DoubleTree by Hilton Torrance - South Bay

Starting to show its age

Good exercise facility, good location for me (close to the company I visit). Self-parking is nice. Many hotels in this area have the "hidden fee" of parking charges, up to $30 per night.

Where to begin. First off, the hotel is getting very old. The rooms are fundamentally small compared to more modern hotels. To the point that the bathrooms are very small. The vanity is tiny, and the only place for towel storage is within the shower (at the back). Also, the mirror had some strange black stains on it. Second bad thing was the "view". My room was at room level for another part of the hotel, so when you opened the sliding door, you were actually on the roof. And the view (other than looking at roof) was a wall. Maybe a roof and a wall wouldn't have been too bad, but throw in the 4 or 5 satellite dishes and it was pretty unattractive. OK, so pull the blinds and keep them closed. Except here's the worst part of all... The A/C unit sounded like a small dump truck at idle and hardly cooled at all. So to keep the room tolerable, I had to open the sliding glass door. But because you could walk in right off the roof, I had to close it every time I left the room, and then the room got hot and stuffy. I'm an HHonors member, and I try to be loyal to Hilton branded hotels, but this one makes it tough.

The location was good and the facilities were OK. The staff was very good and friendly.

As a Hilton member I did not expect to put in a room with the smallest bathroom I have ever stayed in at a Hilton Hotel. The bed was way to soft and I woke up with a terrible back pain. The room was number 310 and I would hope that Hilton members would get better treatment than I received.