The Garland Hotel Review – Best Hotel For Universal Studios Hollywood

The Garland Hotel is one of the best hotels near Universal Studios Hollywood. This family-owned hotel is a 1970s-style Los Angeles resort on a beautiful property with a large pool area, fitness center, FREE shuttle to Universal Studios Hollywood, and an excellent on-site restaurant called The Front Yard.

The Garland Hotel offers great service and a perfect location in the San Fernando Valley in North Hollywood, California. The hotel is our top pick for the best hotels near Universal Studios Hollywood. You can book this hotel and Universal Studios tickets for a great savings from our travel partner, Get Away Today, here.

I first discovered The Garland Hotel while enjoying the Front Yard restaurant with family who were staying at the hotel long before I ever personally stayed here. Since then we have been back to eat and stay multiple times.

The Garland Hotel Review

Staying at The Garland hotel feels like you are stepping back in time to the golden years of Hollywood. The hotel opened in 1972 and celebrated its 50th anniversary in style in 2022. You'll still find markings from the hotel's 50th anniversary the property. Over the course of the 50 years, the hotel has been both a Howard Johnson and a Holiday Inn. During the entire time, Beverly Garland and her husband and now their kids have owned the hotel. The hotel has since dropped any hotel partnerships and is run independently by the family. This family ownership bleeds into the service at the property. The front desk agents shared with how much they enjoy working at the hotel and how the staff is a close-knit, long-tenured, team.

The resort feels laid-back and quiet. It's very different from any of the larger hotel chains nearby. Those other hotels can serve the utility of giving you a place to sleep while at Universal, but this hotel feels like a place to hang out after a long day. Unlike Disney, the Universal days are do not stretch long into the night because the Universal park hours are shorter and you can accomplish so much in one day with a good day plan. So, it's beneficial to have somewhere nice to head back to to relax.

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This hotel really lights up at night with a fire pit in the lobby and popcorn lights strung throughout the property. Very relaxing and awesome vibe!

The Garland Hotel Room

There are 267 rooms at the hotel. The Garland hotel rooms are well-appointed and comfortable. The rooms feel very 1970s but have been completely updated. During my stay, I enjoyed a king bedroom that looked out over the property. The views from the room were beautiful in the morning (see top featured image) and at night.

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The bathroom in my room had a large modern shower and no bath tub. The room overall was extremely comfortable and clean.

I loved the pops of color combined with the clean lines and new fixtures that bring this 1970s hotel into the 2020s. The hotel brings in modern conveniences while maintaining the retro charm.

The only issue with the room was the sliding door which opens in an accordion style like the door of a subway car or bus. Once it was open I had a hard time getting it completely closed again, but I eventually squished it in the right way.

The Garland Resort Amenities

The Garland has one pool and two hot tubs. One of the hot tubs is for adults 21+ only. The pool is open from 6 am to 10 pm. In the warmer months, there are tons of fun activities here like a pool movie.

The Garland functions more like a resort than a theme park hotel. It has a large pool and property, a workout facility, a spacious lobby area, and complimentary classes and activities.

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There's a complete set of activities ranging from an urban walk to see the nearby Brady Bunch house to morning yoga. They really treat this hotel property like a resort.

The hotel also has a laundry room and a large work out facility that you can see here. The gym is open 24/7.

The Front Yard Restaurant

The restaurant is perfect for dinner after a long day at Universal Studios Hollywood. Unlike the great food at Disneyland, Universal is more lacking in this area so a dinner back at the hotel could be the perfect relaxing option. This is a favorite spot for travelers and locals in the area because it's so much more than a hotel restaurant. The Front Yard also has an affordable breakfast buffet in the morning.

The breakfast buffet was large and was just $23 per adult and $15 per child. The hot food and pastries on the buffet were delicious. I thought the value for the money was very good.

There was even an egg and spinach dish which is my go-to breakfast generally so it was awesome to see it here. I am not usually one to dive into the pastries at a buffet like this, but the croissants were so good that I had to have two.

And, here's a look at the plate that I ended up with from the buffet.

Getting From The Garland to Universal Studios Hollywood

You'll find the shuttle to Universal Studios Hollywood running almost every hour. See the sample Garland hotel shuttle schedule below.

The shuttle also stops at the Los Angeles Metro Red Line station for those who want to take advantage of the LA Metro for other Los Angeles sightseeing.

Typically The Garland uses an open air trolley that is super cute and painted with The Garland logo. During my visit, the shuttle was in the shop so they had upscale mini-buses to shuttle guests from the hotel to the theme park. When there are too many guests to fit on a shuttle the shuttle will make additional trips during that hour to ensure everyone gets to the park. This is most likely to happen during the morning hours.

This hotel is a great option for your Universal Studios Hollywood visit or for a general family trip to Los Angeles.

We were hosted by this hotel for a stay but that was only after personal stays here where I formed my strong positive opinion.

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