moolman

Some notes about my stay that are different from what others have posted.

I didn't get charged the amenity fee, this was a paid stay, not award. I am Diamond Ambassador, not RA. They didn't add it, I didn't question why, I just took my receipt, yelled "no takebacks" and ran for the elevator.

The breakfast in the lounge is okay, the Diamond breakfast is on the 69th floor, Dekkadance, it's buffet style. It's a bigger spread at Dekkadance but it was a bunch of things that I don't eat anyway. There is an egg station at Dekkadance. They give you the check and add 18% gratuity but the whole thing was waived on check out, even the gratuity, so whoever said they charge you gratuity, it wasn't what I experienced. I ended up just paying for the room, plus tax, no amenity fee. All breakfast charges waived.

For the lounge access, you go to the lounge and show the pass at the lounge, not front desk at check in. They will add it to your room.

Parking is crazy there, valet only and $50+. You can use the spothero app and park across the street at the 7th and fig lot, which is the one where Target is at. It was about $16 a day, look for coupons online for a little off. No in and out with the app, so you have to be smart about it and you can extend time on the app. If you don't use the app, the garage says no overnight parking, so I have no idea how they check but it is what it is. Of course, if it's Sunday or a holiday, you can park at the meters for free, all around the hotel. If you're just going to park for a few hours, walk into the Target for validation. If you don't want to hassle with all this ........, just pay the $50+ and live stress free.

Elevators are annoying. From your room, you have to go back to the lobby on the 70th floor and then go down to the 1st floor using a different set of elevators. It keeps the homeless out cause it confuses everyone...lol So 2 sets of elevators to go into and out of the hotel from your room.

Free bottles of water, they just leave out a bunch of water in the lobby and housekeeping gives you water, so even if you don't have lounge access for drinks, plenty of water, don't bring your own.

My upgrade was from a Classic to a Jr Suite. That's a double upgrade. In the past I booked as a Diamond not Ambassador and it showed the same upgrade. I did another booking which I ended up canceling and it showed only a single upgrade from Classic to Premium. It seems like, if they are not busy, you at least get the Jr. Suite for being Diamond.

Just don't walk around too much after dark, I got my Ambassador gift as mentioned above in the form of a pantless guy showing you his dong. I'm from LA and I'm used to this so if you're not from this kind of area, you will be surprised.

Your go to meal in the area for something quick, can be the Chick-fil-A across the street. I would at least go try out the Pantry, food is okay but it has history. If you want sushi, just walk to Sugarfish when there is light out and not Sora, the sushi in the hotel.

Get an extra key card for the light slot, it does control the lights and power.

lowkeyflyer

Awesome data point for amenity fee getting waived on a paid stay. Did you use a corporate code by chance?

For lounge (Club Intercontinental) access, did you book a club-level room? Or how did you get complimentary lounge access?

demue

I believe the OP has a 40 nights (Diamond) lounge pass.

moolman

I did use a corp rate but it's not a rate that waives the fee. I've paid the fee at Kimptons and when I booked the room, it showed the fee.
I'm a semi-real diamond...lol... I stayed at least 40 nights to get the lounge pass. I'm mentioning the pass so you know where to show it, the check-in person didn't care and said to go to the lounge to show it. In IC San Diego, you show it at check in, because they need to program your card to open the lounge. In IC LA, the door is open and an attendant is there to check people in.

lowkeyflyer

Which corp rate did you use?

moolman

It's a real one given to me by my company. I didn't pull it off the internet. My rate is average, like 15% off. I've been checked about 1/5 of the time for the rate and I just show my business card.

aks120

I wonder if anyone can tell me whether this hotel upsells Club Intercontinental for Diamond Ambassador members at a special rate? On the nights I want to stay using my ambassador certificate, there is quite a big difference between the standard room and a club room. I know some hotels will sell Club access on check in and it can work out cheaper - has anyone experienced this at this hotel?

Regards

aks120

moolman

I don't think many people would know because most Diamond Ambassadors have the lounge pass already. I know you probably got diamond though the renewal or accelerated diamond, so you don't have the pass. I've stayed in the hotel before diamond and there was no upsell. For being a big hotel with a lot of rooms, I didn't think the lounge was very busy during my stay.

PTahCha

I had another 2 night, midweek stay. A welcome email came in a week before stay, the same form email they sent out previously, but also confirming an upgrade to a junior suite. The email asked about check-in time and whether I was celebrating a special occasion, and replied to the email stating that this was for a birthday stay. Nothing happened during the stay.

Checking in was fairly smooth, agent was friendly. I chose the breakfast as welcome amenity, and the agent stated that I'll have to pay the taxes and mandatory 18% gratuity - more nickel and diming by the hotel. 4pm check-out was offered, though I did not need it. They also gave me a sheet describing all the restaurant's hours, including the fact that Spire73 now has a minimum charge of $60 per person, plus taxes and 18% mandatory gratuity. They did not say anything regarding the benefits under the facilities charge, then again this was waived under my corporate rate. (More on this later)

During check-in, the agent asked whether I wanted a higher floor room (56) with only a shower, or a lower (48) floor room room with both shower and tub. Not thinking about it, I chose the higher floor room. It turns out that the assigned me a corner room, with the view of the Hollywood sign and Griffith Observatory. However, instead of a full sofa, I got a chaise lounger, presumably I can admire the view of the PwC sign. It's definitely a larger room than Classic rooms, but I prefer the sofa that comes with the room with tub and shower.

The housekeeper on our floor was super efficient. I did not realize that the room's privacy sign as broken, as the outside light did not turn red when I turn on the privacy mode. As such, she actually cleaned the room while we were at breakfast. And this repeats on the day of check-out, where she made up the room despite of the fact that our stuff was still in the room.

Valet parking ($56.10) was super efficient, with the car waiting for us. Then again, it takes 10-15 minutes to navigate through 3 sets of elevators to get to the valet parking pickup level.

The new benefit for the facilities fee is $15 daily credit toward minibar items, instead of $20 daily food & beverage credit. Unsurprisingly, most snacks and drinks cost $15 each, with the exception of soda ($7), cold brew ($10), the half bottle wine ($30), Champagne ($65), intimacy kit ($20), and cable kits ($30). But because the room rate got the fee waived, I got charged $15 for a small box of cookies, which is unlike Hyatt's practice where you still receive the benefits with waived destination fees, considering that normally you don't have an option to waive out the facilities and skip the benefits. So buyers beware.

Overall, this is one of the better hotels in downtown LA, but you need to learn to play within their rules.

ProjectSunburst

I just had a remarkable stay here in early March (Marcello at the front desk made my stay perfect). I had club access thankfully, but I agree, you must know their rules to play with them. Its not cheap here.

saecotech

Pretty awesome stay here recently. Stayed with a chase free night (from a sign up bonus) and was upgraded in app the day before via email to junior suite. Spoke to a supervisor and she was nice enough to upgrade to the king suite at no extra cost. Ended up getting the $20 F&B credit, breakfast, 2 drink vouchers, and 600 points; no lounge access, however. No welcome amenity in room. I guess from what I was told they stopped that post-Covid.
Couple things though: they charge 18% gratuity and want you to leave an additional tip on everything. Had a $20 burger to use the credit, 18% service charge. Had two alcoholic drinks, 18% service charge. Had breakfast buffet, 18% service charge. Also, they held firm on charging the resort fee on a free night, although there was not an actual mini bar credit. I thought this would have been waived on a free night, but I guess that it is exclusively on point bookings. Valet was charged, but overall had a nice stay and was happy to try out the location. Much better than the IC San Diego.

lowkeyflyer

Seems like they really try to nickel and dime you on everything.

demue

Not just here. My impression is that especially US hospitality industry is really penny pinching these days and lots of nonsense going on with resort fees, x$ for breakfast that gets you a muffin and coffee only (yeah, looking at you Hilton), select house keeping, extra gratuity on items, etc. while rates are higher than ever.

italdesign

The recent reports of nickel and diming is disappointing. This is my favorite IC in the US (out of ~4 tried), and my 2 previous FNC stays (2021 and 2022) didn't charge the destination fee.

moolman

Another update.
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My previous post, I booked using a corporate rate and got the amenity fee waived even though my rate didn't give me waived fees at any other property.

Diamond Ambassador

I booked a 4 night award stay this time. Got an upgrade to a Jr Suite but ended up in a Corner King Suite Club Floor.

Got charged the amenity fee for each night. Didn't use the minibar credit cause I was hoping to get it waived again. I have lounge access so the minibar credit is useless anyway.

Others recently reported that they got charged the gratuity for the Diamond breakfast at Dekkadance. I did not get charged again for anything, the 18% is added to the bill at breakfast and when clearing the bill at the end, they remove the whole charge and didn't make me pay gratuity.

Lounge was much busier this time around, travel must be picking up. Downtown LA is dangerous as ever...lol and I'm a local.​​​​