HotelChatter

What We Liked
Lovely bed (and mirrored walls great for making room feel bigger/those of an exhibitionist bent). It was also a lovely sized room, and nice to have a balcony. On the toiletries front, although we were hoping for some minis to spirit away, we know that that’s environmentally selfish, therefore we approve of the big dispensers they had in the bathroom. They use Neil George products, FYI, which look and feel pretty dapper.

The OCD in us especially loved the plastic covers over the glasses for the minibar and by the bed. We felt reassured our receptacles were not crawling in swine flu.

The location is great – just five minutes walk from Sunset – and the staff are all lovely. Except for one woman in the morning who was not unfriendly, but a bit dim (we asked for some scissors, after about five minutes consulting with her colleagues she pronounced they didn’t have any. Then a colleague said we could borrow theirs, but couldn’t keep them. Which is all we’d been asking for in the first place).

What We Didn’t Like
At first we thought a sunken bath was mighty cool, but when we got in it, it felt a bit claustrophobic. The bathroom was pretty tiny (even though there was an entire room as a walk-in closet next door – they should have knocked through the wall and opened up the bog). And the whole hotel seemed pretty quiet – which was fine for us, as we were working and early-nighting it, but might not be ideal for party animals.

Public Spaces

The bar is a looker, but was empty when we popped in. The lobby is nice but small – not a place to hang around in. The zinger is the rooftop pool – incredible views over downtown LA and to the mountains behind. We could have stayed all day there. Gorgeous.

Bottom line

If we wanted a partay hotel, we would probably look elsewhere. But for ease, location and general niceness, it’s a goodie. Lots of space for working, and that pool is worth the room price alone. Especially if you get it on Hotwire.