IC Century City Los Angeles
Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
Not really
Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked King Deluxe Suite with Balcony on best flex rate, received King Executive Suite with Balcony (same upgrade as others have reported from Standard Room)
How are the rooms?
700 sq ft in total, large lounge with sofas and dining table, small balcony with views of Beverley Hills and downtown but overlooked by other rooms, separate bedroom, bathroom had separate bath and shower with large Elemis toiletries. Room was in decent condition but looked a little dated (bathroom in particular), fire safety notice on the back of the door still referred to the hotel being a Hyatt (how long has this hotel been an IC now?!)
How is the exec. lounge?
None as far as I know
Did you receive a welcome gift?
No, just fruit and water
How was the minibar?
Decent selection - half bottle of Moet champagne and red/white wine, good selection of quality miniatures (10 or so in total, just one of each brand though), advised that snacks would be charged
What was good and what was bad?
-Good
Location better than I expected based on other reviews - close to Westfield shopping centre (Macy's/Bloomingdales, some restaurants and a good grocery store) and shortish walk to bus stops for downtown LA or Santa Monica. Not much else close by though.
Large room, good minibar
-Bad
First room had no wifi signal (unless I went into corridor) - they agreed to move me but only after someone came up to check, and then had to wait until 6 p.m for another room to be available
Upgrade was the same as it would have been from cheaper room
Was offered 4 p.m. checkout on arrival but housekeeping phoned at midday and then ignored the "do not disturb" sign to bang on door and tell me I had to leave as it was past checkout time - complained to reception who only offered 2 p.m. checkout as they "needed the room".
When I checked out, there was a lunch charge on the bill that wasn't mine - they wouldn't remove it, and we had a bit of a standoff until another guest arrived at the counter to see whether his room was ready and it became clear he had been given my room number and told he could charge to it.
Reception staff generally seemed clueless when presented with a problem, and always had to escalate - there was no manager available to talk to me at checkout about issues (no-one - really? at 2 p.m.?) but I was given a business card for the front desk manager who did respond to my email quickly and promised a follow up, but that was two weeks ago
Value for $ or Priority Club Points?
More than I'm used to paying but usually stay nearer LAX
Would you return?
Unlikely - seemed to be lots of minor issues which just made me not want to go back. Although there are surprisingly few reviews on here for a hotel in such a major city, so would be interested if I was unlucky or is this par for the course?