I would give this a 3 1/2 star if I could. First of all I love the location of this hotel. It is in the heart with no golf carts able to drive by and make noise because of the blocked off road that is for pedestrian traffic only. My biggest thing about any hotel is the cleanliness and this hotel was very clean. It is dated but clean... The beds were OK along with the bathroom and it had a cool little patio that was shared in the courtyard to hang out which was really nice as well. What I didn't like was the rude little clerk who checked us in. We prepaid this hotel months ago and did not bring our credit card that we paid for it with us. I had my ID and I had other credit cards for incidentals but the comment was made to me "I will let it slide this time"! What kind of comment is that anyway when the room is already paid for? What was she going to do kick us out? It was rude and condescending and could have been said very differently. I would stay here again but found the workers in general on the island to be not very friendly or helpful. Kind of weird when the whole island is depending on tourism. read more

The hotel is located conveniently across from the beach and near shops and restaurants. The room is clean. Internet was spotty and did not work well. My husband and I booked an Ocean view room for our anniversary. Unfortunately, right below our room, there was a bar, with blaring music, DJ and LOUD partiers. This went on very late til the bar closed. The sound proofing was nonexistent! If you want to sleep before 1AM, do NOT stay at this place! read more

My boyfriend & I spent two nights at this hotel. We didn't have any problems that the other posters mentioned (bed bugs, shower rust etc.) besides the bathroom door not being able to close and the lack of water pressure in our room. We stayed in one of the double patio rooms. It was about the size of a bedroom which was disappointing, but we worked with it. The staff was friendly and they have DVDs that they can let you borrow at the front desk. Tv was tiny, but the bed was really comfortable. The location was amazing, it's right in the center of all the shops and restaurants. read more

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It's a cozy well kept hotel that is much bigger than it looks from the outside, the hotel is conveniently located by restaurants/water. We were given a continental breakfast and they arranged our Catalina express ride for us as well. All in all convenient and well priced for what we got. read more

Fantastic stay at the Hotel Mac Rae! It's right on the main street (directly next to some more expensive hotels -- I imagine you would get the same view of the ocean if you opted for a ocean-front view). Very convenient access if you want to stop by and pick things up/drop off purchases throughout the day. They also were kind to check us in early (as our room was done) and hold our stuff in their luggage racks after check-out while we continued to tour the island before our boat home that evening. No frills, but a lovely place. No microwave or fridge was a slight disappointment, but I was prepared having read other reviewers. If you're going to Catalina to spend more time outside the room than in it, this is your place! Certainly will be back the next time I'm on the island and will be recommending to family and friends. read more

First off, we were not informed of the series of flights of stairs we had to overcome just to get to the 'office' which was little more than a cage. To keep guests out or the clerk in is questionable. No provisions for handicapped. I thought that was the law. No telephones in the room. Never had and will never have, No microwave, fridge or CD/BlueRay player. These were not promised but would certainly been nice to have. Room was small and cramped We will not return read more

Can't say much. They are cheap and it show in the small rooms, no frig, no microwave, lots is stairs and staff is crap. The rooms are clean to a low standard. Everyone that works there looks so sad. They lie about the payment options. The view is nice if you get a room facing the pier. Lots of food options around. It is a good place to stay if all you want it a place yo sleep, and please for the love of God don't eat their breakfast. Check out is 11am. read more

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Our first time on Catalina. We spent all day out and about. So the small room was perfect for the 2 nights we were there. She let us check in early because there was an available room. Very clean and comfortable. Quiet place, and we felt secure. I wish they had more than pastries for breakfast. We didn't miss the fridge or microwave. But had to go next door for (good and inexpensive!) coffee before 7:00 a.m. read more

The room was pretty small with not a whole lot of room to move around in. Since you're on an island, I have to assume space is at a premium and you get what you pay for... sort of. Anywhere you stay on the island is going to be pretty pricey, but since this is one of the cheaper places, not a lot of space. A few of the things worth mentioning though is that most people don't think about packing beach towels when they travel, and the office let's you borrow theirs free of charge. You just have to leave an ID or credit card so you have a reason to return it. They also have a pretty decent selection of movies to borrow. Same goes for the movies as with the towels. You have to leave a card. The fact that they have movies to borrow is kind of cool because the one movie theatre on the island only shows one movie each week... or was it month? Either way it's a nice option to have though we didn't have enough free time to actually use it. The breakfast was laughable. They had coffee milk and orangle juice and these micro muffins which I suppose may have been smart considering how much people actually waste when given a full sized one. They also had cheese and fruit danishes but either they ran out of the cheese ones or you have to get there early to get one. No fruit no yogurt and no meets. I would have really liked a bagel and cream cheese, but that wasn't an option. I almost wish they didn't bother offering breakfast because it was so disappointing. Only good thing was that the danishes were individually wrapped. Since I took one back to the room to see if hubby maybe wanted it and didn't, I stuck it in our back pack and it ended up being smart to have later in the day when he was a little hungry but no hungry enough for a full meal. read more

I stayed at the Hotel Mac Rae last weekend with my boyfriend. The first night we had an ocean view room and it was very nice to have the view of the pier and the sound of gently crashing waves all night. The ocean view room is small but nice. The only drawback to this room is that there are a lot of people on the boardwalk below you. The next two nights we had a different room because no ocean view rooms were available. This room was larger but not quiet at all! It was right next to the ice machine, office and vending machine. It was loud and we could hear everything and everyone that walked by. I wouldn't stay in that room again. The staff were nice and helpful so I appreciated that. But if I was ever to stay here again it would have to be in one of the ocean view rooms only. So I rated this hotel 4 stars for the friendly staff and the ocean view room only. read more

Very bad, when booked, said breakfast included but the hotel gave us a voucher worth only $5 to use in Lloyd cafe which the coffee itself cist $4.25, the hotel looks 250 years old, sooooooooooooooooooooooooo baaaaaadddddddddddddddd read more

The hotel was clean and perfectly located a 5 minute walk from the dock. We loved being on the main drag so we could visit the room to drop off shopping bounty, change after the beach, etc. without much effort. The staff was super helpful. They have free beach towel rentals and DVD rentals which is really nice! We used both the towels and the DVD rental. Way better than having to make a hike up the hill or call a taxi. We will be back! read more

DO NOT STAY HERE. If I could give zero stars I would. My girlfriend and I came here for the Labor Day weekend. We planned on staying two nights and had been waiting for this weekend getaway for weeks. When we got to the hotel, the man who checked us in was very nice and professional. The problem started when we got to our room. The second the door cracked open, we smelled the strongest smell of weed I've ever smelled. It was like someone had been smoking in the room right before we got there. We are both reasonable people and tried to air out the room for an hour and half before saying something to the man at the front desk. The room would not air out, it was so strong we both started to get headaches. Once we realized it wasn't going away, I went and asked for a different room. I was told that another room was not available and the man at the front desk apologized. He came over to the room and acknowledged that the smell was "amazingly strong". He told me that his manager would be available in the morning to discuss compensation for us since obviously the room was not in acceptable shape. I called almost every other hotel on the island trying to find us another room. I could only find one available for the next night so I went and told the man at the front desk that we would not be staying both nights and only the first night since we had no other options. We both left to try to enjoy the rest of our evening and stayed out as late as possible to avoid coming back to the room. When we came back that night about five hours later it was still as strong as the first time that we had opened the door upon arrival. The next morning at check out the "supervisor" tried to act like nothing had happened and only talked about the situation with me when I brought it up. She told me that nothing could be done and that the only person who could offer us some sort of compensation was out of town. She did not apologize once. I understand that the hotel doesn't have control over what guests do with the rooms but at the same time the person who ruined the room should be punished and not my girlfriend and I who did nothing wrong. I reached out to the hotel asking to get my money back for the horrible night that I stayed and they have ignored me. The day that we checked out the Manager had the balls to call us and tell us that we had to cancel our reservation on hotels.com so she could rent the room out the night that we left. That showed me that she did not take our complaint seriously at all even though the room still reeked of weed when we checked out the next day. I think someone spilled bong water all over the carpet and that is why it was so strong. This experience was awful and I would recommend staying at any other hotel rather than this one based on the horrible customer service we received here. read more

This hotel was absolutely adorable!! Everything was comfortable and cozy, but the beds could use new pillows and the hotel was a little outdated (this didn't really bother us though and won't stop us from coming back). Overall the location was so nice as it was right in the middle of the main shops and restaurants in Avalon. The customer service was so friendly and it was a great price. I would definitely stay again! Also the courtyard on the roof was stunning. Thanks for a great stay Mac Rae! read more

Great location, right in the center of town, polite and helpful staffs, room are small but clean and cozy, I recommend this hotel to anyone interested in resealable price in Catalina. read more

Our 6 year has wanted to go to catalina for 3 years now. For her birthday this year we decided to go for one night and two days. We LOVED staying in Hotel Mac Rae. The view coming out of stairwell is so beautiful. The rooms are small and cute. But enough room for our family of four. Hot coffee and Hot water in the AM and little muffins hit the spot. On the main strip of Avalon. They held our luggage till our boat left. So we were able to go back and drop off jackets, etc. We would totally stay again. Loved every second of this vacation. read more

This was a nice little hotel for my friends & I to spend the night. Located right on the Main Street along the beach, it was a perfect location. The hotel looks like a nice motel 6. They do have a luggage storage area which we took advantage of because our boat dropped us off at 9am and our room wouldn't be ready until 2pm. The storage is just a closet across from the main desk, which made us all very nervous leaving our bags out in the open, but we simply couldn't carry our luggage until 2 pm, so we left it (thankfully nothing was stolen). We called at about 1 pm to check if maybe our room was ready, and it was, so they allowed us to check in an hour early. The rooms are small and to the point. Just a bed, 2 bedside tables, a desk, and a tv mounted above the desk. The bathroom was also small, with absolutely no counter space, but a shower that was clean & does have very nice hot water. The bed sheets were clean, the TV was big, no problems there. The AC unit makes a terrible sound like a chainsaw when it turns on and off, but does keep the room very cold. It turns off automatically so we had to do without it during the night since we didn't want to be awakened by the chainsaw AC sounds. There is "continental" breakfast from 7am - 10 am. Literally just coffee, orange juice, and muffins. Nothing continental about that, so that was a downside. For check out, same thing with the luggage. We checked out at 10:30 am, but our boat didn't leave until 4 pm. We were allowed to keep our stuff in the luggage storage, but we again encountered the problem of worrying about our bags getting stolen. Overall, the room was small, but is good just to sleep and everything was clean, so can't complain. I would stay here again because it is so close to everything and affordable, but the open luggage storage is what really worried us the whole time, so might have to think about that detail! read more

Awesome place to stay. We were literally on the beach. Staff was very polite and the room was clean. Loved that it was right in the center of everything. read more

It has a great location, right on the water and an easy walk from the boat dock. We had a courtyard room with a queen for the two of us, and it was small, but clean. Be warned...there are stairs to climb to all the rooms. I thought it was reasonably priced. We had a package for one night including the boat ride from Long Beach and we paid $245 including tax, for a weeknight in July, 2009. The courtyard was nice, with comfortable furniture, but the smokers seemed to be always there. The continental breakfast was quite sparse, with no fruit. But it was nice to be right in the middle of town, on the water. read more

It was really dirty unfortunately. :( no soap.. no shampoo... very old Kleenex. Had a problem checking in. But the office manager took care of it. Even though it wasn't what I booked. The beds are very hard. So are the pillows. The door had a huge opening on the side. Don't think I'd stay here again:( read more

One of the best priced hotels that sit right on the boardwalk. Staff was very friendly and accommodating. We loved it here!

Extremely rude staff and nasty sheets! My skin literally crawled! Honestly don't bother calling their management because the owner itself will treat you like crap and not take responsibility! No wonder everyone hates this place after reading all the reviews ! read more

They were able to get me an early check in which was awesome ! Because i didn't want to be waiting around with my luggage. They also had some orange juice and muffins in the morning that I'd always be a little late to because I would sleep in. But awesome that they do that for the guests. read more

My wife and I enjoyed our stay here while in Avalon. We had a room with an ocean view, which I recommend, even if you are out and about a lot. It makes the time in the room nice and at night you can hear the ocean. The staff were accommodating and the room, though not fancy, was clean and comfortable. I loved the downtown location. read more

Every time we go to Catalina this is the place we stay. We live in San Diego and go to Catalina at least once a year. It is a favorite destination for just us or when we have guests. This hotel is smack dab in the middle of things. Easy to get to and just as easy to escape to. It may not be the newest and the beds might be a bit old but I'm not there to lay in bed. I'm there to wander around and enjoy the island. And even though it's right on the main drag, the rooms are quite and the service is impeccable. You walk out the door and you're right where you want to be. I recommend this place to everyone who asks me where to stay in Catalina. read more

Two stars because it was close to the water but the pillows were hard as rocks , the room was wicked small and probably haunted because me and my boyfriend fought . Oh and the breakfast was old looking pastries that i noticed the night before in a storage container at the main office. PUKE . read more

I reserved half a month ahead of time and it was pretty expensive. Thought it would be worth it if we were getting a bathtub room since there's no ocean view. But no it was a small queen size bedroom right next to the restaurant downstairs. The walls are so thin since we can hear everything outside the walls downstairs and outside our door. It's not a holiday weekend so wondering why did it cost over $500 for a two night getaway for a sad small hotel room. The WiFi was on the fritz it would sometimes work and sometimes not work. There was no microwave or mini fridge for leftovers which didn't help either. The lady who checked us in was nice. She recommended something for my boyfriends sea sickness. read more

Loved the central location of the hotel. Staff was friendly and helpful. Powerful a/c in the room plus ceiling fan made for good climate control in the room. Not great on accessibility given all the stair climbing to get in and out, but was otherwise a fine place to stay. read more

Perfect location, super clean rooms. Good cancellation policy, especially good for boaters so we can check the weather and get a refund if the weather is not passable. Thanks for the nice stay and beautiful location! read more

Loved our stay at the Mac Rae. Room was tiny but clean. Shower and bed were comfy. Best location & price on the Island. There are stairs to the rooms so be prepared for that. Highly recommended, we'll be back. read more

Hotel Mac Rae - Hotels Near Me - Avalon, California

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Basically, this place is SO GREAT. You cannot get a better location in Avalon. It's super central, right in front of the beach--don't sleepwalk down the stairs and across the lane or you'll wake up in kelp and waves! The staff are incredibly friendly. Strike that--they are very credibly friendly and accommodating. The only downside is sound travels more than I'd like between walls and form people in the courtyard but there's little to be done about it and by a reasonable bedtime we didn't hear a thing. AC in the rooms! Skylights (in our room anyway). TV! Only other downside: their WiFi is very weak. Hoping they can find a way to boost it. Otherwise, we had lovely time there. The rooms facing the ocean are to die for (their view, I mean). In short: do it. :) We'll be back again. read more

When I checked in last Saturday, the hotel receptionist couldn't find my reservation. I confidently pulled it up on my phone and unfortunately figured out why. I made the reservation for Friday. The day before. Not the day I was checking in. Although it was my mistake, the hotel receptionist found another room and let me stay without a charge for Saturday. Very nice. The room was clean and water and heating worked well. The continental breakfast was reasonable. The location was great. So was the service. I will come back again. read more

Thumbs up for their location and the room is clean as well as we were able to checked in early but the customer service is really poor. The room did not have microwave,fridge,coffee maker and flat iron which are basic amenities a hotel room should have.The receptionist was not also helpful when we asked if they have a microwave.She just answered 'NO'. read more

Some here say "great deal" while others don't like this hotel. It all depends on what kind of deal you get. We visited there in the busy August season (2009) and paid $250 per night for a ocean view room. At this price, I would NEVER stay here again. If you can get this room for $100/night, then go for it. The room is TINY! Yes, most hotels in Catalina have small rooms, but not fo $250/night. The bathroom is very small as well with a small dark and dingy shower. The bed and pillows are absolutely horrible (we had a king bed), so make sure to take your own pillows. The courtyard rooms have a big airconditioner, but the ocean view rooms have a terrible air conditioner. Leaving windows open brings in a nice breeze, but the noise from the bar downstairs (Karaoke) is way too loud, so you'll have to close the window and rely on the poor A/C. They have free wi-fi, but it didn't reach our room. I'm sure it reaches some rooms, but not ours. I had to go in the courtyard with my laptop for wi-fi. There is no phone in the room either, but cell phone reception is excellent on the island. The "breakfast" is a joke. A small table in the couryard has coffee with some old small bagels and muffins. It just didn't look good. All we got out of it was our morning coffee to help us wake up. The view from the room was excellent. No complaints here. But it still wasn't nealy worth $250. And to other viewers who say it's a "great deal", please post at what price! If you go off season where it's $100/night and the bar downstairs closes at 9:00 pm (so no noise at night), yes it's a great deal. But for the $250 in-season price, it's a complete rip-off. read more

As a birthday gift to my daughter, McKenna Rae, I found this hotel on Trip Advisor and thought what a perfect place to send her and her fiance' for her 26th birthday this weekend. Never have I been more disappointed by an establishment in the 'hospitality' industry. I chose this hotel by the name and convenience in town, when I could have chosen any other hotel at the time of booking since all of them, at the time, we around the same price. I booked the reservation under my own AX since it was a gift. When I read the fine print of the confirmation, I saw that the person checking in needs the actual card at the time of check in. When I stated that I do not live near my daughter and that would be impossible, the reservation clerk, Billy told me he would send me a credit card authorization and it needed to be filled out, with a picture of both sides of my card and emailed back to them. Once he received it, Billy contacted me and said that McKenna was good to go, Once she got there yesterday, however, Amanda attempted to check them in and said they cannot check in using my card since that's against policy. She was extremely rude about it and basically didn't care whether they stayed or left. My daughter then gave Amanda her card. I called and spoke with Amanda at this time and she said that Billy was fired because he went against hotel policy. And THIS should be MY problem? As a business that should be people oriented, they are a far cry from caring about their customers. Amanda should have been professional enough to honor their commitment and taken my card. Again, she was totally rude and non-committal about the mistake that HER company made. Not only that, my daughter said the hotel was a MOTEL, not a hotel and the rooms are small, dingy and dirty. NEVER will I recommend this place to anyone. The pricing was no better than any other hotel and I'm sure the other hotels on the island would be far more accommodating and professional. read more

This hotel is located in the middle of Avalon, right on the promenade. Our room was comfortable, clean, and well-maintained. We had a room with a perfect view of Avalon harbor. We were very pleased with this hotel, and we would stay again. Great value too. read more

This is an overdue review my hubs has wanted me to write for a year! So if it's been renovated... which I doubt... then consider this an old review. I wanted to love this place. I visited here for my birthday and was suppose to be there for one night. I ended up staying 2 nights because the island itself during the low season is relaxing & quiet-- big change from fast paced main land. I stayed at this hotel because it was the best we could do on short notice. Since we late booked the second day we stayed in 2 different rooms each night and neither impressed us to want to stay indoors any longer than necessary. Neither room had a view and we were told that only a handful even had a view. The courtyard was pointless, you can't see anything from it and the lawn furniture looked unstable. The staff was meh, nothing special, nothing memorable. They had some packages that thankfully we did not use because it was much cheaper and convenient to book with places directly especially if you have changes to make. The hotel itself is overpriced but this is CA, nothing new! However for it to be their low season the rates were pretty high. . Now let's be real here "Hotel Mac Rae" is a VERY ambitious name.-- "hotel", really? This place is the equivalent of a Motel 6. When we visited Mac Rae was old, run down and in disrepair. I honestly felt a little dirty just trying to take a shower or walk across the floor barefoot. It was so old in there that no amount of cleaning would make this place feel clean. You can't scrub decades of motel living out of tiles or carpet. It is screaming for an overhaul or at least a major renovation of the interior-- and the exterior could use some work too! Keeping it "historical" is a poor excuse for not reinvesting some of their income into this place because simply not changing anything is not how you keep up the historical charm of such a building. Besides that this place was built in the 1920's so you can't tell me great great grandma is responsible for this 1980's remodel! If I had to describe the character of the room I would say think of Blanche Devereaux' bedroom in Golden Girls-- wicker furniture, palm leaves painted on the walls and all. The plastic plants, my God, please get rid of those filthy ugly things they had my allergies going crazy! Wifi was weak in the rooms we were in towards the back of the hotel. This place isn't a big fat zero solely because of it's location. The location they have is prime which clearly shows it was one of the first things built here! The way the hotel is situated it is pushed back off the street in a archway that you could easily miss if you didn't know any better. This boardwalk front location allows you direct access to everything Avalon has to offer. The ferry docks are not far from the entrance, close enough that it's definitely not worth paying anyone to take you there-- plus the boardwalk it sits on doesn't allow cars or golf carts so you'd end up walking anyways. The beach is right across the street-- although this is not the part of the beach you would really want to swim in. You can drink next door at the bar & sing awful karaoke and not have to worry about getting lost on your way back. The arcade is just a few minutes away which is even fun for the big kids after a few drinks with their 3D movie "theater". You will be in walking distance to several restaurants as well. The food truck is parked right around the corner too which is soooo necessary because at freaking dusk (during their low season) everything closed up leaving all us tourists with nowhere to eat other than food truck-- you make a lot of friends at that place at midnight when the bar is winding down and the kitchens are all closed! You feel held hostage by the island during the low season since ferries don't run as often and there's nothing open a good 12 hours of the day. Mac Rae has no restaurant, no food vending machines (but does have soda) or room service so come prepared or stock up next door before it gets late! I had a chuckle when I looked at their webpage mentioning having some coffee in your room-- that's only if you take my advice and bring some from a nearby cafe because there is no coffee maker in your room. TV was old and last I was there If amenities means proximity to all the other things in the city then yes Mac Rae has a lot to offer. I can't think of anything to do in Catalina that would ever make me stay overnight again so I definitely won't be back but if you love Catalina then I wouldn't write Mac Rae off unless you find a more competitive rate! read more

We had a great stay!!! Considering the age of hotels on Catalina, most are rustic at best and that is why we love the island life. The hotel is right on the boardwalk, you can literally step out the front door, turn to the right, take two steps and you're in the bar next door. Could NOT be more convenient. Our room was small, quaint and just right for what we were looking for and the price was the best I found in town. It was clean and the staff was super. read more

My family and I flew in from all around to take a well needed family vacation. We've had our reservations for MONTHS! On the date of 10/09/2020 ( the day before we were suppose to check in) at 9:00 am we received a call from Maria telling us that booking.com only booked us for one room, which is incorrect by the way because I called and verified what I reserved weeks leading to the vacation, I also had the confirmation codes stating otherwise. When I proceeded to tell Maria otherwise she begins to huff and puff on the phone and I quote verbatim " well my manager told me to tell you that, we have plumbing issues and we can't give you that room" and when I asked what could they do the resolve this issue because we've already paid for our ferry tickets and the other hotels are booked and then she huffed again and said she could give me a double twin which could not accommodate us because that was not enough room, however after hours of  trying to resolve this inconvenience at hand I took it because that's all that they had. Maria reassured me that everything was handled and taken care of and my new reservations was for a double room and a double twin. Hours later I was called again stating that the new reservations that I made could not be honored and we couldn't stay there. I asked For my reservations not to be cancelled before I could find something else but they were cancelled anyway against  my wishes by the front desk workers as soon as I got off the phone to continue to look for other hotels. I also requested for Karen( the manager) to give me a call to advise her of how much of an inconvenience this was to me and my family as well as to let her know how her front desk receptionist Maria had a nasty attitude and the customer service sucks. Karen has yet to call me, I emailed Karen as well at info@hotelmacrae.com she still has yet to return my emails. How unprofessional right? My family spent a lot of money on plane tickets, ferry tickets and took off time from work just to not be able to have a family vacation, and we also could not get a refund for the ferry tickets because we were not able to cancel the ferry ride 24hours before. We chose this hotel because of all the wonderful reviews Hotel MacRae has, but I am extremely disappointed in the behavior of the management and workers. This should have and could have been handled better. I do not and I mean I DO NOT RECOMMEND this unprofessional establishment to anybody. Take your hard earned money elsewhere because it's not deserved here. ZERO STARS. read more

When my boyfriend and I decided to go to Catalina Island, we hadn't really thought about where to stay. So we walked into Hotel Mac Rae because it's right at the front and we expected to be charged a pretty hefty price because we didn't prepare. But, it was only about $50 for the both of us, which was a pleasant surprise. Our room was large and clean. They even have luggage storage space for after you check out but before you leave the island. I love the location right on the waterfront - it's super convenient and accessible. Next time I come to Catalina, I'm definitely staying here again. read more