Neutral on the HGI El Segundo
After reading the reviews, I booked this hotel immediately. Visiting with friends in El Segundo and wanted to stay nearby. While I don't have any real complaints about this hotel, I think it was a bit over-rated.
My family and I checked in and the staff was extremely polite and professional. They seemed to "bend over backwards" to accomodate us, which I appreciated especially as I walked in with three young kids and was not the usual "business traveler". The clerk offered to upgrade our rate to include 4 free breakfasts, which I think I paid $12 extra for. Seemed fine. The front desk staff was really excellent.
Our room was fine, no big complaints, but it definitely had some wear in it. I noticed that the window was open a bit, which was making the room somewhat humid (being from Arizona, it doesn't take much for me to notice humidity!) so I tried to close it. The window had to be manipulated a lot just to lock and it was apparent to me that it hadn't been secured/locked in a long time.
Returned from dinner and got everybody into bed for a nice rest. No notice of noise as other guests have mentioned. Good night's sleep.
Breakfast turned out to be the low-point of the stay. The restaurant was half-full, but EVERY table was dirty, even the tables without guests. This was about 9:00 a.m., so maybe they had a rush, but still it was gross to see so many dirty dishes just sitting around. We actually bused our own table just to find a spot. After we removed the dirty dishes to another dirty table, the waitress did come over with a cloth to wipe the table down before we sat. We all ordered hot breakfasts and took advantage of the buffet. The eggs/bacon/sausage were enjoyed, but the buffet quickly was depleted by the many guests coming/going. We had to ask twice for them to refill the orange juice pitcher as well as the waffle batter. Probably took ten minutes to get refills at the help-yourself buffet. Muffins/danishes were almost entirely gone, but we weren't going to eat those anyhow. Asked for ice water, since it was not available. Finally gave up on waiting, and went to the sink to get it myself.
Lastly, wanted to check out with waitress and waited for our bill to arrive, so I could supply my breakfast vouchers. Quickly realized that nobody was being given checks that I could see. Saw the guests around us getting up and walking out of the seating area. If the breakfast was free, or if they weren't going to ask for the vouchers, I didn't need to pay for them! Not sure, but left my vouchers and walked out.
Limited hotels in the El Segundo area, so I would probably need to stay here again. Would I look forward to it? Not really, but wouldn't complain too much if I needed to. I'm neutral on this hotel. Could take it or leave it.