I've stayed many times at the L.A. downtown Marriott. Only because it is so convenient to Dodger stadium. I may re-think it after this past stay.
The place needs work to put it in simple terms. The elevators were a bit scary sounding and quite shaky. And not all of them were working. The air condition in the rooms and in the hallways wasn’t good enough to keep anything cool. The sports bar only played half of the TV's while we were there. If I didn’t know any better I would say that they are trying to cut costs by not using so much electricity. The concierge barely spoke English and didn’t really understand it too well either. The beds were not the quality Marriott beds that most have already upgraded to. Like I said in the beginning I have stayed here many times and every time I do it seems to be a little more run down or just not up to where it should be. All that said the hotel is still an okay place. It is not a category 5 hotel as Marriott has labeled it though. Hopefully they will put some money back into the hotel otherwise it will be time to look elsewhere.

I arrived at the hotel on 6/14 and actually found the hotel lobby and pool area to be nice. The staff was friendly and the check in process went rather quickly. My room was average and could have been nicer but far from being terrible.
The trouble began starting at 1:00am that night when a party for teenagers was being held that night started which may have been related to a group who were at the banquet hall in the hotel.
I immediately called the front desk to complain that there were multiple teenagers walking the hallways being loud and slamming doors. I spoke to Mary Grace at the front desk and provide her with the offending room number but the noise and door slamming continued. I called back and asked her what was done and she just said sorry and called security again. I called the office on the ½ hour repeatedly but again the countless guests and the noise continued until 3:00 where I basically gave up.

In the morning I spoke the weekend Manger Jon Carlo and basically he had agreed that the was a situation that was out of control and suggested I speak to the manager Ken on Monday.

I told Ken that I expected some kind of response that the hotel owed it to me as a customer to provide me with a secure hotel and quite night of sleep. He asked me what I expected the hotel to do with the situation and I told him that the hotel should have at least walked up to the room and told them guest to stop making noise.

The hotel has not compensated me although it was stated that it would consider sending me a voucher.

I got a great deal through Hotwire---$75/night. The rooms were excellent (comfortable beds, clean, spacious), and the amentities were great (indoor gift shop with lots of yummy snacks, drinks, and was open super late). During the holidays, the lobby is cheery and classy. Staff is friendly and helpful---they helped me find a good palce to eat and even made some phone calls on my behalf. It is in the heart of downtown (although, los angeles didn't seem to have much a nightlife in the middle of the city), and there is a movie theatre within close walking distance. The second level of the hotel is connected to a large indoor shopping area with sushi restaurants and other shops. However, these shops are not open very late and seem to accommodate the business people during the week. Lastly, I didn't realize this at the time, but this is the hotel where Christopher Walken filmed that Fat Boy Slim video, which is a a nice bonus! Who doesn't love Walken?

This was my second stay at this downtown Marriott. Our room was a little bit smaller this time than last, and the rooms are nothing special, but the beds are VERY comfortable and the bathrooms are really nice. The beds have wonderful mattresses with fitted mattress pads and bottom sheets (what a difference it makes compared to most hotels, where the mattress pad and bottom sheet slide into a ball ten minutes after you're in bed), plus the sheets and comforter are very soft. The bathroom is nice and big, with a separate tub and shower with large rain showerhead. We only had one problem - my dad found stains on his bottom sheet - but they sent up someone to replace the sheet and offered us free breakfast buffet vouchers ($20 value per voucher). Overall, this is a fine hotel if you need to stay in downtown LA, although not quite as nice as the Westin or Omni.