The Shay, Culver City, L.A. Destination Hotel REVIEW MASTER THREAD
Dec 10, 2021, 1:09 pm
I was just planning to stay here to get the badge otherwise I feel 20k are better invested at Andaz. Not sure if I'm very fond of this location either.
Dec 10, 2021, 2:00 pm
Unless you're commenting on the property sitting at the Washington/National intersection. Rush hours are fun.
Who says you can't replicate that Manhattan density/noise experience.
David
Dec 10, 2021, 4:26 pm
Unless you're commenting on the property sitting at the Washington/National intersection. Rush hours are fun.
Who says you can't replicate that Manhattan density/noise experience.
David
Dec 11, 2021, 1:18 am
the breakfast was very decent. again, the poster above who posted about the drinks/etc., not being included was wrong. coffee/juices were included for us. and the selection was fine. pastries/quiche/breakfast sandwich were all well executed with quality ingredients, and my family and I preferred this over the more generic diner-type options that some other Hyatt hotels have.
in the room itself, really liked the Nespresso, haven't seen that at a Hyatt outside of a Park Hyatt (and even the Park Hyatt Aviara in Carlsbad had the Illy machines which imo are inferior).
some quibbles: the suites don't have truly enclosed bedrooms, though. most of the bathrooms don't have bathtubs. for those traveling with infants/toddlers, they have pack and plays, but no cribs. most of the views aren't that great.
For those interested in food/eating out, it's a great location. Etta, the hotel restaurant, is wonderful -- not everything perfect, but enough that's carefully sourced and executed that I would want to go back, which is saying more than I've experienced for almost every other Hyatt hotel restaurant I've seen. Platform across the street is so close and fun to explore; Aesop for toiletries, Boba Guys for boba, Blue Bottle for decent coffee, Roberta's for pretty good pizza; Van Leeuwen's for ice cream; Bianca for pastries and empanadas; I just don't recommend Margot, generic food and snotty hosts. There were some posts above about Vespertine/Destroyer; it's not really walkable, though a very short drive. Destroyer is worth trying, though, extremely LA in so many aspects,, and if you do walk, take Higuera St, not National Blvd. Other close food options include the Helms Bakery complex where there's Father's Office for the burger/beers (no kids allowed), Pasta Sisters, and others. There are some good nearby wine stores as well, Stanley's Wet Goods, Bar and Garden...
Dec 26, 2021, 5:14 am
checked in on the app. room assigned instantly. full amount of room rate already charged at same time.
pretty efficient I'd say.
Jan 2, 2022, 10:46 pm
Also, Etta Globalist breakfast is limited or more of the “charge what you like” variety? Eating here is a great perk we have the original Etta (now 2) in Chicago and they’re great restaurants.
Jan 3, 2022, 2:03 am
Really enjoyed the hotel as the room is functional with modern design. Very comfortable bed. The room was facing the courtyard so no noise issue. The pool water was warm although I didn't swim.
The breakfast was at Etta but the breakfast menu is pretty limited as mentioned in previous posts. The pastries and breakfast items were in good quality though. Was told at check-in that the breakfast allowance was $25 per person. We probably didn't go over so don't know if it would be enforced. The brunch menu is a lot more extensive but it starts at 11am so we don't know if the globalist breakfast would cover brunch as we ate breakfast early.
Jan 3, 2022, 10:02 am
The room and bathroom was beautiful. Its always nice to stay somewhere new.
Jan 9, 2022, 7:38 am
The Shay
The Shay
8801 WASHINGTON BLVD Culver City, California US 90232
Nice hotel, location ok, recommended, but would not stay again based on my needs (10 Photos)
The Shay
Check In
Check-in was friendly and efficient. Welcomed as a Globalist and informed us of our Globalist breakfast benefit, which is 25$ per registered guest at the "etta" café.
Room
We booked the Premium Suite 1 King Bed with Balcony up front under the hotel opening "Suite on Sale" rate of 380$. The room is really very nice and modern, very comfortable bed and large bathroom with bathtub, walk-in shower and seperate toilet.
Nespresso machine in the bedroom
"living room" is seperated by a door and has it's own large screen TV with a refrigerator and small sink. Cork screw, bottle opener and ice box were there. Glasses though, especially wine glasses, were not there.
large bathroom with free standing bathtub, walk-in shower and separate toilet. 2 sinks.
On the 2nd day we had issues with the toilet, that it did not flush correctly. We called maintenance, who came very quickly as we left the room. It was not properly fixed as we found out the next day.
We had issues with warm/hot water. Upon arrival we wanted to take a shower and we thought the hotel had no hot water anymore. It felt like 10 minutes of letting the water run, until it was warm enough to shower. I don't like this "it felt like 10 minutes", and I really wanted to know. So the next day I actually timed, how long it took until water warm enough to shower was available. it was actually 6 minutes! what a waste of water. while it would have been just ok for me, not for my wife, she had to let it run another 2 minutes
Service
Service was very friendly and efficient. The whole team seemed to be proud of working at this new hotel and they did their best to satisfy all our needs.
Dining
We arrived after traveling roughly 18 hours, and after a 12 hour non-stop flight from ZRH. We had eaten enough on the plane and just wanted something small at etta's. We had dinner around 8pm, restaurant was packed. Vaccination certificate was required, although nobody checked this.
Food was excellent, I must admit. however in my view very expensive. OK, it's LA. But my wife and I shared a salad and 1 pizza, plus each had a glass of wine. Including tax and gratuity, this was 105$!
Breakfast was a disappointment! only the etta cafe was open with very limited availability of items. they were good, but also way too expensive. If it were not free for me as a Globalist, I would have eaten elsewhere. Simple things were missing in my view, such as joghurt. right accross the street there is a "coop" organic foods market and we purchased joghurt for ourselves, together with other items from the cafe and ate in our room. there is the possibility to eat in the restaurant though as well.
We were always slightly above the 50$ allowance (I included tip), but everything was removed from the bill.
if each person takes 1 coffee and 1 entré, then you are already practically above the allowance. A croissant for 5$ is outrageous.
Location
it really depends on your needs. For a leisure traveler and for our needs, location was nothing special at all and we will not return here again, although the hotel is really nice. We will be back in the L.A. area in June with friends and wanted to try out this hotel vs the Andaz. I had reservations for both hotels, but cancelled the Shay reservations again for June. We'll opt for the Andaz, just for the proximity to Hollywood area
Overall
Overall, we had a very good stay. Upon check-out, I asked if valet parking is waived for Globalists, as it was not charged to my bill. If I recall correctly, it was 47$. They no, not waived, but due to the issues we had with the toilet, they waived the charges for us. Really appreciated.
The hotel is a "green" hotel. there may still be some kindergarden issues until the hotel is fully up and running. Main thing which really bothered us was the water temperature and the time it needed to heat up (see under "room")
we had issues with the a/c not functioning, but maintenance fixed it within 10 minutes (had to reboot the system in both our rooms)
Jan 9, 2022, 8:51 am
Seriously, LA is something of a hotel wasteland. I can't think of a property I've really liked since PH Century City reflagged many years ago. We tried XLR in Santa Monica earlier this year; that was a thumbs down, and GF just had a horrible experience at 4S Beverly Wilshire.
Jan 9, 2022, 9:07 am
Jan 12, 2022, 6:52 pm
https://variety.com/2022/scene/lifes...ty-1235151801/
Right across the street from Sony Pictures Studios.
Jan 17, 2022, 4:05 pm
The room was great - the finishes, bathroom (including huge free-standing tub), room decor are all the same as in the photos posted earlier in the tread, but the layout of the '01 was slightly different than the rooms in previous photos.
Location was great - very central to all the things we wanted to do in Santa Monica/West Hollywood/Chinatown/DTLA. Other than checking out "The Platform," which is a neat little hip outdoor boutique shopping center that is across the street, we did not do much exploring of Culver City. They do give you free roundtrip passes on the train to get you to downtown Culver City.
Valet only, but they did waive all charges (did not even show up our bill when we checked out).
Everyone on staff was super nice and while we didn't have any special requests, it felt like they were ready to go above and beyond.
Breakfast at the etta cafe is limited and pricey, but we thought it was pretty good. We went over the $50 limit and everything was reimbursed. We also had dinner at etta with friends and it was very good (although we have two in Chicago and the menu is basically the same).
Happy to answer any questions. Would definitely stay here again next time we're in LA.
Jan 17, 2022, 6:17 pm
