The Andaz West Hollywood, as you likely know by now, is a redesign of the decades old Hyatt Regency on the same spot. If you watch the movie "Almost Famous" you can see the hotel dressed as it's original incarnation the Continental Hyatt House back in the 70s.
Structurally, the property has remained pretty much the same. The entrance, parking lot, rooms, roof deck and pool are all in the same place. The exterior is still the familliar white, with a cheesy billboard on the side of the building.
What's seriously changed is the interior. Completely redecorated and reimagined, you'll first think you accidentally walked into the Mondrian across the street. It's that kind of hip, chic, stylish lobby that many boutique hotels are sporting these days. Except this is no traditional lobby; it's called a lounge. There's no front desk, no concierge, no bell desk. You are greeted by a staff member wearing stylish street clothes. No uniforms or even name tags. It's part of the individuality of the Andaz brand. They carry a PT much like your Fed-Ex guy has with him. Your reservation is looked up, he swipes your card in the device, swipes your room key, and off you go; with help if you need it. I can't imagine checking in when it's busy, it could be chaos. Fortunately it wasn't busy when I was there. The guy who checked me in greeted me by name which was a nice touch, having spotted my luggage tag.
The room is slightly bigger than they used to be because they enclosed the old balcony. The room is large and comfortable with a king (or 2 double) bed and a 42" LCD TV. The windows don't open which still unfortunately does nothing to dampen the street noise from Sunset Boulevard. The enclosed balcony area is set up like a small living room with a chair, ottoman, loveseat and redundant 22" TV about 10 feet from the other larger TV. All the minibar stuff is free except the booze, and it was all good stuff. There is also a couple of old LP albums on the desk as decor.
The bathroom is all marble, large enough for one, had a doorless shower and beautiful Kohler fixtures. The toiletries were of a good quality and the linens were all Frette.
The hallways are still really dark, but at least they got rid of those ugly striped carpets. The only available newspaper is the LA Times. Part of their local originality.
The restaurant is the best feature. Called the RH for Riot House, the hotel's former nickname; I remember it as the Riot Hyatt. It feels larger than it is and has a great open kitchen. The wine is displayed behind glass as are all the fresh pantry items like fruits and vegetables. The food was excellent as was the service. The prices are reasonable and the selections varied. The absence of a bar was noticable, although there is a lounge area near the wine display. Clearly the hotel will earn a good portion of it's first year revenue from the RH. But they'd do better if they had a proper bar.
I've been a Hyatt Diamond Member for 9 years, and stayed at over 50 Hyatts. Hyatt's first US Andaz entry is a bold idea to reinvent an old property. They put all the money into design without having to pour much concrete. It was a mostly comfortable stay that was a bit different than the usual Hyatt experience. But they'd could have done more to eliminate the noise.
http://westhollywood.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/
There's a promotion running now:
Hyatt Gold Passport members can earn 5,000 Hyatt Gold Passport bonus points and a USD$50 hotel credit for each stay booked by March 31, 2009, and completed by June 30, 2009, when requesting Offer Code ANDAZ5.