Hotel Hype: Wollywood?

4/19/2006 at 9:35 AM
Tags: W Hotels, Hotel Hype, Wollywood

We always thought that Westwood, next to UCLA and the freeway, was an odd location for the W Hotel's Los Angeles property. Why not Sunset Boulevard next to the other chic boutique hotels like the Standard and the Mondrian?

So when the brand announced last June that it was opening a brand new hotel on the historic Hollywood and Vine intersection, we thought they would be able to redeem themselves.

Now the W has finally got permission from the city to start building. The W Hollywood or Wollywood as we like to call it will have 300 rooms and 150 condos, restaurant, a rooftop bar, spa and 25-yard lap pool--costing a total of $500 million to build.

From the looks of the rendering, it seems as if this W will be the W Times Square of the West Coast, but let's hope with bigger rooms and a less frightening lobby. Oh yeah, wire it with free WiFi and that would be even better.

By the way, is that one of Vikram's models on the billboard?

Related Stories:
· At Home in Tinseltown [LA Times]
· W Heads to Hollywood [HotelChatter]
· Night Hotel: Gothic N Inside and Out [HotelChatter]