Need LA Hotel Opinions
 

I need help narrowing down my list of hotels. We've never been to L.A. before and going for a long weekend. I live in Manhattan, so I don't want an area in LA that would be like staying in Times Square that is an overly touristy area in NYC. Trying to stay under $200/room. We do not want a tiny, cramped room - our preference is a medium to large room with a roomy bathroom. This is my list so far:
Ambrose - people on this board seem to think it is out of the way.
Radisson Huntley - haven't seen much posted about it.
Loews Beverly Hills-are the rooms large?
Wyndham Bel Age - we are going with a 75 year old woman (we are in our 30's) and don't want a hotel with a bar in the lobby or overly-trendy. not sure what this hotel is like.

Could someone who has stayed at any of these hotels give me more color? I know they are all in different parts of LA, we are not stuck on staying in a particular location.
Thank you so much!!!

Reviews of all your hotel choices.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...alifornia.html

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...alifornia.html

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...alifornia.html

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...alifornia.html

What about the Park Hyatt Beverly Hills or LeSofitel? Both get good reviews and I think you can get deals under $200. Like the info. above, definitely check out tripadvisor.com

I'm one of the naysayers about the Ambrose, and I'm quite familiar with its location. It's not out of the way if you have business at the major attraction in its neighborhood: St. John's Hospital (they have my appendix!!) and its dozens of clinics. Or if you're buying a car at one of the dozen or so auto dealers a few blocks away on Santa Monica Blvd. It's out of the way to ANYTHING ELSE in southern California. Nice property or not (and I've heard it's quite nice), you're in a residential/medical zone, with nothing immediately around it.

The Huntley is two blocks from where I work, and it at least is closer to the ocean and well-situated to get to the Santa Monica Pier, Montana Ave. (charming shopping area in Santa Monica), Third Street Promenade (outdoor shopping, all the usual chains, pretty touristy), Main Street (like Montana Ave., a bit funkier) and Venice Beach. You can also zip up to San Vicente Blvd. and quickly get to Sunset Blvd., and Beverly Hills and points east.

Another source for lodger comments would be Travelocity-- I've found that the user comments are always spot-on accurate.

rjw-
i read your reviews on the Ambrose and it they were helpful - i just figured that if we have a car, it would be nicer to stay in a newer hotel. Is santa monica by 3rd street extremely touristy? We can go to Gap, Banana Republic....in NYC. Also, if we stay in Beverly Hills, are the restaurants crazy expensive? we don't want chains, but we don't want $75/person dinners either. I am soooo confused right now because I think i have read too many posts and have looked at everything on tripadvisor and all the other sites. I just want a clean, big room, not uber-expensive hotel in a not too touristy area.

Will you renting a car, and what are your plans while in L.A.? To me this makes quite a difference when deciding where to stay if you've just got a weekend.
And is it 3 people in one room? Do you need something with a sofabed or rollaway?

I agree with joesorce's questions in order to help you. I don't remember chain stores in the 3rd st promenade but they do have a Bice rest. (from NY) if I recall correctly. Santa Monica is nice if you want to be near a beach. I like staying in Westwood if beach is not an issue. It has a laid back atmosphere with a downtown area.

RE: The Ambrose and its location. Nice and new, sure; but I guess I would prefer to have nice things to do around me-- not just go have a face lift or outpatient chemo or walk up to the 7-Eleven or liquor stores up on Wilshire for a Slim Jim and Diet Coke.

SM around Third Street is pretty touristy, yes. However, there are some good restaurants and some cool shops in that area as well. Still, I wouldn't spend all my time there. The Banana Republic at Wilshire and Third is very, very nice, but it's a BR.

People have a bit of a misconception about Beverly Hills. Not everyone there is a zillionaire, first of all. You can find reasonably-priced everything there, including restaurants. I can eat like a king out here for much cheaper than in Manhattan.

The Wyndham Bel Age would be a great choice. All-suite, good location, GREAT restaurant on the premises (Diaghilev)-- sounds wonderful to me.

thank you everybody for your help.
yes, imagine beverly hills like on TV/movies!
we are renting a car for the weekend, taking my boyfriend's mom back to LA for her 75th birthday - she went to UCLA and hasn't been back since. So, going to visit UCLA, want to see venice beach, rodeo drive, mann's chinese theater - very touristy things that we can fit into a long weekend. One room for us, one for his mom. But we just like big rooms/bathrooms. i probably shouldn't even be so concerned about the hotel since i doubt we will be spending much time there!!

My suggestion is to Priceline it in Beverly Hills for two rooms. Our various commutes to LA are now exclusively PL ventures, never less than 4 stars (Bel-Age, Beverly Hilton, others) and never more than $85 per room. Use www.biddingfortravel.com for pointers and recent results.

RJW, ha ha - that place has expendable parts of my corpus too - but I don't want to elaborate on a family website, if you get my meaning... :&

If you're planning on a UCLA visit and want to be central to everything you've mentioned, a hidden little gem in Westwood, just south of the UCLA campus, is the W Westwood (née the Westwood Marquis). An extremely nice hotel, just on the edge of Westwood Village (I lived just up the street from it when I was teaching at UCLA). You pop up to Sunset and it's a straight shot to Hollywood; you zip down Wilshire into Santa Monica, then down Ocean/Pacific to Venice. Sorry to throw another choice into the mix, but this might hit all the right buttons IF you can get a good rate.

And you might look into staying at the UCLA guesthouse, a very nice place right on campus. You have to have "campus business" to be admitted to this hotel, but on "slow weekends" an alumni visit would be considered valid.
www.guesthouse.ucla.edu

mclaurie: There is no Bice on the Promenade currently (I've been working a little more than a block away for 15 years and it SOUNDS familiar, but it's not there now). There was a restaurant called Remi-- also closed. There are a few upscale Italian places-- Locanda del Lago, Bravo Cucina, Trastavere-- if you have a yen for pasta or risotto.

clark's idea of the UCLA guesthouse is a good one. I don't know if you can get near the place until summer break, but it's worth a try.

Thanks rjw, it's been a while since i was there. Maybe it was Remi (another NY place) but I thought Bice had a place there. Anyway, I also used to stay at the Westwood Marquis which I loved. Funny it's now a W. I also think Gardyloo's idea of Priceline is good.

The W Hotel in Westwood is nice but the bar, which takes up most of the first floor, is often full of college kids in the evening--kind of the "cool" place to get a drink near campus. The rooms are nice, but getting a suite elsewhere maybe more comfortable. Quite trendy.

The Raddison Huntley is fairly nice--lots of flight attendants stay there-go figure. Very close to tons of restaurants and shopping. There is one restaurant upstairs with a wonderful view, although if there is a Laker game on in the bar, it may be to loud for a more mature lady.

The Bel Age would be a good choice. You might also see if you can get a good deal at another Santa Monica hotel like the Mirmar Sheraton, Loew's or Casa Del Mar--usually pretty expensive but if it is off-season, you may bet a good deal.

Enjoy!

The Loews in Beverly Hills was previously under another name -- the Renaissance, I believe -- we used to laugh because their restaurant at the top (with good views) used to be called "The Chez", which I'm sure had the French laughing. Anyway, the property is in a really good area, surrounded by residential, on Pico (it's not in Beverly Hills -- about a block from Beverly Hills in Beverlywood, which is right next to Century City). I haven't seen the rooms, but I hear they are a comfortable size. Close to 20th Century Fox and close to Westwood. The area is not touristy at all.

If it were me, I'd opt for the Century Plaza (you can get rooms for about $200/night), which plants you right in between everywhere you want to go.

The W in Westwood is a nice property, but like the others said, the lobby area (i.e. the big bar) leaves some people cold, and the valet parking expense is VERY high. Not that the Century Plaza has cheap parking either. Both are in high rent districts. The downside to staying in Westwood, aside from the evening rush hour traffic in getting there, are the panhandlers. They're not aggressive and if you're in Westwood a lot, you know all of them.

Your boyfriend's mother will still love Westwood Village, because it really hasn't changed a whole lot since she went to UCLA. Tell her the Fox Village and Bruin theatres are STILL there, as are many of the old, Spanish-style buildings. A pity you didn't come 2 weeks ago -- the streets were cordoned off for the UCLA parade and pep rally -- loads of alumni (including me!), and lots of fun. The campus has grown. Pauley Pavillion and its parking lot replaced what we used to call "The Vets" -- post-war student housing for families on Gayley, but the frat houses are still there. The core buildings (Royce, Murphy, etc.) look exactly the same, although Royce was restored a few years ago (earthquake problems). She might want to check with the alumni association on special tours, etc.

Have fun!

Thanks for all the responses!
It seems from the map as though if we stay in Beverly Hills we would be between the beach areas and the UCLA area - so it seems to be most central I think. Is this correct? And i don't see westwood/west hollywood on the map, but from what was posted here, they seem to be south of UCLA?

Actually, Beverly Hills is east of UCLA. Westwood basically surrounds UCLA (although Bel Air is north of the campus). West Hollywood (a separate city within Los Angeles) is east of Beverly Hills.

UCLA is located IN Westwood. "Westwood Village" (a little community of mostly shops, restaurants and movie theatres) is just south of the UCLA campus.

Here's how it works, heading WEST from Beverly Hills: Century City (adjacent to B.H.), then West L.A./Westwood/Rancho Park (talking about a two mile area, running north and south), then West L.A. continues until you hit Santa Monica, and, of course, west of Santa Monica is the Pacific Ocean.

We've stayed at both the Westwood Marquis, now the W, and at the Bel Age. At the time we had a two beroom suite with our sons and it was lovely. But we realy loved the Bel Age where we had a beautiful "suite" which consisted of a sitting area and an elevated bedroom area. Probably liked the location in Westwood better since I love to walk and enjoyed the campus of UCLA. Either place should be good.