Hotel reviews are a funny thing in that you never know when the reviewer just had an abnormally good or bad experience with the hotel. As it pertains to this review of the W Hollywood, you should have no such concern about me. This review is based on countless stays I’ve had at this hotel over the past couple years. I often stay here when I’m traveling for business as its location allows me easy access to Hollywood, Burbank, and parts of LA.
From the moment you check in, this hotel is oozing with Hollywood. I think it does a good job of putting on the hollywood show while also still providing the amenities that make it a good business hotel. When in LA, I’m driving. Even their valet car parking area, Wheels, rolls out the red carpet for guests.
Whether you walk in from the back door near valet parking or the front door on Hollywood Blvd, you go straight into the lobby. There are small set of check-in desks on the east side of the room, but the thing that takes up most of the lobby is the “great room.” It’s a room with very high ceilings and a pretty happening hotel bar. If you end up at this hotel on a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday night, you’ll definitely find that this place is hopping. If you’re looking for a night scene, the hotel also has Drai’s nightclub (which can’t compare to the $***show that is the original Drai’s in Vegas), but it will do a pretty good job at making noise – so take note if you want quiet on the weekends!
Check-in is usually quick, and every receptionist I have ever dealt with has been extremely fun and friendly. The front desk is typically an interesting place to see some of LA’s ridiculousness in action as well. I’ve checked into this hotel four or five times, and I have seen professional boxers, B-Rate movie “stars,” and plenty of people who look straight out of Real Housewives of [insert your favorite city here]. Speaking of check-in, I should note that the W Hollywood has a very large amount of suites.
As a Platinum member, I probably get upgraded to a suite 80% of the time I check in, and it reflects that in advance in the SPG iPhone app. I love it when things work like they’re supposed to. With most other SPG properties, I don’t have a similar experience.
The “marvelous” suite at the W Hollywood is really nice. This is my most common room type. The living room portion of the suite isn’t separated from the room by a physical wall of any sort. Instead, it’s just divided by some curtains that wrap around a fun, circular couch.
The bed is really comfy. Every room always has a place to charge your iPhone (let’s get that upgraded for the iPhone 5!), and there’s a speaker to plug your music into. There’s a typical W style desk just on the opposite side of the bed.
On the opposite side of the room, there’s an HDTV mounted on the wall.
The bathroom in the marvelous suite is huge. There’s a double sink on top of a glass countertop that is next to the large bath tub. A glass wall separates the shower from the tub, and it’s a very swank overall package. The marvelous suite at the W Hollywood is a great room, but don’t be too annoyed if you don’t get upgraded. The standard rooms are really nice too. You still get the same bed, the same bed side speakers, the same TV, the same shower, etc. You just miss out on the big circular couch and some extra space. I haven’t really sampled any of the other room types.
The gym at the W Hollywood is good, but it’s not great. Well, let me clarify that. It’s great compared to most Marriott gyms. However, W Hotels usually have pretty fantastic gyms. For example, the gyms at the W Austin and the W Hoboken are especially great! The gym at the W Hollywood isn’t bad… there are about five treadmills, some weight machines, some free weights, and a basic exercise room to do yoga and other exercises on a mat. So while the W gym is good, it’s not great.
I really like the W Hollywood. It’s in a great location for tourists, and if you’re traveling for business, depending on where you’re meeting, it may or may not be a good spot. If you’re a platinum member of SPG, chances are pretty high that you’ll bag a suite upgrade as well. Enjoy!
