For years, the Cecil Hotel has been struggling to distance itself from the image of a flea-bag infested Hotel, running rampant with psycho drug addicts who hunker down in the urine-stained halls nightly.
The assessment is right on the money (and more)!
Consequently, the Cecil's owners have jumped on the Internet bandwagon in a deceitful bold-faced effort to book run-down rooms, a "walk-in" off the street would steer clear of from the get-go if they were a local familiar with lodging in the area!
For starters?
In order to carry out their nefarious rip-off, scurrilous managers at the City's seediest joints on Main Street in downtown Los Angeles, have misrepresented their status in the community.
For example, the Cecil is currently promoting itself as an elegant old-world-style Hotel on the World Wide Web, catering to the savvy International Traveller
Bullsh**!
Excuse me for a moment, while I go throw-up in a sunken tub, please!
Unfortunately, for the unwitting tourist who gets hoodwinked, there is no turning back once they realize they've been taken advantage of at check-in.
Uh-huh!
Because the Cecil collects the fees upfront, there is no other recourse but to either forfeit the monies paid (and trek off to another nearby establishment at sky-high last-minute prices) or suffer through the night in the biting cold (there's no heat) in out-of-vogue suites which they will undoubtedly share with a host of nasty bed bugs out for a blood feast.
Notwithstanding, the amenities (if you can call them that) the service is downright appalling.
My spies informed me, for instance, that they witnessed tourists lined up in the dark dank lobby for hours on end - frustrated as hell - because the Hotel Clerk on duty at the front desk was unable to locate reservations booked days in advance through Expedia, Orbitz, and other up-and-coming enterprising Internet entities.
Were the disgruntled guests offered a courtesy drinkie-pooh to calm their nerves (or discount coupon) to compensate for the shocking unprofessional maneuverings at the entrance which left them totally exhausted and SOL?
Hell, no!
One poor fellow stood in line for about an hour before he was finally curtly informed that there would be no room in the Inn for him.
Why, pray tell?
According to their computer, the businessman (who had been a guest previously at the Cecil) was blacklisted, for some inexplicable reason.
When the kindly gent asked for a manager, he was shooed away by the employee.
"There's no Manager on duty. Call Monday," he scowled with little empathy.
How would he like to be left out in the cold in downtown Los Angeles at 11 p.m. without any Hotel room to check in to because of an obvious PC glitch or nasty snafu?
Indeed!
If anything, the man's basic Constitutional rights were violated, that night.
Unfortunately, the uneducated Latino employee didn't have a clue, as he stood there sorting out the mess (at which point, he picked at snot in his nose, then ate it).
Eugh!
There outta be a law.
Uh-huh!
The Cecil is the worst Hotel in Los Angeles.
Unless you're a filmmaker researching a piece on the tenderloin, I'd say avoid this place by a country mile.
Who know what you'll catch just strolling through the tacky front doors!
Amen!
