Starwood Preferred Guest - W LA vs. Beverly Hilton (x-posted in Hilton)

For those of you who have stayed at both hotels, which one is better? I have meetings at UCLA, but will be traveling by car anyways, so the difference in distance doesn't matter. The W is pricing at $49 more, so even if it's better, is it worth it? I've never really spent time in LA, and have a few hrs. to kill in the morning and evening. Any advice is appreciated.

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http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=512334

Thanks for the useful advice :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Although I am not the biggest fan of Westwood, I would definitely recommend the W over the Beverly Hilton. It's a shame that the Century Plaza is now a Hyatt (unless you're a Hyatt frequent guest as well) because I prefer that hotel to either of the two you mention. The W's rooms and common areas are better than what you will find at the Beverly Hilton. Enjoy Los Angeles.

Hilton is also undergoing renovations

W has better self-contained "scene", Hilton a bit on the dated side at the moment, should be much better after the room renovations

I love the W Westwood, Iw ould stay there any day.

-Vincent

Direct Comparison and Assessment

There are some exceptional new reviews here on FT and "Trip Advisor" of the renovated Beverly Hills Hotels all sharing about their reasonably brilliant renovation
And while the public areas are satisfactory they spent the money where the guest can best appreciate it the most.
In the rooms and the in house benefits they receive during ones stay.
Something far too many hotels fail to achieve in creating guest loyalty/repeat business when udertaking renovations.
Most of the renovation was completed in the last year. The pool area rooms were last to be renovated and I don’t know that current status
IMO it was one of the more successful renovated properties I have seen ^ ^ ^
It went from a property I avoided to my property of choice

The Positives
• Excellent new pillow top beds,linens and new modern furniture
• Flat panel TVs Excellent bathrooms with mini flat panel TVs
• Excellent Bose CD Stereos and alarm clocks in the rooms and suites
• Stunning but small bathrooms with strong pressure showerheads on par with the Westin Sydney
• Balconies on some rooms and suites
• Great location
• Reasonably fair Market Pricing on the Average daily rate compared to over pricing of what is left of the few area Starwood Los Angeles properties and other area branded hotel chains
The Sheraton Delfina for example (and the W for that matter goes for far more on average.
While greatly improved since the Delfina was a Four Points it has the same untouched bathrooms from the 4 Points for 4 times the price now.
The lobby/public area and pool of the Delfina were by far the greatest improvement
• Exceptional complimentary Buffet breakfast of superb quality for all HH Gold’s and Diamonds by the pool or in their dining room
• Great point redemption opportunities as low as 21k on Point Stretchers (may be over now)
This hotel has topped the former Century Plaza. And while probably not as polished from seam to seam as the former St Regis the value trumps it when you consider it easily competes with my all time favorite the Park Hyatt.
And at the end of the day it comes down to value the Beverly Hills Hilton has gone from 110 dollars a day on select membership rates this past year(haven’t seen that rate recently) to an average of 169-200 making it the best single value in all of Los Angeles.

One can receive 1000 Virgin Miles or 500 United miles on every stay and 10 HH Points per dollar and a 500 HH point bonus if charged to the HH Amex if booked online.
*Diamonds and Gold's are both treated very well with HH benefits
*Complimentary Sony computers in lobby 24/7 (Difficult to use at times very popular)

The Negatives (few)
• The Staff while fully satisfactory are old school (I like that actually) They can be gruff at times and they don't always have the more polished Starwood and Hyatt charm.
Not the hip and trendy young staff at the W Westwood or the near stellar polish of the Park Hyatt service down the block who does have the best fitness center of all those mentioned as did the former Westin Century Plaza
•Unacceptable dated fitness center (not that the W or the Delfina are any great shakes either) The Hilton team said that a reasonable budget was a allocated for making that as exceptional as the rest of the property over time

However at one third the price or less the Beverly Hills Hilton still leads the way and Starwood may have some serious catching up to do if Hilton keeps up with this exceptional kind of product and high value pricing

Direct Comparison and Assessment

There are some exceptional new reviews here on FT and "Trip Advisor" of the renovated Beverly Hills Hotels all sharing about their reasonably brilliant renovation
And while the public areas are satisfactory they spent the money where the guest can best appreciate it the most.
In the rooms and the in house benefits they receive during ones stay.
Something far too many hotels fail to achieve in creating guest loyalty/repeat business when udertaking renovations.
Most of the renovation was completed in the last year. The pool area rooms were last to be renovated and I don’t know that current status
IMO it was one of the more successful renovated properties I have seen ^ ^ ^
It went from a property I avoided to my property of choice

The Positives
• Excellent new pillow top beds and linens and new modern furniture
• Flat panel TVs Excellent bathrooms with mini flat panel TVs
• Excellent Bose CD Stereos and alarm clocks in the rooms and suites
• Stunning but small bathrooms with strong pressure showerheads on par with the Westin Sydney
• Balconies on some rooms and suites
• Great location
• Reasonably fair Market Pricing on the Average daily rate compared to over pricing of what is left of the few area Starwood Los Angeles properties and other area branded hotel chains
The Sheraton Delfina for example (and the W for that matter goes for far more on average.
While greatly improved since the Delfina was a Four Points it has the same untouched bathrooms from the 4 Points for 4 times the price now.
The lobby/public area and pool of the Delfina were by far the greatest improvement
• Exceptional complimentary Buffet breakfast of superb quality for all HH Gold’s and Diamonds by the pool or in their dining room
• Great point redemption opportunities as low as 21k on Point Stretchers (may be over now)
This hotel has topped the former Century Plaza. And while probably not as polished from seam to seam as the former St Regis the value trumps it when you consider it easily competes with my all time favorite the Park Hyatt.
And at the end of the day it comes down to value the Beverly Hills Hilton has gone from 110 dollars a day on select membership rates this past year(haven’t seen that rate recently) this past year to an average of 169-200 making it the best single value in all of Los Angeles.

One can receive 1000 Virgin Miles or 500 United miles on every stay and 10 HH Points per dollar and a 500 HH point bonus if charged to the HH Amex if booked online.
*Diamonds and Platinum’s are both treated very well with HH benefits
*Complimentary Sony computers in lobby 24/7 (Difficult to use at times very popular)

The Negatives (few)
• The Staff while fully satisfactory and old school (I like that actually) can be gruff at times and don't always have the more polished Starwood and Hyatt charm.
Not the hip and trendy young staff at the W Westwood or the near flawless polish of the Park Hyatt down the block who does have the best fintess center of all those mentioned as did the former Westin Century Plaza
•Unacceptable dated fitness center (not that the W or the Delfina are any great shakes either) The Hilton team said that a reasonable budget was a allocated for making that as exceptional as the rest of the property over time

However at one third the price the Beverly Hills Hilton still leads the way and Starwood may have some serious catching up to do if Hilton keeps up with this exceptional product and high value pricing


WOW, thanks for the great info! I think that for the money, I made a good decision. Any idea on whether or not a HH Gold will be able to get upgraded to a suite?

WOW, thanks for the great info! I think that for the money, I made a good decision. Any idea on whether or not a HH Gold will be able to get upgraded to a suite?
I have moved my response over to the HH forum as I didn't feel it was appropriate to discuss this feedback any further in kind respect to those wishing to keep topics more focused on Starwood Preferred Guest directly
Cheers