Review: W Hotel Los Angeles Westwood

Hi Ben, thx for the review. While I am not the biggest fan of W hotels either, you have to try their Barcelona property (maybe you already did) as it is stunning! It is my favorite W and nicer than the other properties you mentioned. Take care

The chair is a Eames Eiffel chair. I have a few at home, they're very comfortable IMO. But to each his own!
I didn't like the tiny windows. Definitely a big td to that.

The W Westwood was built as a private dorm in the 1969. My stepdad was an RA there during that time.
http://magazine.ucla.edu/year2003/winter03_06_dorm.html

W - Westwood. I live just around the corner form there. I'm glad you liked it. It's a regular haunt of mine...well the bar and restaurant are anyway. Did you get to explore much of Westwood village? ( well what's left of it anyway!) Great review. Hope you come back to LA soon.

Lived in Westwood 2007-2012 while in graduate school, and my folks stayed here a couple of times when they were visiting. Brings back memories! But, wow, you found a great rate! Usually I've seen $300 and up. And it's now a category 6!

I'm not typically a huge fan of W Hotels in North America but I do like this one. It was previously a residential building which explains both the normal looking exterior and the normal room layouts.
Also, W has recently re-branded their gyms from "Sweat" to "Fit". I guess sweat sounds kinda gross!

Have you tried the Quinoa Power Salad at Veggie Grill?

Nice review. I've had 2 projects in LA where I stayed in that hotel every M-Th for 2 months and 4 months straight respectively. Great property, nice location, the mexican restaurant around the corner is excellent as is the pizza place.

It can get a bit annoying when studios show up to shoot films / TV shows (we were there one week when some studio was shooting a pilot in the lobby of the hotel in the evening and in do so physically blocking guests from entering the lobby and when we did enter, after returning from dinner, they were shooting us nasty looks for invading "their" set as if it was our fault for walking into the lobby of our hotel). The pool is also frequently used as the set for commercials and TV shows.

@ Scott -- I've had the kale salad over and over and over. Might have to try it next time!

I'm a regular here. This is one of the better W properties in the US. The building itself is former student housing for UCLA.

Now you have to overnight at the W Doha (as there is not so much to do in Doha). It's rated no. 1 in the city and is a category 5 property.

I usually stay at this hotel when in L.A. I love it, and it is often reasonably priced. Also a short walk to a great supermarket, and UCLA. One of my favorites. (I did enjoy my stay at the SLS, however.)

"three rooms - a living room, a bedroom and an office"

I see they have a toilet too.

We will have to agree to disagree. The property is rather dated and it was rather impossible to get a good night sleep with the rackety air conditioning, which could not be fixed.
It felt like a Westin, rather than a W.
The swimming pool, feels very overcrowded and it feels like it's somebody's private spa instead of hotel pool.
Granted, service was perfunctory and nothing over the top, but satisfactory.
I would NOT say that this W is the best in the US by a long shot.
In fact, the recent move from Cat 5 to Cat 6 is laughable at best.

I rather stay at W hollywood (Cat 5) or SLS beverly hills (cat 6)

W hollywood - service is cursory and maybe a miss, but the building, facility, and rooms are very nice.
SLS beverly hills - service is exceptional...crowd may be a bit on the "snobbish" side, but it's LA.

Have you seen Any Schumer's skit making fun of the W? She went to a hotel called the U where it is all about U. It's on her show Inside Amy. Looks like it might have been filmed here.... not sure.

@ Lucky - did they really only take off $12.50 for breakfast? It says "includes your choice of three items: juice, coffee, pastry, cereal, whole fruit, or granola with yogurt" but it's impossible to combine any 3 items in those categories without going over $12.50.

P.S. Kale "chips" at Travaasa resorts are also delicious. They bake kale in an oven for 30-45 minutes after lightly covering them with olive oil and some other stuff.

@ Ivan Y -- They did indeed. The prices I think reflect the cost of individual items from the walk up bar area.

@ Lucky - Oh, that makes more sense. The hotel looks nice although the pool seems small.