librarygal

I remember being diverted to LA fifteen years ago and spending the night at a LAX Motor Lodge off of Century Blvd about a mile from the airport. I remember not sleeping a wink because of airplane noise all night.

Now I am flying to Hawaii but stopping for 18 hours in LA and staying at a LAX Airport hotel seems like the logical place to crash between flights. But is the plane noise still terrible all night if we don't stay at one of the fancy 4 star hotels? Is it bad even at the hotels?

Should I rent a car and drive to Santa Monica or Century City to get a way from the depressing and noisy LAX Airport area? Advice please!

Wally Bird

Book one of the El Segundo chain properties - Courtyard, Doubletree, Garden Inn - with free shuttle service.
The Embassy Suites in El Segundo is too close and probably the noisiest of them all.

bzcat

All the hotels near LAX are under the flight path so you are going to hear some noise. But sound proofing technology has improved quite a bit since your last stay and my experience with some of the hotels nearby is that you really don't hear the planes, unless you try really hard to listen for it. And if you do, that's all you going to hear

You can try some of the SPG hotels in Culver City right up the street... they are not near the flight path so you won't hear planes.

Four Points Sheraton

Double Tree

mr27

Good point about the El Segundo properties ^. The HGI is a nice property and feels as if
your away from the airport.

steveo3002

ive stayed at the garden inn el segundo and i didnt hear a thing from the room , its a nice place to stay

milesk

We just stayed at the 4 points sheraton on the way out and the sheraton on the way back. As long as the planes are landing from east, your fine (which seemed to be most of the time we were there). If they're taking off to the east, it'll be loud.

FYI - 4 points sheraton has a 24 hr option which we used. You check out 24 hrs after you check in regardless of your check in time. Only catch is you have to book the room, then request the 24hr option (when doing it online). They might be able to confirm immediately if you book over the phone.

djp98374

I stayed at a choice hotel...I think it was a comfort inn. It had a shuttle. There wasn't noise there either.

If you stay in the modern chain hotels your noise likely won't be an issue...if it were these hotels would be out of business.

Craig6z

Take offs to the east are a very rare circumstance at LAX. My guess is this happens maybe 7-10 times a year at most. If it were to occur, based upon traditional wind patterns, September through November would be to most likely months ("Santa Ana Winds").

milesk

Interesting. We were there on the evening of Jan. 25th and there were at least for a few hours. Just my luck.

Consultette

Four Points is a great option. I have stayed there before both early morning flights and when I was looking for a place to stay on the way back to OC after a night in LA. I have never had a single problem with aircraft noise at that hotel and I have stayed there quite a few times.

Craig6z

I looked at the weather almanac that day and the rain could have played a part. Yet the wind speeds were under 10 knots and variable direction.

Out of curiousity was it later part of the evening when you were seeing the eastbound take-offs? Under normal circumstances after about 10:30pm for noise control reasons, landings are switched so that the planes come in from over the ocean (heading east). Since take-offs almost always go west, controllers probably want pilots to have good visual conditions to assure that planes are not getting too close to each other.

I'm speculating that if there was lowered visibility that night, controllers could have had take-offs go east, to absolutely ensure decent visual separation.

Planes late at night and until dawn are also typically separated by distance between the two runway complexes. A safety protocol may have take offs using runway 25L (the most southerly runway), and landings coming in on 6L, all the way at the north of the airport. I estimate that those two runways are 1.2 miles apart.

milesk

We came in on CZ327 from the west and landed around 5:30ish. They were still taking off to East around 10ish when we went out to the hot tub. It must have stopped shortly after that as I didn't hear anything during the night.

librarygal

UPDATE: Ended up staying at the LAX Hilton and had almost no plane noise and the place was perfectly fine.

JDiver

The Hilton Garden Inn - El Segundo, iirc, is also the "laboratory" property for new Hilton Garden Inn features, furnishings, etc.

Each major hotel chain has a forum, and those fora have property review threads that will often indicate if there's a noise problem or not. There are so many hotels near LAX economical pricing can almost always be found - though the major chain properties (the Hilton, etc.) may host a convention or conference and have higher prices at times.