Background:

My wife and I decided to stay at the Westin Los Angeles Airport Hotel before flying home to Salt Lake City. Ironically we were not flying out of LAX but instead flying out of Long Beach, but we got a rate of $58.00 a night and our flight was not until the next evening allowed us to drive along the coast over to Long Beach the next day.

Once again I made a reservation using Hotwire; can you tell I like using Hotwire?

The Hotel:

The hotel is located on Century Blvd just about a mile from the main section of LAX. There is contracted shuttle service available from the airport plus several car rental companies are located in the same block as the Westin (Thrifty, Payless, among others).

The building is six stories and basic concrete slab construction that scream that it was built in the 70’s.

Westin Hotel LAX
5400 West Century Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90045
Phone: (310) 216-5858

The hotel has a spa, business center, outdoor pool, kids club, valet parking, shoe shine, concierge service, dry cleaning, security, express check out, safe deposit boxes, and wireless internet service.

Check In:

Since I had never been in these hotels before I pulled in up front so I could go inside to check in plus take our luggage out of the vehicle. Immediately one of the valets came up to me and very rudely said we could not park in front of the hotel to check in, that we would have to leave. I asked where we could park and he walked away without saying anything so I went ahead and walked inside, leaving my wife in the car.

The registration desk is directly in front of me as I walk into the door. I walk up and start standing in line. There are two people being helped and no one in line in front of me. One of the people being helped finished up and the person that will was helping him says it would be a minute. Then some guy walks to where you are supposed to exit and gets helped immediately. Now if the guy was in the preferred line I could understand but it looked like he was helped first because he was in a suit. Guess I should have dragged my suit with me even though I was on vacation.

The other person was still being helped so once suit guy was done I ended up with the same employee who took him. He had an accent (I believe it was Australian but I could be wrong) and was extremely rude. I hand him my ID and my Westin Rewards card and he says that I will not get any credit for this stay since I am on such a cheap rate. Funny the Bonaventure did not seem to have a problem with a discount of a couple of dollars more but then I figured after this experience I would be talking to Westin Customer Service anyway.

I tried to ask him about parking but he just walked away. Boy do I feel special at this point.

I went back outside, got in the car and realized there was a parking garage behind the hotel. So I went and parked in the parking garage. We ended up getting a spot right on the third level right by the door to the hotel so my wife and I collected our luggage. I took our two big suitcases and started heading toward the door. A Westin employee entered the door ahead of me turned around saw me coming right behind him with two suitcases and let go of the door and let it slam into me. By this time I knew I needed a time out.

The Room:

As you walk into the room there is a closet to the left and the bathroom on the right. The closet holds an ironing board and iron, luggage rack and has a rod for hanging clothes. The bathroom is nice sized with a full size tub, toilet and two sinks along the vanity.

As you enter the main room to the left there was a long piece of furniture. It started off as a desk then became a long dresser. Then beyond the dresser it became a television stand with a 27” television.

The piece of furniture was done in cherry and was high quality. This piece of furniture was a vast difference from the pre-fabricated piece of junk at the Bonaventure.

To the right are the two queen beds separated by a nightstand and against the window a nice leather recliner.

One Man Can Make a Difference:

My wife went down stairs to get some information and when she came back said that the gentleman that helped her was really nice.

A few minutes later I took the elevator down to the second level so I could use one of their computer kiosks so I could print out boarding passes for our flight tomorrow. When I tried the two that are in the lobby in front of the conference rooms, neither one of them would work.

So I headed downstairs were there were two more by the elevators. The first one I tried also would not work but the second one finally decided it wanted to work. I took me no time at all and I was ready to print out the boarding passes. Then the next piece of trouble hit.

As I went to print them, the computer said the printer was not working. So I checked the printer for paper, checked the settings, and still no luck. My wife went over and asks the gentleman who helped her if he could see what was wrong. Between the two of us we figured out that all the settings on the computer had to reset. Why? Because it had new paper put in. Both of us had worked in the electronics and computer industries so we both shook our heads on that one, since it was the same type of paper as before.

The person that helped me, Roy Lawrence, was extremely friendly and once we got it working suggested some places in the area where my wife and I could have lunch. It is true, one man can make a difference and Mr. Lawrence ease my opinion about this hotel.

Shower and Bed:

You can read my review on the Bonaventure Hotel and see that I was very impressed with the “heavenly” features the Westin offers in their rooms, so how did the Westin LAX rate? Well like the rest of the hotel, the features were a let down.

Neither Bed had the comfort level that the one at the Bonaventure had. In fact both of the beds felt like they were worn out. It’s a good thing my wife and I like being close because the one bed would sink in the middle and you would find yourself very close at times. On the other hand we tried the other bed and found that it would give out on the sides.

The shower was another issue. Unlike the Bonaventure there was very poor water pressure at the Westin LAX.

Dining Options:

The hotel does have a lobby lounge that serves a light fare, a Starbucks location, and a sit down restaurant. We did not eat at any of the restaurants in the hotel; however the lounge did have a menu posted that showed meals cost in the $15 to $35 range.

Other Facilities:

The hotel does have a pool that is accessed from the third floor but it seems to be small for the size of the hotel but is comparable to the one at the Bonaventure in downtown Los Angeles.

In addition they also have a nice sized fitness center and a washer and dryer for customers to use. The washer and dryer are located in the same building as the pool machinery so you have to walk past the pool to do your laundry.

The night we stayed at the hotel the pool area and fitness center was packed with a large group of young people just old enough to drink. I would have to say there were at least 40 of them in the pool area. They were very loud and using offensive language that caused the families that came to the pool to leave within minutes because security was never seen.

Immediate Area:

The hotel is located on Century Blvd east of the airport itself. There is a Denny’s down the block, plus fast food restaurants about a block the other direction. I would not recommend walking near the hotel after dark as the neighborhood is not the best, especially to the east.

Parking:

There is a parking structure behind the building and parking was free for guests.

Check Out:

After my fun adventure checking in, how would check out be? Well, the good news is that the morning staff seemed to be a lot friendlier than the night staff. I went up to the front desk and within a minute was completely checked out and the girl running the counter was friendly.

Overall:

If I had to base my review on the first hour I was at the hotel it would have been a one star rating. However Roy Lawrence made a difference and lightened my opinion of the hotel.

While the bed and shower were not what is to be expected, the rest of the room was very nice and we enjoyed it. Customer service in the morning was much friendlier than it was at night which made up for it.

They do need to work on their security especially when they have large groups of people.

Another positive for this hotel was that the rooms were very quiet. Despite being on the approach to LAX, I could not hear any airplane noise when I was in the room. That is one very big plus for the hotel.


Recommended: No