Grafton On Sunset Hotel

, Hollywood, United States
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Grafton On Sunset Hotel

, Hollywood
3 star

Rooms: 108

8462 Sunset Boulevard - Hollywood - California - 90069 - United States Hotel Website | 323 654 4600
356 Traveller

Reviews - Grafton On Sunset Hotel

8/10
Californian cool
Submitted by: Martin Burt in 11/07/05
  • Age Group: 41 - 50
  • From: United Kingdom
  • Traveller type: Family Traveller
For a real slice of Californian cool situated right on the small piece of tarmac that is the famed Sunset Strip, you need look no further than the Grafton. The first thing that strikes you is the efficiency of the porters out front, shifting luggage into lobby and car out of speeding traffic, leaving you free to get to know the Grafton's relaxing ambience. Not that we had too much luggage, with two suitcases yet to join us - but the staff at reception kept up a near-constant and ultimately successful barrage of calls to locate said bags, just a few hours before we departed for Vegas. We enjoyed a great lunch on the balcony overlooking the pool, with the hill beyond falling away to reveal LA for as far as the eye could see. The lack of luggage and a certain modesty prevented us from using enjoying the cool of the pool but it was a good place to sit and calm down during the later evening. You need that because the Grafton is so close to all that you read about - Sunset Strip limks Beverly Hills to Hollywood. So it's easy to go off to shop on Rodeo Drive, then cruise into the hills past some fabulous houses that you seem to recognise from various movies before heading off to Hollywood - Oscars country, with the Kodak Theatre and Grauman's to search for which film stars have hands just like you ! So if you need that slice of Californian cool with a little wackiness that goes with the territory but backed by great service & food, then head to the Grafton on Sunset Strip.
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5/10
A bit noisy,,,
Submitted by: Nancy Ciancio in 02/06/05
  • Age Group: 31 - 40
  • From: Australia
  • Traveller type: Relaxation Seeker
The staff were friendly and helpful and the hotel itself was very pleasing to the eye, but if you're staying there on a weekend don't expect peace and quiet!!! We had to call the front desk several times to ask them to shut up the females that were crawling down the hallway (I do mean crawling!) and yahooing at the top of their lungs at about 4am. Probably wouldn't have bothered me so much if we he hadn't just gotten off an 18 hour flight with no sleep. Also worth noting, we were charged the wrong rate for our stay, we had to pay the balance on departure and the staff processed it wrong. It did get sorted out but we had to wait until we got back to Australia some weeks later.

Historical Traveller Reviews of Grafton On Sunset Hotel

Great Price and Great Location

from A TripAdvisor Member
Stayed at the Grafton for a girls night out. All of us were locals but wanted to be close enough to walk or cab home. The hotel was very hip and its location can't be beat. The room was decent size for four girls to fit comfortably, clean, and nicely decorated too. The Balboa bar was cool and very convenient for our pre-dinner drinks. They also have a great "drop off" shuttle service that we used to get a ride to the club. I would definitely stay here again. Also, I found that the hotel rate was cheaper when booked on-line versus making a phone reservation.

Poor service behind ultra cool facade

from A TripAdvisor Member
On arrival we (family of 5) were really impressed with this hip looking hotels & teenage boys loved the graffiti decor of our 2 rooms but it didn't live up to expectations. We returned to our rooms after a day out to find they had been left open all day by housekeeping. When we complained to the manager he very feebly apologised but offered no explanation or compensation. We also had thumping music every night coming through the walls/floor that we hadn't been warned about so v. bad if you actually want to sleep. Staff really need training in customer services. Very dissapointing.

Good Location and Price

from ltp_tango
My boyfriend and I visited Los Angeles over the Christmas holiday in 2003. We got a good price for the rooms ($99.00 per night) off Expedia. The location was great: within walking distance to lots of restaurants and nightclubs (Whiskey A Go Go), and next door to the House of Blues. The hotel staff was very nice, but upon checkin, we discovered why the rooms were so cheap: the hotel was redoing the lobby floor over Christmas. One guy worked for 1-2 days solid buffing the floors and doing a lot of noisy things. We had a room near the lobby, and the noise was unbearable, so we asked to be relocated to another room, which the staff did immediately (probably because of the low occupancy). The rooms were clean and had a fun, funky decor, but it took a good 10-15 minutes to warm up water to take a shower. All in all, it was a good experience. The bar downstairs was beautiful, but very expensive: one glass of wine (nothing fancy) cost $10.00. The restaurant was very tiny as well. I would go elsewhere for food and drinks; the House of Blues next door is very good, as is the adjacent Saddlehouse restaurant across the street. The location cannot be beat if you want to party in the nightclubs and not drive. We loved how close it was to everything we wanted to do on Sunset. I would definitely stay there again.

Nice Touches

from PeteronBennett
I recently spent five nights at the Grafton and thought it was a nice hotel. My room was not large, but that did not bother. It was well furnished and the bed was comfortable! AC worked well and there was a wide variety of TV channels.

The Grafton has many nice touches like free water and iced tea in dispensers near the pool. In the morning there is also free coffee and hot tea available in the same spot.

The pool and patio were lovely.

I found the staff to be attentive and friendly. There's much less attitude here than at the Mondrian next door.

Parking was $20 per day, but one will have to pay for parking at any hotel in that part of West Hollywood.

Awful!!!!!!!!!

from Natalia_Luff2004
The Grafton Hotel was a nightmare come true. I live up the street from the Grafton and stayed there for a week while having work done to my home. The only thing I liked about this Hotel was the Balboa Steakhouse downstairs... The rooms were small, they smelled & the sheets were stained!!! (Gross!!!) My room was next to the pool area which is packed with noisy people till the wee hours!! Room service never shows up and foget about complaining to the manager -- he will never call you back!!! I give this hotel 2 thumbs down!!!

You get what you pay for...

from Joysafina
This is the second time I stayed here and things have gone a little down hill. The good things: the location (can't be beat), the price, the pool, front-desk service, free shuttle, lobby/bar. The bad things: housekeeping (more later), parking (very pricey), room quality.

The best thing is the location. It's a decent hotel at a reasonable price. However, things appear really nice at first impression, and then you get to your room. It's nice from a far, but once you settle in the little things start showing up (i.e. broken shower head, broken tiles, dirty-stained floor, tatty wallpaper, poor housekeeping. there were four of us staying and everyday they gave us 3 towels. it was a daily ritual, 'call front desk for towels'.

If it's your first time in L.A. and you just want convenience, stay here. If it's a returning trip and you want something nice - try again.

Funky - in all ways.

from A TripAdvisor Member
Well, it certainly has an attitude. Pulls heavily on the 60s Hollywood vibe. And, this is really a party hotel, at least the weekend we were there. Don't recommend it if you're looking for somewhere to rest and relax. But, if you're looking for somewhere with a great bar to get trashed in, then run naked in the hallways at night - perfect place.
The rooms run the whole spectrum. We were first allocated what in other hotels wouldn't qualify as a closet. I bitched, claiming claustaphobia, and we got "upgraded" to something poolside. Not bad at all. However, both rooms showed their age - cracks and gouges here and there. While the rooms are generally clean, the public areas are a bit grungy, probably from all the naked running and drinking. Closed in areas, such as the elevator and stairway have a unique odor, something between moth ball and highway rest stop. Location, though, can't be beat. Just doors from the House of Blues, it's right in the middle of the Sunset club scene. The parade of clubbers walking in front of the hotel on a late Saturday is worth the price of admission alone.

disappointed

from A TripAdvisor Member
Just returned from a 3-night stay with my wife and daughter.

General comments: - poor service. - poorly maintained (smell and dirty). - rooms too small (probably converted apartment building from early 20th century). - Almost all rooms have no city view despite being up on Sunset strip. - Cheap furniture (hip factor strongly outweights quality factor).

Specific incident: After checking in, we discovered that there was a cold draft coming in from window. Window would not seal all the way.
After numerous calls to frontdesk and bellman,including two personal visits, finally got an "engineer" to come and look at problem. He informed us that window was not fitted to frame properly and that he could "tape up the window" or we could request another room. We ended up switching rooms. We had to move in/out of 4 rooms before we finally got a semi-decent one though. One room had zero sunlight coming in as there was a huge tree blocking all incoming light. The other was a smoking room that smelled like 50 ash trays...

Minight Intruder

from A TripAdvisor Member
I booked the Grafton on Sunset because of the price ($138), location on the strip and because it looked a little funky on the web site. We checked in on New Year's Day and loved what we saw. The lobby is very cool and we enjoyed dinner on the small terrace overlooking the pool and city.We were sound asleep by 11pm when I was awakened by a knock on the door. Then someone opened our door and started entering our room. I sat straight up in bed and he excused himself and left. Had I been thinking clearly I would have called the desk right away. I waited until the next morning to bring it to their attention. They said no one working there fit the desciption I gave. (That's the scary part!)My mother-in-law was staying on another floor on the other side of the hotel. Surprisingly, someone knocked on her door around the same time of night. When she called out, they left.The staff was very apologetic, but that's it. I'm scared to think what would have happened if I had not awakened or if my mother-in-law had not called out.Beware.

A total dump

from A TripAdvisor Member
Please do not believe the reviews from the glowing testimonials in this page - I think they must have been written by one of the ther managers or something.Anyway, this place is not much better than when it was the dump it was before (the Park Sunset) the application of its new coold veneer.To wit:1. The elevator smells like crap - a combination of *** and machine grease. Not to mention it is achingly slow. This is inexcusable. 2. The rooms to the back have the sounds of the House of Blues and the constant driving of the Valet parking cars going up and down the hill outside... not too great when one is trying to sleep.3. In general, despite rennovation, things were dingy and in need of a real clean ing. 4. This is a big one if you travel - the hotel has a tight definition of what comprises local calls for Internet access. I have stayed at many other hotels on Sunset and used their local lines for dial up - and all charges were local for the numbers I used. Here, for some reason, I got a bill with over $900 in call charges. At the end of the day the manager took off most of them, but not after a lot of bickering and grandstanding on my part... two weeks later I was at the Hyatt a block away and the charges for just as much usage were $25. I mean, come on. And besides, they should have high speed at this point but I digress. That said, the location is not bad and the food from the restaurants is pretty good... but all in all a total dump not worth spending your money on - there are much better hotels at comparable prices on the Strip.

Top Local Tips for Hollywood

beverly centre If your staying at the grafton, or any hotel on sunset strip. Wlk dowb the hill to beverley centre, but cab it back up!!!

Great Views If you are in a car, get yourself onto Mulholland Drive in thehills and drive along it for some great views of the city and the Hollywood sign (and a good look at some of the enormous houses!)

Don't take the shuttle The shuttle is quite cheap, but if there is more than 1 person, get a cab to your destination...Shuttle goes all over the place dropping other people off...took us nearly 2hrs to get our hotel in West Hollywood....wasn't a happy camper

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Other names for Grafton On Sunset Hotel

  • grafton sunset
  • grafton on sunset west hollywood
  • grafton on sunset hotel
  • Address: 8462 Sunset Boulevard - Hollywood - California - 90069 - United States
Travel Library Traveller Rating?
7.0/10

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"Californian cool" - Martin Burt

"A bit noisy,,," - Nancy Ciancio

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