Hotel Amarano in Burbank, California

 

We went on vacation recently & wanted to stay at a hotel that was near everything we were going to be visiting on our trip. As with most families it was important to us to find something that was affordable & wasn't run down while still being in a close proximity to our destination. During my search & comparing hotels we landed on staying at Hotel Amarano in Burbank. Price wise, it was in the middle price range, it wasn't cheap however it also wasn't the most expensive hotel in the area. Aside from the location the two things that drew me to the hotel was that they had on-site parking & offered breakfast as part of their daily amenity fee. You are not able to self-park so you will need to pull up to the front of the hotel so the valet can park your car for you in their parking located under the hotel. Overall, it was a good stay, there was a small downside or two, but that is almost expected when traveling. 

There was a bit of confusion when we first arrived as we had booked two rooms through a booking site & were not aware the booking site had put the reservations under two of our names since the confirmation only showed one name with "2 rooms" under it. It took a few minutes, but they were able to get us into two rooms, although they did end up overcharging our credit card so we had to come back down so they could fix it. Thankfully they realized the mistake right away. We liked that it was right across the street from a small shopping center that had restaurants, a grocery store, Starbucks & more to make it continent to walk over and grab anything you might need. It was also located close to the freeway & several tourist type attractions which was the biggest draw for this hotel, was that it was close to everything we had planned on doing during our trip.

The hotel lobby & bar area were nice. I enjoyed looking at the art and décor they had on display & they had a few different styles of seating available. You could order both drinks & food at the bar and it is also where they placed the continental breakfast in the morning. Our party was a little surprised at the breakfast though, we've stayed in hotels that were much cheaper that had a breakfast spread better suited to multiple appetites which included cereal, eggs, pancakes or even make your own waffles. For the price per night for this hotel you would think they would have something similar. The first morning they had three flavors of bagels, yogurt, a bowl of granola bars, some fresh fruits, mini muffins/pastry and coffee. The second morning they had plain bagels, mini yogurts, mini muffins, half the fruit they had the morning prior and coffee. There were no drink options for non-coffee drinkers or young children, nor were there a lot of non-bread options for non-gluten eaters. One of the families that was getting breakfast at the same time we were had asked if they could get some milk for their small children & were told it would be an extra charge to their room. I know it might sound whinny to be a little judgmental of the breakfast offering, but some people like to book hotels specifically for the included breakfast to help cut down on travel cost when traveling with their families. In a way the hotel felt like more of a spot to stay if you are traveling on business or just in town to see family verses being more family friendly for those visiting Universal, Disney, etc. 

Our hotel room was nice & cozy, there were plenty of space for the four of us in the room we had & the rest of our party was in the room across the hallway. The sofa they had in the rooms were decent & offered plenty of support, they were relaxing to sit down on & watch TV after a long day of exploring and walking around. There was plenty of space for everyone to store their luggage off of the ground. My favorite feature of the room was hands down the bathroom because of the shower, there was a shower head + handheld shower head at each end of the shower. They aim to be eco-friendly in the bathroom so you will not find travel sized shampoo/conditioner instead they have it mounted on the wall in the bathroom. Our room also had a small, enclosed patio attached to it; however, we didn't spend much time outside as the patio could have used a cleaning & we didn't spend enough time in the room to hang out on the patio. 

**This is not a sponsored or hosted post, we paid for this hotel on our own while on vacation. I like sharing fun spots we visit, restaurants to eat at & lodging that we stay at to help others who may be traveling to the area & are looking for recommendations. **