Avenue of the Arts, Costa Mesa, 2020
In February of 2020, I took a trip to Los Angeles for various WW2 events. After the non-stop time travel back to the 1940s, I usually use Sunday and Monday to wind down and then travel back home. Not wanting to stay downtown for a combination of costs and traffic, I booked Sunday night at the Avenue of the Arts hotel in Costa Mesa, as I had in 2019.Arrival
After checking out of the JW LA Live and hang-ing around Beverly Hills for the day, I proceeded to head down to Costa Mesa for an evening at the Avenue of the Arts Hotel.While the hotel is in the middle of suburbia, you could not tell. It's tucked away in an artistic venue district and on a really nice man-made lakes area shared by high end private communities. Very secluded
I pulled into the carport which was empty. Sunday nights are very low occupancy here and the availability of upgraded rooms is much higher.
The bellhop was Johnny on the spot and got my bags. As I had pre-paid for parking as part of the room package, I self parked and walked back to the lobby.
As I checked in, they thanked me for being an Ambassador and told me I had been upgraded to a junior suite because of my Bonvoy status. This is a perk I have come to love.
The Room
While not a crazy huge room, it had a very good amount of space. The living room is spacious, the makeup alcove is great for stashing cosmetics, the drink alcove has a refrigerator and the coffee (Kuerig!) station. It's a very comfortable room.The balcony, which is very short in depth, must be combined with the room for full use, but it works. And being fairly far inland, when you open the doors and sit in the sun overlooking the lakes with 72 degree air wafting into the room? Yeah. I can get used to that.
The Restaurant
The Silver Trumpet is a gourmet restaurant with a great menu. The food is exquisite and has many changing options. The wine list is great, but fairly expensive. My room package included $50 credit for food there too. I have never had a bad experi-ence eating here. I also had breakfast included as a perk of my status. They have a lot of different items, but they are mostly standard fares, like omelet, French toast, pancakes, eggs, sausage, and toast.Facilities
The swimming pool area is very small, and in all the times I have stayed here, I have never used it. The gym has a variety of machines and is good for any normal workout.There is some event space and a gift shop where I have collected a couple coffee mugs from here (So far the only property to date I have ever done this, which should say something for my affection of the hotel).
Summary
It's a very nice 4 star hotel. The bar is great; I was just so exhausted that this time I did not take advantage of it. It's roomy, nicely appointed, has indoor/outdoor space and drinks are reasonable ($16 or so). The property is very serene and calm. I nev-er hear traffic noise even with its proximity to interstate 405. Easily accessible from major roads, very close to Santa Ana airport. It's so close, they even have a compli-mentary shuttle to John Wayne International Airport.Tips: Look for a room package that includes food and parking. Mine was only $30 over the base rate and included parking (normally $45) and $50 in food credit. Quite a bargain. Weekends, especially Sundays, are a steal for the rates. During the week they are pretty pricey for business travelers.