Incredible but Unfulfilled Potential - Millenium Biltmore Los Angeles
Written: Feb 28 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Incredible architecture, decor and facilities
Cons: Lack of attention-to-detail
The Bottom Line: If I was looking for a knock-out event, for sure I'd look at booking the Biltmore, but for most other times, I'd probably search elsewhere
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| pilotpat's Full Review: Millennium Biltmore Hotel Los Angeles |
INTRODUCTION
I stayed at the Millenium Biltmore Los Angeles for about a week on business. The Biltmore is a historic hotel (as hotels on the West Coast go - I've heard it said that 200 years ago is a long time in the US, while 200 miles is a long drive in Europe). "The Grand Dame" opened in 1923, hosted much of early Hollywood's formative years, served as JFK's headquarters during the 1960 Democratic Convention, and continues to host some of the headline events of today.
LOCATION
The hotel is in the middle of downtown Los Angeles, near many of the bank headquarters and theatrical attractions (such as the Walt Disney Philharmonic Hall. Though the website lists the hotel as being a mere 20 minutes from LAX airport, that is only true when traffic is moving well (a rarity in LA). Expect more of a 45 minute trip. Downtown LA is not the centerpiece of nightlife, and in fact is not the nicest place even to walk during hours of darkness. If you're in LA for sightseeing and fun, you might look elsewhere.
ENTRY
Once you navigate around the one-way streets to the entrance, a small covered drive brings you to the front door and valet attendants. There are no provisions for self-parking in the hotel - those wishing to save a dime must walk a good distance from the closest private parking garage, or risk leaving their car overnight on the street (not one of my recommended techniques). Valet parking will run you $22/night plus tips with unlimited "in-and-out" privileges. Call 10 minutes ahead to get your car, 15 minutes in the mornings.
The doors bring you into a magnificent lobby. A bellstand to your right will dispatch your luggage to your room as soon as you check in. The lobby has a pedestal centerpiece with fresh floral arrangements and comfortable seating provisions. The walls are decorated ornately with carvings and frescoed plaster, including a large waterfountain display on one wall. What I found most beautiful (definitely more beautiful than the well-executed but not-my-taste mural behind the desk) was the ceiling, decorated in dark wood, paintings, and back-lit opaque glass.
Check-in was polite, but I had a hard time communicating changes to my itinerary and billing with the clerk due to a language barrier.
From the lobby, I walked into the huge and stunning hallway with tiled floors, high ornate ceilings, and beautiful crown moldings. Across the hall stood the four primary elevators which, though small by today's standards, were in good operating condition.
ROOMS
Exiting the elevator, I felt that I had entered another hotel. The hallways are in need of new carpeting (and in many places, vacuuming), the lighting is harsh, and the paint is peeling in some places. The hallways look much as I imagine they did in 1923, just older.
Room entry was through electronic keycard (blue for club levels, green for others), which brought me into a 1920's-sized room. The bed and furniture, obviously, were updated, but the decor still was (intentionally) reminiscent of that era. A pleasant (for some) pale gold color scheme predominates. Here again, the carpet was in need of replacement, and the paint, although new in many parts of the room, was peeling in others (such as the windowframes and baseboards).
Wooden shuters provide light control to the well-sized window, along with drapes. When shut, they did an OK, but not admirable job of blocking out sounds from the city below. Opening the hinged shutters required pulling the desk back about a foot. The desk, by the way, is a painted steel and glass affair, sans drawer, with a lamp, clock-radio, informational folder, ice bucket, and glasses upon it. Also on the desk was a 2-line cordless speakerphone with dataport. After crawling under the desk to plub my laptop in, I also noticed the nice feature of the desk lamp - two easily-available outlets.
A very nicely-sized cabinet stored the quaint (about 19") TV which had cable and PPV, though it remained off for the duration of my stay. Below were three large drawers. Combined with the large closet and two nightstands, each with two drawers, this provided plenty of clothes storage space. The closet had an ironing board, sufficient hangars and shelf space, a door-mirror, and two luggage stands, but no iron! The informational brochure also spoke of a room safes, but I never found it. Safe deposit boxes are available at the front desk for no charge, though.
The two marble-topped nightstands each had a large lamp, and framed the king-sized bed, which was in good condition with nice and clean linens.
The desk chair was OK, not super, but the other upholstered chair and ottoman were very nice, tastefully executed, and comfortable!
The bathroom had the cheap Home-Depot tile on the walls spoken of by one of the previous reviewers, but nice 12" marble-look tile on the floors. The toilet was industrial looking, as was the sink. A large mirror and small shelf above the sink were handy. Two ceramic cups, shampoo, soap, conditioner, lotion, and a full-sized hair dryer were provided. Towels were clean but mediocre. Shower pressure and temperature were good, and the shower had a retractable closeline, which I appreciated as it allowed me to wash my gym clothes in the mornings, (those working out next to me appreciated the closeline more). No coffee service (that'll run you around $10 from room service).
Air conditioning/heating is controlled easily by a thermostat on the wall near the bed.
FACILITIES
"Biltmore Health Club" We negotiated free healthclub privileges in our rate, and after reading the blurb on the healthclub, I was excited. Sounded like a pretty good place - "full service, complete with steam room, dry-heat sauna, whirlpool, weight room, massage therapy, Italian tile swimming pool, and available personal trainers. The first morning, I was let down a bit. First, it doesn't open until 6am, a bit late for me. The aerobic section is OK, but a bit small for this size hotel, and by 6:30, people were waiting in line for equipment. It has four treadmills, a variety of stationary bikes, an eliptical trainer, and stair stepper, all of good, but not spectacular, quality.
The weight room is really a weight machine room, dominated by hydraulic resistance units. I didn't really like the design, but I guess it did the job.
For those who run, I'd advise to run up the hill to the financial/cultural area, which gives you good views of the mountains as well (smog-depending). Available outdoor exercise hours are limited here - I wouldn't advise running before sunrise for safety's sake, and a few hours later the air quality goes downhill. While I was in LA, a recent rain and incoming front kept the air relatively clear, which was nice.
The pool is beautiful, but really too small for lap swimming.
Better options are at Bally's - just a block away, or Gold's - a bit further.
Meeting Facilities These are nice, ranging from small meeting rooms to huge banquet halls off the great hall. The Millenium Boardroom on the 11th floor is superb - I figure around 4,000 sqft of space with many rooms (which by the way is about how big the Presidential Suite is) and a large conference room with a very nice audiovisual suite. The pool table in one of the smaller rooms was old and in need of refurbishing.
Restaurants The onsite restaurants range from the very below-average Grand Street Bar (mediocre bar food, sports-bar atmosphere, and to my further disappointment, no dark beers) to the much nicer Smeraldi's mediterranean-style casual dining room to the top-notch SaiSai japanese restaurant. Off-site walking-distance restaurants are available, and the concierge was very helpful in pointing out some wonderful options. The Trattoria Italian restaurant was absolutely wonderful with an extensive wine list. The Pollo Rustica is outstanding, and the Filletos were pretty good as well.
The Gallery bar has live local Jazz from 9pm-1am on Fridays and Saturdays. The ambience is nice and cozy, but the bar is a bit small.
Where You Wouldn't Normally Look I like to take stairs rather than elevators. The stairways were filthy, especially the lower two floors right before you open the door into the grand hallway. Cigarrette butts and trash were all over the floors. A strand of toilet paper even hung off one of the handrails. I found this sort of thing in several different places throughout the hotel in places most people don't see (but that some obviously do).
OVERALL
In downtown LA, for the $149 rate the group that arranged the event negotiated, I can't complain that much. However, the hotel is in need of some help around the edges. It just seems that there is a lack of attention-to-detail. If I was looking for a knock-out event, for sure I'd look at booking the Biltmore, but for most other times, I'd probably search elsewhere (and did when I arranged an event immediately afterward - look for my upcoming review on the splendid Renaissance LAX Airport).
I'll give the Biltmore 4 stars. 3 for service (at this level of a hotel), 3 for the rooms, 3 for the health club, 5+ for meeting/event facilities, and 5 for overall aesthetics of the public spaces.
Recommended:
Yes
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Member: Pat
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