Review on the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in LA

The Beverly Wilshire Hotel is one of the most famous hotels in LA as it is conveniently located right off the famous Rodeo Drive, which is where all the famous boutiques are. It was also formerly known as the Regent Beverly Wilshire, a name that all the fans of the movie "Pretty Woman" are sure to remember. Remember Julia Roberts narrating the name of the hotel to her friend over the phone saying, "Reg. Bev. Will"? Yup, same hotel. I'd stayed at this hotel a couple of years back with my family and had absolutely LOVED it. Since it has been taken over since then by the Four Seasons, I thought the rooms would be beyond spectacular and couldn't wait to stay there again. The last time I was in LA (which is when the Sony conference took place) I'd stayed at a smaller hotel for the conference (can't remember the name!) and then moved into the funky Philippe Starck designed Mondrian when I stayed on for a girlie trip with my best friend. This time, when I had the option to pick this hotel between a few offered to me for my friend's wedding, I jumped at the opportunity and was so excited to see what the place looked like. As you can see from the picture of the lobby taken from their website, and the one I've taken below, the lobby is still as stunning as before-

 The rooms however... Aah, the rooms. I remember loving the room I was in all those years back, although mind you, it was over a decade ago and we were staying in larger suites. I did think that maybe I was disappointed because the hotel had just aged, but really, I think the condition of the rooms  were really sad for a hotel under the Four Seasons banner. Here are a few pictures to show you what I'm talking about (pardon the mess please.. that was all me!)

 

The room just looked so outdated and so old, and everything just seemed so.. sorry to repeat it.. but OLD! The switches on the wall were old and plasticy, the furniture looked worn out and worse, the room just wasn't doing too great a job at cooling at night. I called in a technician and he just seemed unable to do anything, and seemed to suggest they had that received quite a few complaints about the same problem. Since I'm such a techie with my gadgets, I just had to take a picture of the room phone to show you-

This looks more Motel, and less Five Star Hotel! 

Overall, I'd definitely give this hotel a miss as it is one of the most expensive ones in the city, but really has nothing to show for it except the name. I did however see some pictures of the suites on their website, and they do actually look really nice still. So unless you're staying in one of those or want the convenience of being a few steps away from Rodeo, you can do much better than the Beverly Wilshire. Having said that about the rooms, the staff and food were definitely up to the Four Seasons standards so can't complain on that front at all. I think it's time the hotel just needs to take tips from the rest of LA, and go in for a face lift!