Tag: Hollywood Hotel Reviews
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Where 'The Sopranos' Watched the Series Finale
James Gandolfini, Lorraine Bracco and some of the rest of the Sopranos cast chose (i.e. were paid) to watch the series finale of their hit show at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fl. Ironically, this is where Anna Nicole Smith died thus ending, in a way, her own show.
However you want to interpret the show's ending**, the series is over and the cast celebrated its passing with a bang.
The elaborate dinner, featuring a cocktail area which re-created scenes from the program, huge overhead screens to show the final episode, and special touches like a cannoli tree for deserts and cakes decorated with bullets and guns, was off limits to the average fans, but that didn't stop people from lining up to catch a glimpse of the stars on the red carpet.
We just hope they didn't serve the manigott next to the recreated scene of Phil Leotardo's last moments.
**Since we're from New Jersey we feel obligated to weigh in on the finale here with a few words: Tony Soprano gets whacked in the end, because the show starts and ends with Tony and when Tony ends, the show ends, capisce? We're sure there is some fancy shcmancy literary way to interpret the finale but this is how we run "this thing of ours."
[Photo: Sun-Sentinel]
Related Stories:
· Sopranos' Swan Song Goes To South Florida [CBS5]
· Anna Nicole Smith Dies at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel [HotelChatter]
· Tony Soprano Whacks the Marriott Smoking Ban [HotelChatter]
Celebrity Scoop / Hotel Bands / Hollywood Hotel Reviews / → All Tags
Prince To Get Room and Board Plus $3mil for Hollywood Roosevelt Gigs
The details on Prince's performance contract at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel haven't been finalized but already, reports are swirling that the musical superstart will get about $3 million for his seven week concert series set to begin on June 15. Page Six reports:
"He's getting paid $3 million for the gigs - $1.5 million is coming from a clothing company, Verizon is chalking up $750,000, and the rest is covered by the hotel. Prince will also get comped rooms, food and beverages." A rep for Prince didn't return calls.
The concerts will take place in the hotel's Blossom Room on Friday nights starting at 11pm and will run until 4 in the morning with food served at 2am. No doubt, Lindsay Lohan will make good use of the bathroom stalls to stay awake during these peformances.
Related Stories:
· Prince To Set Up Shop at the Hollywood Roosevelt [HotelChatter]
· Lounge Prince [Page Six]
Hollywood Hotel Reviews / TV Set Hotels / → All Tags
Guess the Hotel: The Fresh Prince's Dance Spot
With all our favorite shows on hiatus til the May sweeps, we're stuck watching crazy old reruns of ridiculous shows from our youth. Like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
In the episode we watched last night, Will struggled with taking a very cool, but overweight girl (Queen Latifah) to the school dance.
What caught our eye, aside from the fact that we first watched this episode over 15 years ago, and that Queen Latifah is still as bad of an actor now as she was then, is the place where the dance was "held."
There's a quick exterior shot (pictured above) of a well-known hotel on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. Although, back in the early 1990s it wasn't quite the glamourous spot that it is today.
Click Here to find out what hotel this is.
Victorias Secret Model Hotels / Hollywood Hotel Reviews / → All Tags
Where The Victoria's Secret Models Stay
A couple weeks back we found ourselves at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel at Hollywood and Highland.
The rooms are run-of-the-mill Marriott rooms--bed and linens on the older side, and definitely not high end.
The common areas are clean and make a perfect conference setting and the hotel is attached to the Hollywood & Highland Center, which includes a multitude of shopping locations and a Lucky Strike.
However, the Hollywood & Highland center also includes the David Rockwell designed, 3,500 seat Kodak Theatre. Why is this important? Well you never know who might be sharing your hotel awaiting their turn on stage at the Kodak. Who exactly? Glad you asked. While we were at the Renaissance, on November 15, a bevy of Victoria's Secret models were hanging out in and around the hotel waiting to walk the Kodak runway for the annual Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.
The fashion show was filmed November 16 and will air December 5th on CBS at 10 PM EST.
We included a shot of an empty, shady, Renaissance Hollywood pool above. If you thought it was going our pool shot was going to be full of frolicking models you are asking for too much. However, if you want to see a photo from the Fashion Show, it will cost you a click.
Hotel Amenities / Hotel Staff / Hollywood Hotel Reviews / → All Tags
A Scary Encounter with the Hotel Mini-Bar Sensors
[Ed. Note: Our fearless Jaunted editor Davie recently had a terrifying experience with the mini-bar sensors at the Hollywood Renaissance Hotel in Hollywood. The good news is she's lived to tell the tale.]
I encountered my first touch-sensitive minibar this weekend at the Renaissance in Hollywood. The sneaky element of it is concealed well. On top of the fridge is an average-looking small shelf with chips and chocolate on it. I'm not sure about the inside of the fridge because I did not dare look inside of it.
I was tired and hungry and picked up a package of M&Ms, contemplating whether or not I was going to eat it, and I hear a BEEP. So I looked down and on this electronic screen on the fridge it says something like "item removed." I put the M&Ms back down and it beeps again, while the screen says "item replaced." I don't fully understand the system, but my impression was it also tracks the time the item is replaced and can thus tell if you replaced it yourself, which is not allowed. Thus you cannot grab a snack in late night desperation and make up for it later by buying a normally-priced item.
I picked up the M&Ms again to try and understand what was happening, and the machine beeped and "charged" me again for picking up the same item. I called downstairs.
The mini-bar must be instantly wired to the hotel's computers, because the front desk clerk knew I had moved candy and assured me that he nullified "those" charges (he was right, and I was not charged). They must be very proud of this program, because he kept telling me that, OK, he had removed the charges but "removal of items will incur a charge." He must have repeated that phrase at least four times as I tried to understand the ridiculous technology and whether or not I would have to pay for touching the M&Ms. I later realized that explanation of the mini-bar is available, but don't consider it to be displayed prominently enough. Unsuspecting guests could be put many dollars in the hole just for manhandling some chocolate.
Have a mini-bar sensor experience you would like to share? Let us know.
Related Stories:
· Hollywood Renaissance reviews [TripAdvisor]
Hollywood Hotel Reviews / Thompson Hotels / Hotel Pools / Hotel Bars / → All Tags
Up Close and Personal at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel Pool
Last week we finally got to have a look at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and see what all the fuss is about. For over a year, the hotel mavens have been telling us this place is a nightmare, so we wanted to see for ourselves, and we got a chance last Wednesday evening.
Keep in mind, we were only there for a private party, so we didn't get to tour the rooms, let alone stay in a room, however, we are qualified to comment on the pool area and Tropicana Bar.
First the good news--it does appear that the rooms are split into to completely separate areas: the main building and the garden cabana rooms (aka rooms by the pool). If you don't want to deal with private party noise but still want to take advantage of a good rate and try the Roosevelt--book yourself a main building room, the higher the floor the better. Furthermore, if you are attending a private event at the Roosevelt pool, the renovations are beautiful. Dark yes, but our event was at night, where dark is the norm. The pool is full size, not one of these tiny wade pools, and more importantly the bartenders are top notch. No attitude at all. As a matter of fact none of them really knew about all the guest complaints about the hotel guests mixing with the party folks.
Now the bad news-- Yes, people that enter the Tropicana area have to pass several big ass bouncers and eventually, check-in at a desk and receive an armband. No idea if this is the way it works each and every night, but at this particular event, that was the deal. Also, when 100 people get together and drink they tend to be super loud--meaning if you had a garden cabana room and a 6 AM flight out of BUR you would be none to pleased, which is probably the impetus for many of the scathing reviews we have received.
Bottom Line
Want to stay at the Roosevelt, but scared of the noise factor? Just get a room in the main building on the highest floor possible and we are guessing you will be just fine.
[Photo Credit: Tech~Surf~Blog (his pictures came out better than ours)]
Hollywood Hotel Reviews / Sunset Tower / Hollywood Roosevelt / HotelChatter Questions / → All Tags
Where To Stay in Hollywood, When the Roosevelt Won't Have You?
HotelChatter Questions: In which, the intrepid HotelChatter editors and our hotel maven readers answer hotel questions that pop into our inbox.
Have a question for us? Send it along. Have better answer than we gave, or better yet, want to give a vote of confidence to our answer? Comment here.
Speaking of the infamous Hollywood Roosevelt, a FOHC (Friend of HotelChatter) recently wrote into HotelChatter HQ looking for an alternative to this hotel--no, not because she didn't want to deal with Fred Durst--but rather the hotel wasn't accepting any reservations for under seven days. Yeah.
Here's her full request:
Click through for our answer.Can you recommend a decent hotel in hollywood area?
i normally stay at the hollywood roosevelt because it's close to where i have to go...but for whatever reason they aren't accepting reservations for less than 7 days. LA scares me...do you have thoughts on this?i want to stay at a comparable place. my friend might tag along and hang by the pool while i'm working, so a nice pool would be a bonus.
Hollywood Roosevelt / Hollywood Hotel Reviews / → All Tags
More Real Guests at the Hollywood Roosevelt
Around this time last year, the Hollywood Roosevelt was entering its struggle between deciding who was more important--celebrity clientele visiting the lounges and bars or actual paying overnight guests?
But since then, the nightlife scene has calmed down a bit, allowing a tipster to let us know what its like to be a hotel guest in the place:
When I pulled in, valet was polite and quick. Upon entering the lobby, you have to go down these 5 steps to the check in area, which is kind of weird, and a hassle with a roll-ey bag. Front desk was friendly and helpful, and let me check in early. You need your key to use the elevator which is kind of a pain, but I guess a necessary evil with a popular hotel bar and restaurant.
The Pool area was lovely, but the drinks at the bar are super expensive- $12 for a single Jack and Coke. The room they gave us at first was right next a room that was under construction, so there was a lot of hammering and noise, but we complained, and they moved us to another one right away, which was actually a bit nicer and larger. So that was nice. The Bed was super comfortable, and there was a nice sized seating area with a couch, and coffee table and desk.
We had a huge walk in closet, which I think is nice, but pretty unnecessary for hotel stays, don't you think? It could have made the room bigger without it. Just a thought. The bathroom was orange tiled and dark wood, very chic looking, but the lighting was also orange, so it was impossible to apply makeup accurately.
The shower door is a half piece of glass covering only the front part of the bath tub, so water went everywhere when you showered, which was annoying. They use "Fresh" soap products, which was very nice. Oh- but they charge for in-room coffee. $3.50 to brew your own coffee in your room. I thought that was obnoxious.
The windows opened a little which was nice, but our view from a 5th floor room was of the roof of some part of the hotel, and was all smoke stacks and ugly things. Housekeeping knocked on the door at around 9:00AM, which I think is a little early to be waking everyone up, but other than that, Check out was quick and painless.
So its not quite a perfect hotel stay but sounds like things just might be improving. Yet, there's still no word on whether or not "real" people can get the secret ice-cream sandwiches.
Related Stories:
· Hollywood Roosevelt Searching for Balance [HotelChatter]
· Hollywood Roosevelt Reviews [TripAdvisor]
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