Hotel St. Lauren

If you are looking for somewhere to just lay your head for the weekend then this place will do. But if you're looking for any type of luxury or amenities this is not the hotel for you. We came to the island for my wife's birthday and we chose this place because of the reviews and a few photos. I would not recommend this hotel if you're looking for any type of luxury. The hotel does absolutely nothing to make the place comfortable for you. It's basically just a room with a bed. The shower has no pressure, literally none at all. Same with the faucet on the sink. The bathroom smells old and moldy, and the mattress literally feels like a box spring. The good thing is it's centrally located to everything, 5 minute walk and you're to the beach and restaurants. We will never stay here again. It's absolutely not worth the money we spent for the room.

This hotel is conveniently located in Avalon. The room was pretty basic , but a great value due to its proximity to all the action. The ocean view rooms seem like they would have a great view, but we didn’t want to pay the extra for that. The front desk mentioned they would be willing to store our bags before check-in, though we didn’t take them up on it, it was a nice offer. The old pink building reminds me of San Francisco.

So hotels in catalina are old, small and pricey. Our room was small but very clean. We didn't have a frig or microwave but had no problems getting things warmed up. The price was actually very reasonable compared to what other friends paid. I found the front desk to very helpful and kind no matter what time it was. Catalina's charm is the nostalgia. You don't need a big room(just clean) get out and explore! The island is beautiful.

We stayed for three nights. The first night/morning we were awoken by the person in the room next door talking on the phone. Then, at 6:30am, he played rock music. The second night, the person in the room above was constantly walking back and forth, and since the rooms have laminate flooring, we could hear every footfall. We had a very disturbed night. This continued until he checked out around 11am. Thankfully, the third night was undisturbed. Although neither instances were the fault of the hotel per se, and I did report both instances to the front desk and requested to be contacted by the manager to no avail, I would suggest thinking twice about booking here. The bed was comfortable and the location excellent. There was one arm chair in the room that was definitely on the "shabby" side of shabby chic. If there's a king-size bed, wouldn't one assume that there were probably two people staying and provide two chairs? There was no coffee machine provided. Note: Although we requested an accessible room, the age of the hotel meant that the room has a regular bathtub with a chair. Not ideal.

STAY AWAY from this hotel which doesn’t even deserve a 1 star rating. I lost $466 on a one night stay at this hotel because the ferry service was sold out for our return date. I called left many messages for hotel reservations and Mark the hotel Manager, sent emails and not one response, very unprofessional. I should have read all the negative reviews prior to booking, YELP has many more. Hope this helps. Very unsatisfied traveler

“Not a chance” is what I said to our friends, “No way we’ll get a room anywhere on the island last minute!” I call the last phone number I had and the nicest woman said, “Sure, and just so you know you got the last room on the island. We just had a cancellation, so it’s yours!” Four hours later we were wandering the streets of the island, then checked into our rooms. We loved it! Friendly staff and very pleasant. They warned us if we were in town and heard the loud siren we should seek shelter. My eyebrows shot up until they explained and we all laughed…. “The wild Buffalo like to come over from the other side of the island, through the streets and meander down to the shore, not often but it does happen.” Sure enough three days later here they came. Really something to see. Our room was clean and always refreshed daily. Really nice room! We didn’t go to spend our time watching t.v. We went to enjoy the island with friends and we appreciated Hotel St. Lauren. We’ve spent a lot of time on Catalina since childhood and it just keeps getting better. Best snorkeling you’ll find.

Location is good. Rooms are small, but others are a little larger. NO real assistance unless you call for it. Front desk is covered sometimes, other times not. Two blocks from beach and stores. Close to Vons. Steeper walk to hotel, not good for wheelchairs, handicapped , etc.

We loved our stay at Hotel St. Lauren! We booked the hotel about 2 weeks out and Hotel St. Lauren was the only option available that was reasonably priced, given that it was Labor Day Weekend in Avalon. We arrived early afternoon, and the staff was very accommodating. All staff members were very friendly through our stay. The hotel has an old time charm in design and lobby furnishings. The hotel spaces are smaller with no extra amenities, but the room was updated with a great tile bathroom, a comfortable bed, great A/C and a good amount of room. We are very particular about cleanliness, and we found the room and hotel to be maintained perfectly. We especially enjoyed the 6th floor patio that overlooked the city. Also, the location is so convenient to the grocery store just 1 block away and great restaurants close too. Hopefully, the Covid questionnaire that we had to fill out will go away soon. We failed to see the benefit of that. Otherwise, a perfect stay!

It’s a decent place if you’re in a pinch but way overpriced. If you’re coming during the peak summer months, expect to pay luxury rates for a motel 6 experience. The room is as bare bones as it gets. We had a view of Beacon St towards the mountain side with a nice angle view of the water. There are two windows. Only one opened. The AC system is a basic window unit. It’s set to Celsius. The room isn’t very clean. When we arrived my gf spotted foreign hair and some dark black stains (looked like the sheet got caught in the wash machine against a belt) on the corner of the bed spread. The bathroom sink is terrible. Sprays like a public bathroom and gets the entire counter soaked. Speaking of the bathroom, toilet bowl fills with way too much water. I’ll leave it to your imagination for the potential problems that you may incur. Also, the bathroom door must stay closed during a shower because the steam will apparently trigger the fire alarm system. This is noted on the back of the bathroom door. The hotel doesn’t offer any sort of baggage hold. They direct you to the baggage claim service that’s located near the ferry port. The best thing about the Hotel St. Lauren is the 6th floor balcony that’s available to all guests. It offers a splendid view of the entire coastline. Bring a bevy of your choosing and enjoy the view, albeit standing as most chairs on the deck are broken. Overall, we made it work but don’t plan on staying here again unless we had too. But probably not even then tbh. 2 stars. 1 star for it in fact being a hotel and 1 for the balcony.