World City Guide

Hotels

All hotel bills are subject to a 14% occupancy tax, which is added to the bill at the end of a stay.

The prices quoted below are the starting prices for double rooms, excluding breakfast and tax, unless otherwise specified.

Business

OMNI Los Angeles at California Plaza
This is the quintessential business hotel. Located in the heart of LA’s business and financial district, it is steps from the new Disney Hall and the Museum of Contemporary Art. Expect excellent service from the moment you enter its spacious lobby. Earthy coloured décor accent comfortable, airy rooms that are equipped with large desks, free high-speed Internet access and dual phone lines. Roomy marble bathrooms have separate showers and tubs. Other amenities include a business centre, health club, complimentary shoeshine and a multilingual concierge. Within the hotel are the upscale Noe and the casual Grand Café. Other fine restaurants and the Metro are within walking distance.

251 South Olive Street
Tel: (213) 617 3300 or (800) THE OMNI (843) 6664. Fax: (213) 617 3399.
Website: www.omnihotels.com
Price: From US$239.

Park Hyatt Los Angeles at Century City
This high-tech hotel is within walking distance of 20th Century Fox Studios and ABC Entertainment Center. Each classically furnished room with balcony or patio offers the latest modern technology with two phone lines, voice-mail, fax machine, computer hook-up, remote-control cable TV, in-room movies, video messages, video account reviews and video check-out. Other perks include 24-hour room service, mini-bar, complimentary morning newspaper, coffee and shoeshine. Banquet facilities can accommodate 300 and 12 of the meeting rooms offer spectacular city views. There is a fitness centre, indoor and outdoor pools, restaurant and bar, while golf is 1.6km (1 mile) away by courtesy coach.

2151 Avenue of the Stars, Century City
Tel: (310) 277 1234 or (800) 233 1234 (reservations). Fax: (310) 785 9290.
Website: www.hyatt.com
Price: From US$305.

Westin Bonaventure Hotel and Suites
An ideal location for conferences in LA’s financial district, this business-oriented hotel has five towers surrounding a six-storey atrium lobby with a lake and trees. A mini-city, its 20 shops and restaurants cover all tastes, from the rooftop steakhouse to the Italian Marcello and Lakeview Bistro. The revolving cocktail lounge on the 34th floor offers 360-degree views of the city. Each room also offers panoramic views, as well as the Westin ‘heavenly’ mattress, a two-line telephone, modem point, mini-bar, safe, cable TV and in-room movies. Fax/printer/scanners and computers can be added on request, while the business centre and 26 meeting rooms are fully equipped. A fitness centre and outdoor pool are available.

404 South Figueroa Street, Downtown
Tel: (213) 624 1000. Fax: (213) 612 4800.
Website: www.westin.com
Price: From US$259.

Luxury

Beverly Hills Hotel
Now owned by the Sultan of Brunei, this is pure Hollywood glamour old-style. Built in 1912, the hotel has seen the honeymoons of six of Elizabeth Taylor’s marriages and was featured in the star-studded 1978 movie California Suite. The famous Polo Lounge (a nostalgic vision in pink and green stripes and palm-printed wallpaper) is still a favourite among film directors and producers who order their salads tossed at the table and discuss deals over the chocolate cake and ganache in pistachio sauce. The rooms have it all, including two cable TVs (one in the bathroom), marble baths and walk-in closets, while bungalows are also available, nestled around the pool area. A whirlpool, fitness centre, tennis courts and business centre complete this paradise on earth.

9641 Sunset Boulevard, Beverly Hills
Tel: (310) 276 2251 or (800) 283 8885 (reservations). Fax: (310) 887 2887.
E-mail: reservations@thebeverlyhillshotel.com
Website: www.thebeverlyhillshotel.com
Price: From US$380.

The Regent Beverly Wilshire
This 73-year-old hotel combines classical grandeur, impeccable service and 21st-century technology. Its ornately carved entrance leads to a magnificent lobby with Grecian columns and tapestries surrounded by an elegant restaurant and wood-panelled piano lounge. Rooms are luxury incarnate with orchids, marble bathrooms, cable TV/video, Internet access (US$10 per day) and electronic privacy and service-page buttons. Some overlook the garden patio and pool (modelled after Sophia Loren’s), which is near the gym and spa. Banquet facilities cater for 820, while ten spacious, fully equipped meeting rooms make this a good choice for the business traveller who wants everything first class. The hotel is about to renovate its spa, lobby and rooms as well as add a Wolfgang Puck restaurant.

9500 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills
Tel: (310) 275 5200. Fax: (310) 274 2851.
Website: www.fourseasons.com
Price: From US$410.

Shutters on the Beach
The only LA luxury hotel right on the beach, Shutters combines sophisticated elegance with a beach holiday atmosphere (although dignity must be maintained, as shown by a waiter chivalrously covering up a woman, who had the audacity to come to the breakfast patio in her demure one-piece bathing suit, with a hotel bathrobe). Understated elegance rules. The lobby has comfy couches, a gas-lit fireplace and top-class modern art, including some by David Hockney and Roy Lichtenstein. Each of the 198 rooms has a verandah with table and chairs and an ocean or pool view. All rooms have a four-poster bed, a copy of Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea, a private wine supply of 12 fine wines, a TV/video and a whirlpool bath. Besides the pool, there is a gym, sauna, spa, the One Pico restaurant or Pedals Café, where brunch includes lemon ricotta pancakes or corned beef hash with perfectly poached eggs.

One Pico Boulevard, Santa Monica
Tel: (310) 458 0030 or (800) 334 9000 (reservations). Fax: (310) 458 4589.
Website: www.shuttersonthebeach.com
Price: From US$405.

Moderate

Beverly Laurel Motor Hotel
This 1960s-style motel near some of the best restaurants in central LA offers retro glamour at very reasonable rates to families and struggling actors. Andy Warhol prints adorn the walls and its Swingers’ Diner, overlooking the outdoor swimming pool, has become the trendy haunt of young poseurs who like to eat innovative diner food (such as pancakes with jalapeno maple syrup) and those conducting business meetings at unsociable hours (it is open very late). The rooms are all comfortable with basic facilities, including microwaves, fridges, cable TV, modem points, and a friendly staff.

8018 Beverly Boulevard, Midtown
Tel: (323) 651 2441. Fax: (323) 651 5225.
Price: From US$90.

Figueroa Hotel and Convention Center
Only one block from Los Angeles Convention Center in the heart of LA’s business district, this charming, 12-storey landmark hotel, built in 1926, offers business travellers Spanish style at reasonable prices. Large, terracotta-coloured rooms feature wrought-iron beds and hand-painted furniture along with private phones, voice-mail, modem points, satellite TV and refrigerators. The hotel’s bar and Indian restaurant, or the heated pool and Jacuzzi in a garden of bougainvillea, cacti, fountains and statues, are the perfect places to relax after a hard day’s work. The coffee shop and reception are open 24 hours.

939 South Figueroa Street, Downtown
Tel: (213) 627 8971 or (800) 421 9092 (reservations). Fax: (213) 689 0305.
Website: www.figueroahotel.com
Price: From US$124.

The Standard
Visitors are shown what to expect from this stylish, modern hotel when they see the sign outside for The Standard, spelt upside-down – an example of the clever eccentricity that hotel designer André Balazs (who also refurbished Chateau Marmont) is renowned for. Young sophisticates gather in the floor-to-ceiling shag-carpeted lobby with live DJ and performance art shows, the poolside café or the 24-hour restaurant, which serves quality American comfort food. Rooms offer kitsch furniture like beanbag chairs, alongside a voice-mail speaker telephone, mini-bar, CD player, cable TV, modem point and showers (rooms with baths cost more). Balazs’ vision of cultural magician meets modern-life convenience at affordable prices is invigorating – but not everyone’s cup of tea.

8300 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood
Tel: (323) 650 9090. Fax: (323) 650 2820.
Website: www.standardhotel.com
Price: From US$135.

Other Recommendations

The Ambrose
It resembles an apartment building, but past its outer wall and fountained garden is a 77-room, guest-friendly, Asian-inspired boutique hotel. A nice change from the hustle of Los Angeles, it is a 20-minute walk from Santa Monica’s main shopping centre and the ocean. Cosy, pleasant rooms, decorated in dark woods and beiges, have nice touches like Italian bedding, bamboo plants, terraces, surround-sound, and high-speed internet. Upon availability, the hotel provides a complimentary London taxi for guests to local shopping areas and restaurants. Additional amenities include a small fitness centre and complimentary continental breakfast featuring breads and pastries from Santa Monica’s famous Rockenwagner restaurant.

1255 20th Street, Santa Monica
Tel: (310) 315 1555 or (877) AMBROSE (262 7673). Fax (310) 315 1556.
Email: info@ambrosehotel.com
Website: www.ambrosehotel.com
Price: From US$175.

Avalon Hotel
This stylish mid-century hotel, in a residential area minutes from Sunset Strip, is where Marilyn Monroe once lived. With furnishings from 1950s to the present day, each room is a designer’s dream, with smart, clean lines. Guest rooms are full of practical features, such as two-line telephones with conference/speaker capabilities, Internet access, safe, mini-bar, cassette/CD player and 27-inch cable TV. Every area, from the pool and cabanas to the fitness centre and conference room, is moulded by the same perfectionist eye. Service is of a high standard, with 24-hour room service, dry cleaning/laundry, mobile telephone rental, car hire, taxi/limo service and valet parking available.

9400 West Olympic Boulevard, Beverly Hills
Tel: (310) 277 5221 or (800) 670 6183 (reservations). Fax: (310) 277 4928.
E-mail: info@avalonbeverlyhills.com
Website: www.avalonbeverlyhills.com
Price: From US$295.

Chateau Marmont
This romantic French chateau-style hotel, perched at the foot of the Hollywood Hills, has been a haven for show-business types since 1929. It has housed Greta Garbo, Warren Beatty and Howard Hughes, and still attracts the movers and shakers of the film and music industries. Through its ornately Gothic lobby and corridors lie rooms uniquely decorated with vintage furniture and appliances from the 1920s to 1950s. However, modern touches (like the attic gym) have been added. The hotel restaurant merges with the garden and pool to create a perfect retreat. Those who might easily forget they are in LA need only look out of a window to see the Sunset Strip below.

8221 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood
Tel: (323) 656 1010 or (800) 937 8939 (reservations). Fax: (323) 655 5311.
Website: www.chateaumarmont.com
Price: From US$295.

Millennium Biltmore Hotel
Permeating this famous old hotel is the sumptuous luxury of the 1920s. Once the venue for the Oscar ceremonies and JFK’s headquarters during the Democratic convention, its history is as colourful as its exquisite public room ceilings. The Biltmore has also been the venue for over 250 movies and television shows including The Bodyguard, Cocoon, True Lies, West Wing and Independence Day. Spacious guestrooms are accented with golds and blues and are furnished with upholstered headboards, and wood and leather furniture. Marble baths and high-tech updates make it as modern as it is grand. Amenities include a full-service spa, a state-of-the-art business centre and a multilingual concierge staff.

506 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles
Tel: (213) 624 1011 or (800) 245 8673 (reservations). Fax: (213) 612 1545.
Website: www.thebiltmore.com
Price: From US$189.