We stayed in a movie star....
Written: Feb 13 '07 (Updated Feb 14 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great Customer Service, Heavenly Shower, Great View
Cons: Slow Service in Lounge, Parking, Television Cabinet
The Bottom Line: The Bonaventure offered great service and at $60 a night was an excellent bargain despite parking charges.
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| jdornoff's Full Review: The Westin Bonaventure Hotel and Suites |
Background:
While you may not recognize the name the Bonaventure Hotel, you have probably seen it at one time or another. The hotel located in Downtown Los Angeles has been shown in numerous movies and television shows. Its unique design with four round towers surrounding a fifth tower is stands out amongst the others tall buildings in the city.
My wife and I where originally planning to stay in Pasadena on this trip. However, there was some special event going on so the hotels where at there high end prices. In fact the least expensive motel I could find was an economy place at $70.00 per night so I looked around.
I started looking around the internet and discovered I could book a hotel from Hotwire in Downtown Los Angeles for only $60.00 a night. From the description given by Hotwire I knew there were only a couple of places that matched so I went ahead and booked it. Having grew up in the area I was very familiar with the Bonaventure and had been in their lobby a couple of times checking out its unique architecture. My wife and I had put it on our list of hotels/motels/resorts that we want to stay at.
Then I looked at the epinion reviews and most where negative so I wondered what we got ourselves into. So I began to wonder if I had booked a room with a tarnished star.
The Hotel:
As I stated, the hotel has a unique architecture that has been used in many movies. The hotel sits on the full block of 4th, 5th, Flower and Figueroa. The main entrance to the hotel is on Flower which is one way southbound as it passes the hotel (however it is two way north of the hotel).
I pulled up at the far north end of the loading zone in front of the hotel and let my wife out along with all our luggage. Since I was planning on parking elsewhere for the night (I will talk about that later), I saw a metered spot across the street so I took it and paid the little meter.
By the time I walked across the street, a bell person had approached my wife and wanted to know if we wanted him to take our luggage. My wife is not used to having someone else take her luggage for her so she didn’t know if she should do it or not so she waited until I walked back across the street. Since most of my wife’s traveling growing up had been in a camper and only motels since we had been married, she was not used to bellman services.
I had the bellman take all our luggage while my wife and I went inside to check in. Since it has been many years since I had been in the lobby of the Bonaventure I had to figure out where the front desk was. However, after I had walked in the door I saw what looked to be the front desk on the right.
Once you enter the main entrance of the hotel it takes your breath away. The hotel atrium is six stories tall. There are four banks of elevators each designated by a color (green, blue, yellow, and red) with a large lounge located between the elevators in the center of the atrium. Even thought the amount of heavy concrete makes the atrium scream 70’s, it is still very impressive.
Check In:
I walked up to the what I assumed was the registration desk, although there was no signs stating that fact and immediately one of the employees asked how she could help me. I went over, mentioned I had a reservation and she quickly got me set with my room. I gave her my Starwood Rewards number and she said I would get credit for the stay and any incidentals that where billed to the room.
She then mentioned the concierge desk where they could book any tours I could would be interested in taking or any local information, then point to the Green elevators where we would find our room on the 24th Floor.
The Room:
Because the towers in the hotel are round, the rooms are pie shaped and smaller than a standard hotel room.
As you enter the room you are faced with a hallway that goes past the bathroom and to the main section of the room. On our left was a cut out that contained a rod to hang jackets and clothes on, the room’s safe, plus an ironing board and iron.
Next down the hallway you encounter the bathroom. Like the rest of the room the bathroom is pie shape owing to the design of the hotel and is small owing to its shape. As you enter the bathroom to the left and forward there is an “L” shaped counter with the toilet just slight to the right. Along the wall to the right is the full size bathtub.
On the counter of the bathroom next to the sink there was a coffee maker with all the fixings, a digital clock and on the wall a hairdryer. Also there was a container with shampoo, hydrating cream, and conditioner.
Beyond the bathroom was the main part of the room. To the right was large TV cabinet containing 25” television. Below the television were 4 drawers that could be used as a dresser. To the right of the television there was an ice bucket and several glasses. Below the ice bucket and glasses was a small refrigerator.
Straight ahead was the huge glass windows that took up the entire wall. They had excellent drapes that completely blacked out the room. In front of the window was a table with a marble top and two chairs with metal luggage racks on each side of the chairs.
To the left was the HVAC unit and a large painting. To the immediate left was the bed that was backed against the wall between this room and the bathroom. The wall above the bed was filled with mirrors in order to give the appearance of a bigger room. There where also two shelves on each side of the bed holding lamps with the one on the bed farthest from the hallway having a digital clock.
The television carried 21 channels including nice extras like the History Channel, CNBC, Biography, and many others.
Looking out the window the elevator goes up right next to the window so you wanted to keep the blinds closed at night but during the day you had an excellent view of the downtown area especially of the library tower and other neighboring buildings since the room fast due east.
Heavenly:
This room featured both a heavenly bed and bathroom. So where we in heaven?
Well, since I don’t know what heaven is like I guess it might be. The bed was very comfortable and firm that seemed to be perfect for my back. The heavenly bed includes five pillows which are nice since my wife and I usually use at least two pillows at home. Also a nice comforter is included that keeps you nice and warm during the night.
The shower was also excellent. In fact I would have to say that the shower had the best water pressure I have ever encountered in any hotel I have ever stayed at. Heavenly bathrooms include two shower heads and you can adjust them for the type of spray you would like.
Negatives:
There where two negatives in the room but where minor.
The first one was the lamp next to the bed on the side facing the main hallway. That lamp would not stay on no matter what you did. I tried to fiddle with it a little but no matter what I did, the lamp would stay on for about 30-seconds and then shut off.
The other negative was the large television cabinet. Sadly it was a cheap junky pre-fabricated piece of particle board. The two doors that are supposed to hide the television where stuck open. The low quality of the cabinet did tarnish the elegance of the room.
Restaurants:
I already mentioned that there is a lounge in the center main floor of the lobby. On the 34th Floor there is the Bona Vista lounge and on the 35th Floor there is L.A. which is the main restaurant of the hotel. To reach the lounge you have to take the red elevator up to the restaurant level then walk down the stairs to the lounge. Both the restaurant and lounge rotate in a complete circle that takes one hour giving you a complete view of the downtown Los Angeles and the surrounding area.
While my wife and I did not try the restaurant, we did go to the lounge. We where seated at a table for two that gave us a nice view as the room rotated. After the great service we received by everyone else in the hotel we where disappointed here. While our server was friendly it took him almost 15 minutes before he took our order. Then it took about another 5 minutes before we got our orders.
Since we had a late lunch my wife and I decided to have some appetizers here instead of having a full dinner. I ordered French Onion soup and my wife ordered a salad. Despite the fact we only had two drinks each, both of them non-alcoholic and only had small appetizers, and with the waiter earning a tip for being friendly even though service was slow the bill came out to $35.00
Meals at the main restaurant range from $30 to $45.00 and are “a la carte”.
Pool and Fitness Center:
The hotel recently opened a new fitness center, as previously guests had to pay a fee to use a fitness center run by an outside company. The fitness center is on the third floor and is very large. I counted at least 8 treadmills plus multiple exercise bikes and all the other standard equipment that many better fitness centers have. In addition there is a jogging train on an inside ring the goes between the elevators. Along the jogging way there are areas with other fitness machines that you can use. Overall, I would have to say this is the best fitness center I have seen in any of the places I have stayed out lately.
The pool is accessed from the 4th Floor of the atrium. You walk out a set of doors, go past some outside seating areas for the 4th Floor restaurants then along a big empty void of a deck to you finally reach the pool. I was surprised how small the pool is for a hotel this size. It was not any bigger that most small motels have. In addition you have to walk past a huge empty void to reach the pool area. Maybe at one time the pool was much larger and took up the empty void and they felt they could do with a smaller pool, but it just seems like they could be the pool area more inviting.
Atrium Area:
The Atrium has 6 levels of shopping and restaurants. Here is a brief list of what is on each level:
First Floor: Gift Shop, Business Center, Enterprise Car Rental, Sidewalk Cafe´, and Center Court Lounge.
Second Floor: Downtown Florist, Perfume, California T-Shirt Souvenir, Arias Boutique, Rag's Style (Clothing), Bonaventure Luggage and Gifts, Moda Zone (Themed Apparel), and a Dentist.
Third Floor: Bonaventure Club Spa and Fitness Center
Fourth Floor: French Connection, Mercelle’s Italian Restaurant, Bonaventure Brewing Company, Olive Branch Restaurant, Gourmet Pizzeria, Health Winner Cafe´, Captain Lou's Seafood, Highrise Cafe´, Panda Hut, Sweet Opia Bakery and Cafe´, Korean BBQ, and European Hair Design.
Fifth Floor: Mostly converted to offices but does include Flowers Travel and Elephant Tours.
Sixth Floor: Mandarin West, Subway, Jyokamachi Japanese Restaurant, and Karoki Bar, Happy Cow Diner, and Cravings Snack Bar.
Parking:
For those who use big downtown hotels often, you have probably had to deal with the issue of parking and its cost. Because we usually stay in suburban motels, except for my stay at the Ridpath Hotel in Spokane and at the Four Queens in Las Vegas, I have never paid for parking while staying in a hotel.
At one time the Bonaventure Hotel had self park garage. In fact when you go into the garage to do valet parking you can see where the booths and the gates used to be. Today, the only option for parking is valet and you are charged $25.00 per day for the use. That is actually a good deal since all of the self parking lots in the area are at least $35.00 per 24 hour period with no in/out privileges like at the Bonaventure.
The first couple of nights I park our rental at Union Station and rode the Metrorail back to the hotel (with a short four block walk). The MTA transit system has their headquarters and a transit center behind Union Station along with a large parking lot. You can park in that lot for only $6.00 per day. The 4th (lowest) level is for long term with many parking here and taking the Flyaway bus to LAX for $3.00. This provided a nice alternative for parking and saved us $17.50 per day over parking at the hotel.
Nearby:
Being in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles there is plenty in the surrounding area including lots of restaurants and shopping. Chinatown and Olvera Street are only a couple of minutes away and there are some excellent restaurants in those areas.
Other points on interest nearby: Macy’s Plaza, 7th Street Marketplace, Museum of Contemporary Art, The Music Center Complex, Dorothy Candler Pavilion, Jewelry District, The Convention Center, Staples Center, Little Tokyo, Garment District, Apparel/Americas Mart, Shrine Auditorium, Dodger Stadium, and many others.
Check Out:
Westin offers express check out so all you have to do is leave the key in an envelope and drop in off in a box near the registration desk.
Last night I left our rental vehicle in the valet parking since my wife and I where planning to leave early and take old Route 66 all the way to Victorville where my brother lives.
Therefore we called to have a bell person come up and take our luggage down to the valet parking garage. I wanted to get a few pictures of the atrium so I left and was going to meet my wife at the garage. Less than five minutes after I called downstairs the bellman arrived in the elevator I took down. By the time I got downstairs and took a couple of pictures the bellman had already started taking our luggage down to the garage. Less than ten minutes after I made my call the luggage was waiting for our vehicle to arrive even though there was many people checking out.
Overall:
Except for the slow service in the lounge the customer service was outstanding during our stay which is in contrast to the Westin LAX where we stayed on the last night of our trip which I will write about soon.
The room was outstanding, while small compared to comparable rooms these days; it did the job and provided great comfort. Add the fact that we paid only $60.00 a night and it rates a full five stars.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
jdornoff
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 in Hotels & Travel |
 in Hotels & Travel |
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Location: Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
Reviews written: 106
Trusted by: 96 members
About Me:
Retail Business Consultant
Freelance Photographer and Writer
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