The Avalon Beverly Hills :: Great, If You Bring Earplugs
So last week, we landed a room at the Avalon for just $118 through Hotwire (booking through the hotel direct would have set us back $270). We had high hopes of sharing the poolside with Paris Hilton and Kathy Griffin, thereby scoring our first LA celeb spot. Unfortunately, it was a Monday night, and a quiet one at that. And so, as sod’s law would have it, there were no celebs. Never mind eh? We saw Billy Zane the next day in Bar Marmont. Anyways, here’s how the rest of it went down.
Room Reaction
Lookswise, we loved the trashy-funk, motel throwback vibe of the whole hotel. The room itself was nicely underplayed – no kitschfest here, apart from the colourful bathroom, you wouldn’t know from the inside that you were in a motel-ly place – we liked the random bamboo column in the bathroom and the way the towels were rolled and racked (like the piles of baby towels posh hotels have in their bogs to dry your hands).
But after five minutes in the room, we realised that the walls were paper thin - we could hear our neighbours’ conversations as clear as if we were part of the chat. And they weren’t just bad at keeping noise out – we got a good few whiffs of how said neighbours spent their night, since we got stoned secondhand from the stench of weed filtering through into our bathroom late that night, and showered the next morning to tones of cheap deodorant (we’re hoping that was to cover the smell of weed, not actually for their pits).
What we liked
The vibe and the pool. Definitely a place to screw the sightseeing and spend the day lounging poolside. Roomwise, we dug the Japanese bondage-style headboard (made of rope) and the fact that they’d included a table and seating area as well as the desk.
What we didn’t like
The soundproofing is, no bones about it, abysmal. Surely they could do something about that? And the location’s a bit away from the action as well, although it is at least on the way to the Getty. Lastly, yes they’re going for the retro vibe, but we wouldn’t have missed the hulking old TV if they’d snuck in a nice flatscreen instead. After all, they have an iPod docking station not a cassette recorder, yeah?
One thing to bear in mind – there is a section with rooms across the road from the main building. We didn’t see inside this, but the whole charm of the place was being able to walk out of your room and look over at the pool. So we’d advise requesting a room in the main building when you book.
Public Spaces
The kidney-shaped pool – and the restaurant and bar around it, Blue on Blue, really is pretty special.
Bottom line
Despite the soundproofing being a major flaw, we would, actually, go back because we liked the rest of it so much. But next time, we’ll be bringing earplugs (and possibly nose clips). Make sure you do the same.
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