Back in December I spent a night at the Andaz West Hollywood. It was a very last minute decision and my go-to hotel choice is usually Hyatt. I’d heard great things about the Andaz West Hollywood, so I thought it was a no-brainer. It has a great location, about 15 miles from the airport and is close to a lot of great restaurants.
My sisters and I were only spending a single night, so it seemed like a great choice. However, by the time I checked out of this hotel my impression was that the Andaz West Hollywood was pretty much just a glorified motel…
Andaz West Hollywood history
The Andaz West Hollywood opened in 1963 and is known for its association with the music industry. Keith Richards, Led Zeppelin, Little Richard, Elton John and Jim Morrison are just a few of its famous former inhabitants. The movie Almost Famous was filmed here, as were scenes from The Rockford Files and This is Spinal Tap.
The Andaz West Hollywood is located on Sunset Blvd, less than three miles from the swanky shops on Rodeo Drive, the Beverly Center, and The Grove. You can easily (and cheaply) get around town with Uber and Lyft – and the drivers might have some interesting stories about celebrities they’ve driven around town.
Side note: If you’re looking for a nearby place to eat (and you’re in the mood for Italian), Il Pastaio is worth the hype – especially their famous Lobster Pasta. You can make a reservation pretty easily and they take walk-ins after 5 PM. We only waited about 20 minutes and ended up sitting two tables down from Paul Marciano, the founder of Guess. But I digress…
Andaz West Hollywood check-in experience
When I refer to the Andaz West Hollywood as a glorified motel, I’m certainly not referring to its lobby. It’s absolutely gorgeous – night and day. It featured lots of seating – some comfortable, others purely decorative.
There was a sort of bar area to the left of the entrance, which was always stocked with drinks and snacks. In the mornings it was coffee and poundcake. In the afternoons and evenings there were cookies, pretzels and lemon water.
The staff at the Andaz West Hollywood was friendly. I only had Hyatt Explorist status, which pretty much gets you nothing. But the rep was welcoming and check-in was quick…
Andaz West Hollywood standard queen room
The room was where the Andaz West Hollywood really fell short. Which is a shame, because that’s the most important part. The place was last renovated in 2009, so maybe that explains it. At first, everything looked perfectly fine. I had booked a Standard Queen room, featuring two double beds.
The room was a good size and featured little extras we’ve come to expect from Andaz Hotels: Free snacks, a pair of earplugs, and a desk/vanity area.
There was a black mirror mounted on the wall by the desk and you could barely see yourself in it. It didn’t make the room look bigger or serve any kind of purpose, really. But the space did have plenty of power outlets, which is nice.
To keep things whimsical, there was a decal on the window overlooking the parking lot. It read, “No matter where you go – there you are.” WTH does that mean?!
To add to the funky vibe, there was an orange dog sculpture in the room. It was actually for sale…for $250. I wonder how many people actually buy that thing…
There were little touches referencing the hotel’s rock & roll history: A CD listing all of the amenities guests could request free of charge and a room service menu with an image of a man holding a guitar.
When I requested hairspray and toothbrushes, they sent over three travel sized bottles of Treseme and brushes + toothpaste in a little black bag.
Bathroom
The bathroom looked nice at first sight. It was fairly small and had that really unflattering light that you find at Hyatt Place hotels. There weren’t enough towels for one person, let alone two or three.
We requested some and they were brought up fairly quickly. The amenities were from a brand called LATHER and I have to say, they smelled really great!
My beef with the Andaz West Hollywood
The room was in bad shape. There door had a large crack, the sliding bathroom door was rusty and wouldn’t close all the way. The carpet was in pretty bad shape. The main color was stain patterns. It also wasn’t the cleanest room – lots of dust on the tables and windows.
The windows reminded me of my friend’s crappy dorm at USC. It had the same rectangular windows that provided neither sufficient light nor a sense of warmth. But I assume those windows were chosen so that musicians under the influence of heavy drugs wouldn’t throw their tv’s out the window. Yeah, that happened. Twice.
But the worst part about the room was the central AC, which I didn’t know about until I tried to adjust the freezing cold temperature. The thermostat wasn’t working and the front desk informed me it was only there for show.
The temperature couldn’t actually be adjusted in the room itself. She offered to send up an engineer:
Me: “But you’re saying the temperature can’t be adjusted.”
Her: “Correct.”
Me: “Then what can the engineer do?”
Her: “Well, he could possibly turn it up 2-5 degrees.”
Me: “No thank you. Everyone is asleep and I don’t want to wake them to get the temperature up 2 degrees.”
I went to sleep and woke up 20 minutes later to incessant knocking. It was 11:21 PM. An engineer and staff member were outside the door. I was pretty annoyed, especially since I’d told her 20 minutes earlier not to come up.
The engineer had a small heater and said it could “warm up the room a couple of degrees.” She offered us extra blankets but I declined since I didn’t feel like staying awake for another 20 minutes for them to be delivered.
Final thoughts
Overall, I was pretty surprised at how downtrodden the room was. But more importantly, the inability to adjust the room temperature made it impossible for any of us to get a good night’s sleep. It’s such a basic thing that I couldn’t believe was lacking at this hotel.
Would I stay here again? No. Is it the worst hotel every? No – the service was good overall and the location was ideal. But I need my creature comforts and a working thermostat ranks pretty high on that list.
When I referred to the Andaz West Hollywood as a “glorified motel” on Twitter, I got lots of feedback from others who felt the same. I want to hear from you: Have you stayed at the Andaz West Hollywood? How would you review this hotel?
I agree. We stayed there for one night in 2015 when I had diamond status. The only highlight was the breakfast buffet was for four instead of two, so I was able to invite my two family members to join us. The scent in the room was really strong, as if they are trying to cover up a smell. It didn’t feel clean, and I agree that there are dust and stains everywhere.
Hyatt is generally pretty generous with their breakfast benefit. I stayed at the Hyatt Carmel Highlands a few years ago. Booked three rooms with 12 people and they covered breakfast for everyone. As for the Andaz West Hollywood, I agree with you. The room was pretty broken down and in overall bad shape. It was mostly little things, like the closet door not closing all the way, the handle on the door jiggled, paint was chipped, etc. It felt like a glorified motel.
Stayed there in 2012 for a few nights and used a suite upgrade. The suite was great and had a great view of the city. I would have been disappointed with your room and view, also.
I hear their suites are nice. And honestly, I don’t care about the view so much but the room itself was in pretty terrible shape.
I’ve only stayed as a Globalist and therefore have always had an Andaz King Suite, which is pretty awesome but almost too large. The big selling point of this property is the pool (highest rooftop pool in the state or at least in SoCal) and those SUPER comfy cabanas (or whatever they’re called). I find the RH Bar food to be generally good (if limited and expensive) but was quite disappointed with the RH Restaurant breakfast (which is mostly a buffet with some made-to-order items). As opposed to the bar food, which seems to be quality-focused, the restaurant uses very cheap ingredients. The eggs were like the flavorless ones from a bad diner (that are obviously from a factory). Baked goods seem day-old and hard every day. Other items are just meh. This is a perfect example of “free” breakfast not really being a benefit. Although I don’t drink, obviously the wine hour is a trenendous benefit for those that do. I have extremely low expectations of hotel staff in this vicinity, as most are in the film or music industry and tend to be aloof (or worse) as they don’t seem to care about their day job. However, the staff here have actually been genuinely excellent on multiple stays. Really, my biggest annoyance is requiring a key card (or mobile device) for elevator use. This restriction isn’t permitted in L.A. itself, but apparently it is in other cities like WeHo. I guess they’re trying to keep people from going to the rooftop, so why not just limit access to that door? Anyway, it’s not a perfect property but I do find it has several merits.
I agree – the staff was overall pleasant. Again, this hotel has lots of pros but the room was just awful.
“No matter where you go, there you are” is a line from the cult-followed film Buckaroo Banzai from the early 1980’s. As this is Hollywood, I think they are just being a little playful.
I see! Thanks for clearing that up.