Los Angeles Travel Guide
Awards Season Hotels / Grammy Hotels / Oscars Hotels / Los Angeles Hotels / Hotel Cocktails / → All Tags
It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year for Los Angeles Hotels
Awards season is in full swing and no one is happier than Los Angeles Hotels who will not only see a ton of celebrities at their properties but (hopefully) a big boost in occupancy levels as well.
Fortunately, you don't have to know someone who knows someone to get in on the festivities. Here are a few ways to celebrate the awards season madness without booking a hotel room.
· Mondrian Los Angeles: The Sunset Strip hotel has partnered with stylehaüs, the first member's only clothing boutique and styling service. For the entire month of February, the hotel and stylehaüs will operate the Red Carpet Room, a pop-up boutique store that will sell seriously exclusive, high-end merchandise such as Lanvin gowns and Philip Pres diamond jewelry. Hotel guests are given VIP access to the boutique and complimentary half-hour styling consulations. The general public can request appointments by contacting rcr@stylehaus.com
Hotel Art / Standard Hotels / LA Hotels / Hotel Parking Lots / Andre Balazs / → All Tags
Does Anything Look Weird To You About This Room At the Standard Hollywood?
Because a lot should seem weird about this room at the Standard Hollywood, which isn't even a real room, but a re-construction of a room, assembled in the Standard's parking lot by a group of artists.
Yup. Apparently there's a citywide project, titled Art in the Parking Space, which inserts performances and installations into (you guessed it!) parking lots all over LA. And last week, it was the Standard's own parking lot that, according to one of the participating artists, "became a total hang-out spot."
Tova Carlin, Ania Diakoff and Katerina Llanes, dubbed their installation Sub-Standard (we could slip in a few jabs about the rooms here, but we'll try not to), and specifically intended for people to come, hang out, and "think about itinerancy and occupying space with their bodies."
Sneak Peek / Photo Gallery / Los Angeles Hotels / Avi Brosh / → All Tags
Sneak Peek at The Palihotel Melrose, Opening Tomorrow
The sneak peeks continue as HotelChatter contributing editor Eric Rosen got a look inside Palihotel Melrose in Los Angeles, which officially opens tomorrow.
The hotel is a sort of spin-off to hotelier Avi Brosh's Palihouse Holloway in West Hollywood except it's gone a bit of a different direction. There's only 32 rooms but the hotel makes the most of each space with Dean & DeLuca treats in the minibar, ladders with hangers on them double as the "closet", footstools work as nightstands and in the bath are fun prints on the shower curtains and Palihotel-branded toiletries.
The hotel also features a six-bedroom Thai massage place (massages start at $35 fr 30 minutes), a two-seat blow-dry salon and the Palikitchen restaurant which serves coffee, toasted sandwiches, and sundry food and beauty products (The restaurant will actually be opening next month.)
Interested in booking a room? Rates for tomorrow night are at a limited time special of $149 a night. After that, they bump up to $250 a night. We also hear that the balcony rooms on the second floor have great views of Melrose or the hills or of Hayworth. Additionally, the plants on each balcony are in individual, customized arrangements from Rolling Greens Nursery.
For more on what to expect inside the Palihotel, peruse the photo gallery below!
[Photos: Eric Rosen for HotelChatter]
Concierge Interviews / Concierges / Mr C Hotels / Los Angeles Hotels / → All Tags
The Concierge at Mr. C Does More Than Just Texting, Way More
Last week, we featured the concierge from the Mr. C Hotel in Los Angeles because we loved how he was texting with hotel guests. Venicio "Choy" Flores tells us that being available by text is just one of the many ways he's able to serve guests, even when he's technically off the clock:
They can call me anytime they need anything. I have gotten calls at 2am after work or on my day off and I and my colleagues have taken care of their questions or requests. So we at Mr C are truly 24 hours. We don't stop just because our shift ends.
And should you ever want a plane to Las Vegas at the last-minute, Choy could probably make that happen because he's done it before. Here he tells us the story of his craziest request and what he charged for it. (Hint: You can afford it!)
Hotel Openings / Hotel Opening Rates / Los Angeles Hotels / Avi Brosh / → All Tags
The Palihotel on Melrose Now Opening February 1st
A few months ago we discussed the second coming of the Palihotel on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles from hotelier Avi Brosh. The 32-room hotel with a "European inn" vibe was set to open in February and guess what, it's actually opening on the very first day of next month.
The hotel's website is touting a pre-opening special of $150 a night but for February 1, we could only find rooms at $199 a night for a queen bedroom. Meanwhile Jetsetter.com is hyping stays for just $115 a night on February 1st. Definitely the better deal here. (The flash sale site is also saying the hotel is "Just Opened" but we swear it's not opening until February 1.)
Concierges / Hotel Technology / Texting / Los Angeles Hotels / → All Tags
The Concierge Will Text You Now at the Mr. C Hotel
Texting is so mainstream that even your parents (and maybe even your grandparents) are doing it. But have you ever texted with a hotel concierge before?
We haven't and we didn't even think that was an option until we met Venicio "Choy" Flores, the head concierge at the Mr. C Hotel in Los Angeles. During our interview with Choy (which we'll show next week), he let us know that he is available by text for guests anytime they need him. He even showed us a little correspondence with one guest (below) who was beyond pleased with Choy's honeymoon surprise for the guest and his wife.
Now, we're not saying you should eliminate human interaction entirely when dealing with concierges but the option of texting is a lot easier than having to keep stopping by the desk. Are we right? Let us know if you've texted a concierge before in comments below!!
Stay tuned next week for when Choy tells us what is the craziest request he's ever fielded!
HotelChatter 2011 Awards / Hotel Renovations / → All Tags
Best Hotel Renovation of 2011: The Hotel Bel-Air
It's what you've been waiting all year for--The 2011 HotelChatter Awards! We'll be bringing you the best and worst of the year all day today and part of tomorrow. Agree or disagree with our picks? Air your thoughts in comments below.
Good things come to those who wait and the reopening of the Hotel Bel-Air in October, which shuttered its doors back in 2009 to undergo an extreme hotel makeover, was something out of wildest geekiest hotel fantasies.
And best of all, we got to share our first-hand reactions to the new rooms, the high-tech amenities, the sleek new bar, the wondrous new La Prairie Spa and Wolfgang Puck himself, with all of you during our first-ever HotelChatter live-blog.
Hotel Hype / King and Grove Hotels / Downtown LA Hotels / Los Angeles Hotels / Hotel News / → All Tags
King & Grove Coming to LA, Possibly with Two Hotels
Lanyard key chains at Ruschmeyer's, a King & Grove Hotel in Montauk.
Downtown Los Angeles is not only getting an Ace Hotel but it's also going to get a King & Grove Hotel, maybe even two of them!
Downtown LA blog Brigham Yen found out earlier this month that indeed King & Grove would open up inside the old Hotel Clark near 4th and Hill Streets in downtown's Historic Core district (and just a few blocks away from the intended Ace Hotel.) A rep for King & Grove confirmed the scoop but was not able to release any further details. Still, Brigham Yen had noticed some renovations going on at the hotel including a new pool deck and some new orange curtains.
But one hotel might not be enough for King & Grove as the blog now says that the old Trinity Auditorium at 9th and Grand Ave in downtown could possibly be a second King & Grove hotel as well.
Hotel Hype / Ace Hotels / Hotel News / Los Angeles Hotels / Downtown LA Hotels / → All Tags
An Ace Hotel is Coming (Finally!) to Los Angeles (Downtown, Obviously)
It was only a matter of time before the so hip it hurts boutique hotel chain Ace Hotels arrived in Los Angeles and where else but downtown Los Angeles?
The Hollywood Reporter has the scoop saying that the indie hotel is rumored to open in the United Artists building on Broadway in the area's Historic Core district.
The building first opened in 1927 with a screening of the film, "My Best Girl" inside its 2,214-seat theater. The theater actually hosted several world premieres for studio films from United Artists founders Douglas Fairbanks, D.W. Griffith and Charlie Chaplin, which means that unlike a lot of hotels in Hollywood that brag of old Hollywood tales (but really just rely on old Hollywood snapshots in the guest rooms), the Ace LA will actually have the cred to back theirs up.
Even better, the Hollywood Reporter says the Ace will fully renovate and reactivate the theater and make it the "showpiece" of their hotel. Ooo, we can't wait to see this hotel's name in lights!
Holiday Hotels / Hotel Contests / Los Angeles Hotels / Airport Hotels / → All Tags
The Custom Hotel is Offering $12 Rooms for Those Who Can't Handle the Holidays
If you're in need of a desperate escape from the holiday season but can't exactly afford to just get up and go, then consider spilling your heart out to the Custom Hotel in Los Angeles.
The hotel is currently giving $12 rooms to the "most deflated of Christmas spirits." People who write in with their holiday sob stories of how they just can't handle their relatives or how they got yet another crappy year-end bonus or how their grandma actually got run over by a reindeer will get to escape to the hotel for just $12.
Considering that rooms at the hotel are over $100, that should be a nice little stocking stuffer. Blackout dates for the sad Christmas spirit winner do apply and the voucher must be used by March 31, 2012. But hey, a room in LA for $12 is quite a nice treat.
Wanna see what you will be getting for $12? Take a look at the Custom Hotel's new airport-inspired look right here!
Hotel Fun / Hotel Pool Tables / Mr. C Hotels / Los Angeles Hotels / → All Tags
There's a New Glass Pool in Town at Mr. C Beverly Hills (Pool Table, That Is)
The rico suave hotel that is Mr. C Hotel in Beverly Hills has just taken delivery of what might be one of the slickest examples of hotel fun ever--a glass billiards table.
The one of a kind G1 glass pool table by Nottage Design sits in the lobby just to the left of the entrance but still very close to the long bar and is available for guests to play at their leisure. There's even a swank way to keep score over the near the cue rack.
But best of all you can order specialty cocktails and appetizers off the Mr. C restaurant menu while playing pool. Although, we'd abstain from balancing a Sweet Maggie cocktail and a plate of prosciutto while getting behind the cue ball. We're pretty sure the pool table won't shatter but you don't want to be the person who accidentally cracked it now, do you?
More pics of the pool table below!
Hotel Spas / Dorchester Collection Hotels / Design Thursdays / Hotel Design / La Prairie / Alexandra Champalimaud / → All Tags
This is Life at the Hotel Bel-Air, Admiring 24k Gold Chandeliers While Selecting Your Massage Music
This was meant to go yesterday for Design Thursdays but we got a little sidetracked. Maybe you can slot it in for Fun Fridays?
As you probably already know, there were so many shimmery and gilded new things to lust after inside the reopened Hotel Bel-Air but we were left starry-eyed by these 24k gold-plated, laser-cut brass chandeliers hanging in the relaxation room inside the hotel's La Prairie Spa.
The chandeliers were selected by the spa's interior designer, Alexandra Champalimaud, who also glammed up the hotel's rooms and suites. But of course, this being the relaxation room and all, the chandeliers gave off the perfect amount of glow--not too bright and not too dark that we couldn't see the music selection menu for our treatment. Yes, the spa actually allows you to pick your desired treatment music.
Popular Stories
Follow Us
Hotels In: Africa | Asia | Australia | Caribbean | Europe | North America | South America
Our Publications:
Jaunted | HotelChatter | VegasChatter
