I have re-watched this video countless times, and each time I've put myself into her position, to see what she sees, to hear what she hears, and to feel what she does. Though the actual information we get from the LAPD footage is limited, I was able to roughly outline what might have been happening.

It does not look to me as she is on any drugs nor was she in the middle of a mental crisis, though I understand why some would confuse it as such. Instead, it looks to me more as if she is in extreme panic. To better understand this, try to imagine what you would do if you encountered a threat (say that you noticed somebody was following you with what you perceive as malicious intent). Regardless of whether you believe you would be calm or not, keep in mind this is a girl who has grown up in a relatively safe area (Vancouver) with a normal life at home. She likely has not been exposed to such situations, and probably has a low threshold for them as a result. Her hand movements and laughing, while on the surface seem odd, are actually completely consistent with her feelings in the current situation shown in the footage. They are merely a physical manifestation of her confusion of the elevator not working and the fear stemming from the person (people?) following her. "Why me? I should have never come here!" Add in her hand movements from the video and her exasperated laughter while she has these thoughts and you will find that her actions in the footage will be consistent with her emotions. It also seems at one point that she is talking to somebody, but the more I think about it, the more I believe she is actually just RECITING, or talking to herself. Perhaps she was reciting what she was planning to say to her pursuer, if he found her? I really don't believe there was anybody outside the elevator at the time though.

Notice when she initially walks into the elevator. She immediately presses all the middle buttons. This is to confuse her threat(s) as to what floor her room is located in. Deanna Graham could be right in her prediction about searching for staff, but I would disagree with this as she would just press the "Lobby" (or G, whatever they use) button to take herself down to where there are plenty of hotel staff, instead of pressing all of the other middle buttons as well. This looks more like her trying to retreat back into the safety of her own room. However, the fact that she is more concerned about getting back into her room than finding staff also leads me to believe that whatever first triggered this response in her must have been fresh. I'd say she noticed something going on for about 10-15 minutes prior to her first entrance to the elevator, if I were to hazard a guess - and I really do mean guess. "I just need to get back into my room, and it'll be fine." But the elevator does not move (possibly the work of another conspirator manipulating the electronics of the lift, in cahoots with her pursuer), no matter what buttons she is pressing. Combine this confusion with the fear of whoever may or may not be following her. She's hardcore panicking at this point.

Deanna is right however, with her emotional reasoning of why Elisa momentarily hides in the corner of the elevator, and jumps out from time to time. It is likely she hears footsteps (either coming from the stairwell, down the hall, etc). These specifics about how she's moving her hands, etc, they don't matter. I am pretty sure there was no one outside the elevator, because we saw her jump out earlier, right? It's what's going on in her head that we need to think about. She hears footsteps, so she hides. As the footsteps grow fainter and fainter, fading into the distance, she feels it is safe to come out of the corner and check, and she does.

Seeing that the elevator is still idle, she gives up on that and exits. A logical guess would be to go for the stairwell. However, that is not part of the video and any analyzing based on after she leaves the elevator is merely speculation at best. What happened after she left the elevator is anyone's guess; however, based on the above I am almost completely certain there was somebody following her with malicious intent. At least one of the accomplices know how to temporarily render the electronics of the hotel elevator completely useless. This had to have been planned, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't their first time doing something like this either. I do hope they find Elisa soon

I'm with Ken. She is still in the hotel. Either she was take to another hotel room, the roof, basement or... But I don't believe she left. I believe she was being harassed in or near her shared bathroom or her room, found occasion to leave to look for cleaning staff or other hotel staff on the floor below. She took a stairwell down to it, couldn't find staff so decided the easy and maybe safer way would be to take the elevator as she would feel less 'open' in there. She pushed all the buttons from that floor down thinking it would stop at each floor, open, she would be able to look out and if so staff were found she could go one to the next lower floor etc til she found help. But she realizes the person she is trying to avoid has likely followed her down the stairwell - he knows she is on to him and he's not happy now. That is why she hid against the controls. Then she second guesses herself and thinks maybe it wasn't him who opened the stairwell door. She hopes it is someone who can help her. That is why she looks out. However, she just had her fright and here it is 20 seconds later and now she is shaking - that is why the little hop. She isn't able to make a smooth action coming down from the adrenaline. When she realizes she is still alone, that the person who opened the stairwell door has gone on, she feels a little relief. But she doesn't know what to do next so she thinks. She is using all her senses at this point. She tried to urge the elevator to come unstuck by pushing the buttons again but they aren't toggles so they don't come unjammed. It isn't making the usual elevator noises as if it were going to get moving again so she gives up on it. She's beyond fright and flight at this point. She enters the hallway, and states to herself - we all do this when we are at our wits end - this is crazy - I hate this city! I am never coming here again! She laughs because she is overwhelmed - she counts out to herself the sequence of challenging events in the past few hours or days speaking of them as 'first this, the that, and now, argh! ' so she takes a breath to calm a bit and realizes she is going to have to go back and face who she is trying to avoid. She gives in to 'fight' by heading back to where she came from. Unfortunately, the person she has tried to avoid has kicked his game up a notch as he knows she isn't going to play anymore so what she returns to is her worst nightmare. I wish the police would check all the rooms and fire escapes and storage areas. I think she is still there.