just checked into the w hollywood for a one night stay and by the looks of things so far, i'm probably not coming back...
first, i emailed the gm prior to my stay to seek assistance in making a reservation at drai's (the nightclub inside the w hollywood) and was emailing back and forth with one of the executive assistants who told me that if i eat dinner at the drai's, i'll be able to stay afterwards to check out the night club...
(she said that staying at the hotel does not mean entrance to the club, which i found interesting because drai's has its roots in vegas... and most if not all of the nightclubs in vegas associated with a hotel offers free vip entrance to hotel guests... with the exception to XS... )
so i asked her what was the last available seating... no response... no good
then i emailed again and said i'd like a reservation for 6 people... no response... i'm worried... HOWEVER, my experience with all of the other concierges at the W chain (W lakeshore, W city center, W SF, W Seoul, W Tuscany, W NY, among others) told me not to worry because even if this assistant screws up the W concierge can make it happen... especially if the venue is located inside the hotel....
so i checked in... the front desk was friendly but obviously stressed at the busy friday... no problem...
she offered me free internet and 500 points, but then again i'm entitled to that as SGP plat...
i asked if there was a note regarding my reservation, she said no, and that i should walk over to Drai's to ask myself... she said not to worry because if that particular assistant made plans, it should be ok...
so i walked over to drai's and sure enough i have no reservation... the girl at the desk said they are all booked up tonight... BAD...
walked back to W and talked to the concierge, hoping to make some things happen... the girl was friendly, but told me, 'sorry we have no pull with drai's... here's their general info line, give them a call'... no offers of any other alternatives... friendly, NOT HELPFUL...
so after trying the ino line to no avail, i went back to the front desk to ask to talk to the manager on call....
nice friendly guy... and basically he told me that there's nothing he can do... i asked him to call drai's as the manager and even if he could not get me the dinner reservation or bottle service for the night, at least to get me admission to the nightclub portion... he said all he can do is call the general reservation line and give me a call back.... that conversation took place two hours ago... NO CALL BACK... to his credit, he did said he would try to book a reservation at another restaurant in the W, now that my half of my VIP guests decided to make other plans, i might have to call him back to see if i can have a reservation for the rest of my party... I WOULD APPRECIATE IT IF HE CALLED ME BACK EVEN IF HE COULD NOT SECURE A RESERVATION AT DRAI'S...
when i talked to the on call manager, he told me that he doesn't believe having dinner at drai's = admissions to the nightclub, which was contradicting what the 'executive assistant' told me... my gripe at this point is 1. how sloppy they handled my request and, 2. if the hotel had to pull with Drai's, they need to 1. get some pull, and 2. not pretend to their guests that they do... if she told me that she couldn't get me a reservation before like today, i might be able to get reservation from other channels instead of explaining to my guests (clients) that hey the hotel forgot our reservation so we gotta find a plan B...
now enough about the friendly but NOT HELPFUL staff...
on to the hotel itself...
the lobby looks nice... lots of beautiful people who are obviously too full of themselves, but again, looks nice...
the room i got (no upgrades for plat) was by far the worst room of any of the W's i've booked... and that's including the dinky W's in NYC... the color was bland, the room was small, amenities blah.... no where close to the last 'new' W that i visited, W DC, where the room was beautifully appointed... W hollywood barely looks like a cool dorm room.... no complimentary bottles of water, no fresh fruits....
the impression that i got from this hotel is exactly hollywood.... plush and full of itself...
i was helping a friend (client) plan his wife's birthday, and trying to decide between SLS or W hollywood, unless W hollywood really reach out to me, my recommendation at this point is to avoid this joint at all cost....
w hollywood: -1
Last edited by arthur -- flyer wanna be; Mar 13, 2010 at 8:35 pm