Just a background about why we stayed here, we were heading on a cruise out of San Pedro. We booked the hotel with points, big mistake.
From the moment we arrived the staff were incompetent. When we first got our rooms, they had made a mistake after a long flight want to relax in our room, only to find out there are people already staying in their. When we return back there are no apologies offered by the front desk. We asked if we could have an ajoining room with the other people in our party. They infromed us that the doors would not open, again a lie b/c we were both able to open our doors.
The next day the people in our party complained that they did in fact get bitten by bugs with marks to prove it. After infroming the front desk, with no real care about the matter. We asked if we could cash traveller's cheque, something a hotel normally does. This was needed to pay for our breakfast at the hotel. The oreintal lady at the front desk tells us she can't cash cheque, until the manager shows. She says ask the restaurant, which we did and in turn we were told to contact the front desk. So we just decided to grab fast food instead.
Another thing we noted was there was a bar that was under us , and we were not able to go to bed until the karokee stoped at 2 in the morning .
Another thing that was quiete shocking is there were no English newspapers avialable, but 3 different asian newspapers were available, wierd.
Finally, we were taking advantage of the shuttle to the pier. We had been phoned by the front desk to show up 15 minutes earlier than our reservation. We end up waiting in the hotel lobby for 40 minutes waiting for a van, again no apologies just more lies. We asked about every ten minutes when it should arrive, lady kept informing us another 15 minutes. So in the end this hotel experience was a horrible one, but didn;t ruin our trip.
I know some people on here may think i am being to picky, but I work as tour guide in Pacific Northwest and have stayed in my fair share of hotels, some nice and some not so nice. But this is one of the few trips where the hotel staff lied.
Buyer Beware

I have being a guest at this Hotel for a long time and never had a problem.
Last time I stayed in this Hotel was the worst stay I ever had. Front desk clerks looked like they were falling asleep and I guess they could care less about anything. All new faces from the last time I was there. The bad part was when I had internet connection problems. I got this lady claiming to be a manager of some kind, trying to help, but she was useless because her english was horrible. She had asian background I guess, but what I don't understand is how does a well known Hotel chain company like Holiday Inn hires managers that barely speak any english?
I wish good luck for whoever stays there now, and make sure you are bilingual!!!

We stayed here for a convention for 4 nights and got the room off the hotel website for $152 a night. Considering that there was like 3 conventions going on that week we were there, we were lucky to find a room and the price was ok. We got a room with 2 KING BEDS!! Not only were the beds big they were very comfortable and i had 4 great nights of sleep. The neighborhood was little rough, but what do you expect in downtown Long Beach.
The Lobby could use some air refreshner because it smelled like old hair spray(if that makes sense). The price was the worst thing about the stay, and so overall it was great. All of these people talking about the neighborhood being so bad that they felt scared, i mean come on seriously just dont go walking outside alone and grow a pair.

Great hotel with good amenities. Hotel is in downtown Long Beach but near metro and didn't feel threatened at night.
Only down side is that it is 1 mile from beach, but walk keeps you fit from all those huge meals.