I am flying overseas in August. I will be overnighting at LAX. Does anyone have recommendations for places to stay near the airport? This is a vacation so I want to relax for a bit and have planned the departures in the afternoon both ways. I plan to overnight both ways-arrive in the afternoon one day leave in the afternoon the next day. Any suggestions would be welcome.
Best I can suggest in plug your dates of stay and LAX as the destination to Hotels.com and see what they show. I would think most places within 5-8 miles of the airport have shuttle services. Some hotels have ‘pick-up at hotel’ day tours of LA (you’d have to research that further) or at least they did the last time I was there about 5 years ago.
Maybe others have more specific knowledge than I do, but that could be a good starting point.
IMHO as always, YMMV.
There are a bunch very close by, but you could also look at staying in Venice or Santa Monica if you have the better part of a day to spend in LA.
As an aside, I once overnighted at LAX travelling from Seattle to Ixtapa. I think I only had 8-10 hours on the ground so I booked a place called the Concourse Hotel which was basically on the far side of the parking garage. This hotel was being renovated and rebranded to a Hyatt but they kept it open during the renos. I had a pre-renovated room and I could have sworn I was on the set of The Shining. I could not get out of there fast enough in the morning.
From my limited experience, in many places the closer to the airport the older/worse the motel. 
There are a bunch of hotels right outside the airport. I posted my request just to see if any of our frequent travelers have a favorite.
It’s been a while since I was in that area, but I remember staying at one of those close-in hotels, right on Century Boulevard (the main east-west road leading out of LAX), maybe a decade ago. It wasn’t bad, but my recollection is that the neighborhood there isn’t particularly charming.
There are TWO Embassy Suites locations near LAX. The first, about a block past the entrance to the airport, is a nice high rise. The second, only a few blocks away, is a charming hacienda style low rise. I’ve stayed at both several times and both are nice.
The last person you want hotel advice from is someone who lives near LAX. So I’ll chime in.
All of the hotels lining Century Blvd above Aviation Blvd are nice hotels (IIRC the Steelers stayed at the Marriott this last season), If you are on Southwest, the Hyatt Regency is walking distance. If you stay in this area, you’ll be dining in a hotel restaurant unless you cab/Uber/Lyft it and there isn’t much ambience for walking around.
If someone had time and wanted some beach ambience, I’d tell them to check out hotels in Hermosa Beach or the Portofino Inn in Redondo Beach. You’d need to Uber/Lyft to/from the hotel, though (check both out, they can differ by a factor of 2 at any given time- $25-$35 is a “fair” price for Hermosa/Manhattan/Redondo rides). The advantage is some very nice restaurants in walking distance, the beach and some funky neighborhoods for walking around.
In-N-Out is walking distance from the airport (I’ve personally walked there during a long layover), so I assume it would be walking distance from the Hyatt Regency. No, the walk isn’t the nicest scenery, though, although you do get to watch very low flying planes directly overhead if you like that sort of thing.
In-N-Out is close to the hotels next to the airport, and there is also a Carl’s Jr. near Aviation if your hotel is farther away on Century.
Of course, if your budget constrains you to fast food, then you’re also probably staying at a hotel west of Aviation (shudder).
peccavi, thanks!
I am trying to decide if I should stay off the airport strip. I have a day, but that isn’t much time to see much.
Especially in LA. With careful planning, you might be able to visit two sightseeing locations in a day, but requiring 1-2 hours total drive time.
The hotels on Century are fine and there are a couple of fast food alternatives or just eating in what is probably a pretty decent hotel restaurant. If all you want to do is crash, relax, and fly out. I think they’d be fine.
If you have a long “day” (arrive the morning of day 1, fly out the evening of Day 2, I’d probably encourage staying in a hotel at the beach and searching for whatever fine dining (lot’s of ethnic choices available) you desire for dinner and a local breakfast/lunch spots (there are some good ones. Manhattan Beach has the Kettle and Uncle Bill’s, Hermosa has a bunch right at the pier, plus Martha’s) ). You could walk on the beach or rent a bike for the morning and check out the Silver Strand, then Uber to the airport in the afternoon.
If you don’t have a long “day”, but still want more than an airport hotel and restaurant, it occurred to me you might try one of the hotels just south of the airport on Sepulveda (I actually used to stay at what is now a Fairfield Inn and used to be The Hacienda. Back in the day, a lot of the air crews stayed there. It has a big pool in the center courtyard and the evenings were quite a party atmosphere). These hotels have modest, but clean, rooms.
The advantage of these hotels is that they will have airport shuttle service but the restaurants nearby are more diverse, especially fast casual of a variety of ethnicities, plus In-N-Out and Five Guys, and a good IHOP (on weekends they have a valet) for breakfast. In addition, they are (long) walking distance into El Segundo’s “main” leisure, parks, and dining areas, so a nice area for a walk, or even a nice long walk/short Uber to a brewpub or memorable restaurant (most along Main Street).
Another advantage is a cab/uber/lyft to/from one of the South Bay beaches is going to be cheap.
Final thought. If you decide to spend some time (even a few hours) at one of the South Bay beaches, search on events. The South Bay has a lot of Volleyball, surfing, and other activities, so you might want to know.
Thanks!