90069 Travel Guide
Tags: Los Angeles Hotels / West Hollywood Hotels / Hotel Service / → All Tags
Strike Two Against the Andaz West Hollywood
The perils of booking a room on Priceline are many, from the strategic "name your own price" tango to begrudgingly having to settle on whichever hotel you're offered. In the past, we've lucked out, having landed a great value on Paris' Le Meridien Etoile, and likewise for what ended up being a nice stay at The Intercontinental in Century City. Sadly, the tale we're about to tell you doesn't have the happiest of endings.
A trusted HotelChatter source and frequent traveler to Los Angeles has long been using Priceline to book her accommodations in the city, West Hollywood being her neighborhood of choice for convenience's sake. Not long ago, both she and her husband related an upsetting service-related story about their stay at the Andaz West Hollywood, where an attempt to order room service ended in telephone bickering with a curt phone concierge.
Tags: What's On The Block / Whats-on-the-Block-Map / West Hollywood Hotels / Jeff Klein Hotels / → All Tags
What’s On The Block at the Sunset Tower Hotel?
We continue our What's On The Block: Los Angeles Edition with The Sunset Tower Hotel. This is a view from the hotel looking east.
A couple weeks ago, we told you about all the power-plays and deal-making going on at the Sunset Tower Hotel. But this week, we're going to tell you about What's On The Block for you to do after you're done putting together your next movie deal.
Before we begin, we want to preface our little guide by saying that it holds good for all the hotels on this tony strip of Sunset, including The Standard, the Mondrian, and the Andaz West Hollywood. And yes, despite the Los Angeles stereotypes, you can physically walk to all of these spots mentioned below.
So start your jaunt by crossing Sunset and taking a peek around the casual lobby at The Andaz before having a cocktail in the glassed-in bar overlooking the Strip, or a full-on regional French dinner with California twists at the hotel's restaurant, RH. Cross back across Sunset, past the House of Blues to Asia de Cuba inside the Mondrian which is another great spot for a view, but that one is of the whole city spreading out below you while you eat poolside.
Tags: Celebrity Scoop / West Hollywood Hotels / Jeff Klein / → All Tags
Don't Try Any Funny Business at the Sunset Tower Hotel (Hollywood Business is Ok)
According to a recent article in the New York Times, the Sunset Tower Hotel has become not only the latest haunt of entertainment industry heavyweights and deal-brokers, but has also changed the rules and raised the standard about how such a venue should operate.
The illustrative anecdote provided by the Times was about the recent firing of a room-service waiter for leaking a story to US Weekly about Renée Zellwegger champagne-ing it up in a suite with a man. Not only did hotel-owner Jeff Klein hire a private detective to find out who had leaked the story, but he has made it an ironclad directive that any staff member who does something comparable will be fired on the spot.
Beyond that, the hotel is apparently turning away clientele it deems undesirable—cases in point: Britney Spears and Sean Combs. Though given Spears’ problems with paparazzi, being blacklisted at Los Angeles hotels is not a new experience for the pop star.
Tags: Summer Cocktails / Hotel Cocktails / West Hollywood Hotels / → All Tags
Mondrian Shakes It Up with a 'Goodbye Summer' Cocktail
We've kicked off our Summer Cocktails series where we profile fun new summer drinks that hotels are making. Got one we should know about? Send us the recipe with a photo of the drink. Otherwise, enjoy and @reply us when you're wasted!
The Mondrian Hotel West Hollywood has a plan for how you can say goodbye to the summer: drink a Goodnight Kiss cocktail at their Skybar. The Mondrian's really been getting into the summer cocktail theme this season and the Goodnight Kiss is its third special creation.
Tags: Room Rate Gimmicks / 9-9-09 Hotels / Mondrian Hotels / → All Tags
The Mondrian's $99 Deal Has Not Gone Smoothly
Deja vu anyone?
On Friday, we told you about the special $99 Rate at the Mondrian Hotel in West Hollywood in honor of the upcoming 9-9-09 date. We thought that was a great deal for the hotel which just recently renovated its rooms. But as we see all too often with these sort of rate gimmicks, one reader had trouble booking the deal. Berk411 writes:
So I called the Mondrian to book my $99 room rate for Sept. 1st and 2nd. I spoke to a reservations agent that had no idea what I was talking about. I explained that I wanted the 9-9-09 special rate and that the promotion code was SPM999.
She explained to me that she did not know what I was talking about because there was no such rate in the system. I started reading off the details of the promotion, so she put me on hold. After 15 minutes, she got back on the line after conferring with her supervisor and again explained that she did not have any rate that low in her system what so ever, had no idea what I was walking about, and offered me a $315 dollar a night room, which was their lowest available rate.
reluctantly, I booked it, even though I could have stayed at the Standard Hollywood, which is awesome by the way, for $170 a night. Who knows...maybe I should cancel my reservation and go hang at the Standard where they don't screw over their guests with riduculous rates....
When we saw this comment, we immediately contacted the PR rep who sent us the rate promotion and asked her what was up.
Tags: 9-9-09 Hotels / Los Angeles Hotels / Hotel Deals / Morgans Hotel Group / Room Rate Gimmicks / → All Tags
Nine is the Mondrian LA's Lucky Number
Until 2012, you have numerical alignment to thank for month-day-year promotions to knock some bucks off of hotel stays. 09/09/09 might not have the good luck vibes attached to it that 07/07/07 did, but we'll take the discount that the Mondrian LA is throwing our way all the same. Get ready for a parade of nines if you book a room at the West Hollywood hotel, which pretty much epitomizes everything Sunset Strip. (Yeah, that means stilettos, luxury cars, and a lucite-happy interior.)
The biggest deals to be had include offers for Guestrooms starting at $99 per night (valid September 1-10), and Penthouse and Private Apartment reservations starting at $999 per night (also valid September 1-10). That's the Penthouse above. See, we like to aim high here at HotelChatter.
Tags: Andaz Hotels / Hyatt Hotels / Los Angeles Hotels / Hotel Deals / → All Tags
Living the Rock 'N' Roll Life at The Andaz West Hollywood
The West Hollywood drag of LA's Sunset Strip is synonymous with a frenzied rock 'n' roll lifestyle. This is the stretch of bright lights that The Viper Room and Roxy Theater call home, and where on any given night, well-heeled groupie types (or "Band Aids," as the Always Famous euphemism goes) can be seen wandering in droves toward the latest insider after party. We'll reserve judgment about the outfit choices we've observed.
The recently reinvented Andaz West Hollywood has long been a part of this local, life-on-the-edge culture, playing host to guests who have an appreciation of the Strip's late night hustle and hard cocktails. For this year's Sunset Strip Music Festival, which will be held from September 10-12, The Andaz has been named the host hotel and is offering discounted rates of up to 20% accommodations from Thursday, September 10th through Sunday, September 13th to mark the high gloss occasion.
Tags: Celebrity Scoop / Robert Pattinson / Kristen Stewart / Vanessa Hudgens / Twilight Hotels / West Hollywood Hotels / → All Tags
The Chateau Marmont and Teen Vampires Belong Together
Twilight stars, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson can't seem to shake those rumors that they are dating in real life. But if you really weren't dating each other (as they insist), then why would you meet up at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood, a place where everyone knows you go for "trouble?"
The duo were there on Thursday night and paps caught them exiting the hotel. Since K-Stew is only 19, they couldn't have possibly been at Bar Marmont, could they have? Perhaps they just ate dinner in the courtyard and went over some scenes for the next Twilight installment? And then Rob told Kristen how awesome being out of college is and while he's living at home with his folks right now, he's got a good job lined up in the city and just needs one more roommate to split the rent with on an awesome two-bed apartment on the Upper West Side.
Wait, this is EDWARD AND BELLA we're talking about here.
Tags: Andaz Hotels / Hyatt Hotels / Los Angeles Hotels / Celebrity Scoop / Booze / → All Tags
Free Booze and Views of Johnny Depp’s House at Andaz WeHo
Last week, after we’d checked out the Chamberlain and the Avalon, we spent a night at Andaz West Hollywood. As devoted fans of the London branch, we were a little nervous. Would they have got rid of the things we love (like the stationery kits in every room and the free minibars?) Would they have developed a vibe-killing attitude?
We’re happy to report a no on both counts. The stationery kit is there, although it’s a bit more basic than in London – mainly a pencil and an eraser – and the vibe was smiley. Even the free minibar had more stash in it than those in the Smoke (although sadly, still no alcohol).
Tags: Hotel Video Tours / HotelChatter Reviews / Hotwire / Los Angeles Hotels / Kor Hotels / → All Tags
Quiet In a Good Way: Inside the Chamberlain West Hollywood
So this week, needing to crash in LA for a couple of nights, we decided to let Hotwire do the choosing for us, and got hooked up with the Chamberlain for the first night, and the Avalon for the second. Review of the Avalon to come tomorrow; in the meantime, here’s what we thought of the Chamberlain.
Room Reaction
We arrived late (about 9pm) and grumpy thanks to a malfunctioning car (National, you suck), but were considerably cheered by the nice man on the front desk telling us that we’d been upgraded – not bad, considering we’d already paid $70 less than the normal rate by booking on Hotwire.
The room was huge, with a step-down living area from the bedroom, a balcony (sadly no chairs) and a TV that spun between the two. The bathroom was quite small, with a sunken bath. It was also spotless. The only problem was it felt a little dark – those of a work bent could do with an extra light or two. But then that’s always a personal grumble of ours.
Tags: Hotwire / LA Hotels / Hotel Booking Tips / Kor Hotels / → All Tags
Booking Our LA Hotels: A Hotwire Experience
So we had to book a couple of nights in LA this week. Where to start? So many hotels to choose from, so little money to afford them was the general obstacle we came up against. Being fans of Andaz London, we were up for trying out the WeHo branch, but we lacked the $196 to do that.
So we went the Hotwire route. In the hope of scoring the Andaz for less, we asked for hotels in West Hollywood, where we found a 4 star for $121. We booked it for a night, thinking we could find out which it was and come back for more if we liked it.
Tags: Hotel Shopping / Hotel Swag / Mondrian Hotels / Los Angeles Hotels / → All Tags
LA's Mondrian Wants To See You In A Bikini At Their Pop-Up
Looks like the Mondrian West Hollywood has a little case of boutique envy, ever since their Miami sister the Mondrian South Beach got that baller vending machine back in March.
Looking to get in on the action of selling 24K gold handcuffs and $400 maribou feather vests, the Mondian LA has opened a pop-up shop just off of their lobby. It'll only be open though August 30, but until then the 300-square foot space will feature swimwear designer Shay Todd’s "perfect mix of rich, lush and romantic colors carried through bikinis, one-pieces, cover-ups, renowned terry cloth loungewear, and accessories, perfectly suited to the hotel’s fun, sexy summer vibe."
Although it's the LA hotel's first pop-up, we highly doubt it'll be the last. The Mondrian SoBe is successful with their vending machine, and so all we can say is "watch this space."
[Photo: Mondrian West Hollywood]
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