The catch at The Garland
The Garland is a family hotel built around a day at Universal Studios, and most of what is worth knowing before you book it follows from that. Five things stand between the brochure and the stay: what the night really costs, how much of the freeway you can hear, how far the car has to take you, how big the entry room is and when the rates rise. None of them is hidden, and none outweighs a free trolley, a pool and a Family Suite if that is the trip you are planning.
On our shortlists
Two nightly fees and parking add about $89 a night before tax.
The hotel adds its own $37.20 hotel worker protection fee and a $1.75 environmental fee to every room each night, and self-parking starts at $50 plus tax, with valet from $55. Together that is about $89 a night on top of the room rate. Room tax is 16.25 per cent, so a $275 night comes to about $359 once tax and the two fees are added, and to more than $408 with self-parking. At check-in the hotel holds the cost of the stay on your card plus $100 a night for incidentals, and releases the unused part after check-out. Leaving early costs one night's room rate plus tax.
What to do. Add about $89 to any nightly rate before comparing this hotel with another, and leave room on the card for the hold. A stay without a car avoids the parking charge, though not the two fees.
Some rooms hear the 101 freeway, and the pool rooms hear the movie nights.
The Hollywood Freeway runs along the whole north-east edge of the grounds, as little as 109 m from the lobby, and every room has a balcony door that opens onto whatever is outside. In 2013 the hotel replaced 262 balcony doors to keep outside noise down. Of the standard rooms, only the Deluxe King Pool View is sold with a named view: it sits on a higher floor over the pool, where dive-in movies run from 7:30pm to 9:30pm on Friday and Saturday and at sundown nightly in summer, and the pool stays open until 10pm.
What to do. Ask for a room away from the freeway edge, keep the balcony door shut at night and skip the Pool View if you want early nights. The Wellness Suite is the one category sold with a white noise machine.
Beyond Universal and the Metro you need a car, and the free trolley skips 1pm and 3pm.
The trolley is free and leaves the hotel on the hour from 8am to 10pm for Universal Studios Hollywood and CityWalk, with no 1pm or 3pm run. It collects at CityWalk at a quarter past and will drop you at the Universal City Metro station if you ask. Everything else is a drive. With clear roads the Hollywood Bowl is 8 minutes away and the Walk of Fame 9, but Santa Monica Pier is 28, LAX 34 and Disneyland 50. The Metro B Line station is a 17-minute walk, and Hollywood/Highland is 4 minutes down the line.
What to do. Use the B Line for Hollywood and the car for the coast, and add time at rush hour. Plan Universal days around the quarter-past pick-ups, and confirm the timetable at check-in: the hotel's printed one dates from 2024.
The entry room is 247 sq ft and sleeps two, and the family rooms start at 331 sq ft.
The cheapest category is the Deluxe King: one king bed in 247 sq ft (23 m²), sleeping two. The Premium King and the Deluxe Two Queen are 331 sq ft (31 m²), and the Two Queen sleeps four with every bed in one room. The Kids Room, also 331 sq ft, puts a queen bed on one side of a partition and bunk beds on the other. The Family Suite, at 560 sq ft (52 m²), adds a living room and space for five. A microwave costs $25 a night in the standard rooms; the Kids Room and the Family Suite come with one.
What to do. Choose the category by head count rather than by the lowest rate, and price the Family Suite for your own dates. Cribs are free.
July and August cost about 30 per cent more than early December, and the week after Christmas about 45 per cent more.
The Deluxe King is cheapest in early December and January: $275 on Tuesdays 8 and 15 December, $285 on the 22nd and $289 on 26 January. By spring it is $295 to $299, and autumn is priced like spring. Tuesdays in July and August run $359, about 30 per cent up, and Tuesday 29 December is $399, about 45 per cent up. Those are nightly rates for two adults before tax and fees, and the fees above are the same in every season.
What to do. Aim for early December or January for the lowest rates. If the trip has to be in summer or the week after Christmas, price your dates before you settle on a category.
Who should skip it
Anyone planning a beach holiday: the sand is 28 minutes away by car with clear roads. Anyone who wants a walkable Hollywood address, because beyond the trolley and the Metro everything is a drive. Anyone who sleeps lightly and minds a freeway within earshot of some rooms, or who cannot stomach about $39 a night in fees whether or not a car comes along.
Who should book it anyway
Families going to Universal Studios Hollywood. The trolley takes the car out of the day, the pool is open from 6am to 10pm with a family hot tub and a movie on Friday and Saturday evenings, and a Family Suite gives parents a king bed, children a bunk nook of their own and everyone a living room, in 560 sq ft (52 m²) for up to five. Ask for a room away from the freeway, shut the balcony door at night and budget for the fees, and The Garland does the job a family hotel near the studios is there to do.
The catch elsewhere in LA
- The Beverly Hills HotelBeverly Hills
Extras sit on top of a four-figure rate. Beverly Hills hotel tax is 14 per cent and the hotel's other city and state levies bring the total to roughly 15.5 to 16 per cent, and parking is $70 a day, which you will want because almost everything is a drive.
- Shutters on the BeachSanta Monica
A $60 nightly resort fee plus tax is added to every stay, and overnight valet is $90 a night, so a room that starts around $740 comes to about $930 with the 15 per cent hotel tax, the fee and $11.25 in nightly tourism fees, before the car.
- Malibu Beach InnMalibu
Pacific Coast Highway runs directly behind the building, and some guests mention hearing traffic over the surf; the King Pier View Rooms have the highway in view. Ask for a sea-facing room on the third floor, away from the street entrance.
- Terranea ResortPalos Verdes
A $75 resort fee and $75 for overnight valet add up to $150 a night on top of the room rate and the Rancho Palos Verdes hotel tax; the one- to four-bedroom bungalows, casitas and villas carry a $90 resort fee.
- Sunset Tower HotelSunset Strip
The room rate is not the whole price. A nightly amenity fee of $52.43, tax included, is added to every stay, parking is by valet at $75 a night, and 16.695% hotel tax applies to the room.
- Santa Monica Proper HotelSanta Monica
A $55 nightly destination fee plus tax is added to every stay, and valet parking is $90.27 per vehicle with tax, so the room rate is not the nightly cost, least of all for a guest with a car.
- The Hollywood RooseveltHollywood
Noise is part of the deal. The hotel runs restaurants, bars, private events and pool programming, music and pool activity can be audible in the cabana rooms around the pool, the Tropicana is shared with day-pass guests aged 21 and over, loungers are first come, first served, and the pool can close for private events or film shoots.
- Silver Lake Pool & InnSilver Lake
Noise is the recurring complaint: thin walls let through footsteps from the floor above and the corridor, and street-side rooms hear Santa Monica Boulevard traffic into the night, so ask for a quiet room away from the boulevard.
- Hotel FigueroaDowntown LA
The entry rooms are small: the 1 Queen Bed room is about 187 sq ft (17 m²) and the 1 King Bed about 270 sq ft (25 m²), so book the king or a suite if you want space to sit.
Questions people ask
Good questions about The Garland
What are the downsides of The Garland?
The Garland is a family hotel built around a day at Universal Studios, and most of what is worth knowing before you book it follows from that. Five things stand between the brochure and the stay: what the night really costs, how much of the freeway you can hear, how far the car has to take you, how big the entry room is and when the rates rise. None of them is hidden, and none outweighs a free trolley, a pool and a Family Suite if that is the trip you are planning. Two nightly fees and parking add about $89 a night before tax. Some rooms hear the 101 freeway, and the pool rooms hear the movie nights. Beyond Universal and the Metro you need a car, and the free trolley skips 1pm and 3pm. The entry room is 247 sq ft and sleeps two, and the family rooms start at 331 sq ft. July and August cost about 30 per cent more than early December, and the week after Christmas about 45 per cent more.
Who should not book The Garland?
Anyone planning a beach holiday: the sand is 28 minutes away by car with clear roads. Anyone who wants a walkable Hollywood address, because beyond the trolley and the Metro everything is a drive. Anyone who sleeps lightly and minds a freeway within earshot of some rooms, or who cannot stomach about $39 a night in fees whether or not a car comes along.
Our verdict
Book The Garland for a Universal trip with children: a free trolley to the park, a pool with weekend movies and a Family Suite with its own bunk nook. Budget for about $89 a night in fees and parking, and keep the balcony door shut at night.
Last checked: October 2026