriving on the last BA flight of the day, I learned to fly as early as possible thereafter, we booked the Sheraton at Marina del Rey. It is a very short transfer and a relatively nice place to stay for 12 hours, I think it may have become a Marriott following the takeover. We got a very good weekend deal called 'Breakfast for 2' or something similar and picked up the car the following morning. You most certainly do not want to attempt to drive after 11 hours in the air and certainly not around LAX and don't try to drive too much the following day either!

Once, when we had taken friends who had never been to California before, waking at 6 am or earlier I agreed to drive from a Best Western (not to be recommended) to Universal Studios for the day and then down the I-5 to San Diego. Only half a mile from the hotel, I fell asleep at the wheel and avoided the central reservation by inches. Since then I take the second day a lot more slowly!

jackieblack

Deleted_User wrote: »

Hi Stevie11,
I've provisionally booked the Best Western Plus Suites in Inglewood,about ten minutes from LAX,for the night of Aug 12th,for around $188.
Fairly hefty but there's not much else near the airport I like the look of at that time of night.
Just having a play around on rentalcars.com and the cheapest airport rental for the smallest car for 17 nights is around £563.
Widening the search to LA in general and there's a main brand rental at a hotel about eight blocks from the Best Western for £450 so over a hundred quid cheaper and it's a bigger car.
I have lots of time to noodle around with this stuff but,as I mentioned upthread,I was just interested if anyone had found a cheap hotel/cheap car rental reasonably close to the airport.

I agree with your point about car rental away from the airport being cheaper, and many hotels in the vacinity of LAX will offer a free transfer.

My opinion of Inglewood was coloured by the drive by shooting that occurred outside the hotel we were staying in - almost opposite the Best Western IIRC. The noise of gunfire woke us and in the morning there were the CSIs, crime scene taped off area, chalk outline on the pavement, the works. This was a few years ago.
Obviously we were unlucky, and I’m sure it doesn’t happen every day, but Inglewood doesn’t (or certainly didn’t) have the best reputation.
We walked to the Dennys and passed under the highway - lots of homeless living/sleeping behind the pillars in the underpass. They didn’t approach us, but the atmosphere was uncomfortable.

zagfles

As a general point I've never found airport hotels to be expensive anywhere in the world, they are usually cheaper than a hotel in the city and quite often excellent value, often including free shuttles. Including in the US, though not been to LA for years.

ajdj

An Uber/Lyft to Inglewood will run you about $10 and take about 15 minutes. If you select Inglewood on Google maps and search hotels in that immediate area you will see a big selection of budget choices with decent reviews that will suffice for a good nights sleep and a hot shower before picking up a car the next morning. Somewhere like Crystal Inn Suites & Spa is about $80/night. You can of course spend more if you want to.

I would still collect the car from LAX. They have a much bigger selection of cars than the smaller offices and it makes returning it before your flight home much easier. Your car hire quote seems high. Have a look at AutoEurope. I'm about to hire through them for 3 weeks at LAX for £370 for a compact car from Dollar or Thrifty- all insurances included.

[Deleted User]

Anyway after a few days research we discovered LAX car rental does carry a significant premium.
So what we did is switch hotels via booking.com to the Renaissance ( free shuttle from LAX) for the same price ( we took the free cancellation option which was more expensive but gives us the chance to cancel and re-book should the price get lower )which is within walking distances of the LAX Marriott Hertz Car Rental office thus obviating the need to get the shuttle back to LAX in the morning and then out to the car rental depots.
There,via autoeurope.co.uk we found a VW Jetta for £452 for 17 days hire with Hertz.
And instead of returning it to the hotel car rental place we can return it to LAX for no extra fee.
We then joined the Hertz loyalty programme which SHOULD mean no queues at the rental desk.

We have two free one-week home exchanges in Oregon and Napa with people who have already stayed at one of our holiday rentals and return flights from Dublin to LAX ( meaning no immigration wait in the US thanks to Dublin pre-clearance ) for £345 each.
In August.
So it's flights,accommodation and car rental for two people in the US for 17 days for less than a grand.
Result.
If that doesn't get a nod of approval from Martin Lewis I don't know what will ....
Thanks for all the input.