Towering above the Walk of Fame, W Hollywood moved into Los Angeles’ most famous neighborhood in 2010. The hotel instantly lured guests with a prime location at the legendary intersection of Hollywood and Vine, pillowtop mattresses and the promise of star sightings as celebrities commonly climbed their way to the top floor for pool parties and dancing at Drai’s nightclub while sipping $20,000 bottles of champagne. But like many aging Tinseltown beauties before it, more than a decade in a trend-obsessed business drove the W to get a little work done. Nineteen months and millions later, a star is reborn.
In an abnormal (but sumptuously successful) move, the high-rise hotel enlisted the original design team, Rockwell Group, to makeover 319 rooms (including 39 suites) and every public space from top to bottom, starting with the ground-floor lobby and all-day coffee closet and finishing with the signature Wet Deck, the largest rooftop pool patio and bar in Hollywood.
The blossoming took the brand flagship from the garish glam of huge floor lamps and splashes of hot pink to a moody mix of mid-century mod, rich shades of goldenrod and emerald, metallics and a recurring oculus motif. Walls of windows and eye-catching patterned floors mesh with subtle design nods to the undulating topography and a color palette of the surrounding Hollywood Hills to tell a story that’s familiar but still fresh.
The best part: just because the aesthetics have grown up and there’s a good amount of business travel, the W hasn’t forgotten its trademark vibrant side, which is best exemplified by included weekly musical programming like DJ sets and live shows and a lively pre-theater cocktails crowd at the lobby bar.
- Goals of the upgrade included designing for day but lighting for night, and creating a luxurious residential feel that would simultaneously spoil guests and put them at ease. You only have to walk a few paces through the front door to find the most successful implementation of this plan. The sunken Living Room (W speak for the lobby) boasts a dramatic curved staircase, statement installations that both rappel from high ceilings and pop out of furniture, voluptuous velvety green banquettes, a fireplace wall that doubles as art, a stage hidden among terraces and a jungle of greenery meant to evoke the nearby hills. A detail most people won’t notice but is appreciated: hallway and room prints of sunrises or sunsets over local scenery and landmarks were hung to mimic what you’d actually see if you looked out the windows and nothing obscured the horizon.
- The navy and white rooms are a blend of spoiling amenities, such as a stash of spirits, an espresso maker, marble bathrooms, signature super-plush beds and utilitarian features like a moveable table for working and lighted makeup mirrors. A banquette seamlessly springs from the bed and wraps around the room, providing a great spot to stream a show or tuck into a good book. The ample and elevated window seat is also good for that as well as Instagram photo shoots.
- Splurge on a room on a high floor facing west to gaze out at the Hollywood sign and the architectural wonder that is Capitol Records headquarters. If you want a bathtub or full wet bar, you’ll also need to dig deeper into your wallet to reserve a suite.
- A W is nothing without an expansive and well-used Wet Deck and this one lives up to brand standards thanks to its sizable plunge, comfortable poolside cabanas and rentable daybeds, mural, bursts of delightful orange and incredible views across the basin. It’s the perfect spot to soak up L.A.’s 263 days a year of annual sun.
- There, There, the Living Room’s culinary pop-up, provides a mostly alfresco dinner experience focusing on Asian and Latin flavors and shared plates. A circular cut-out in the pergola roof frames an iconic palm tree making those some of the patio’s best seats. And just outside of the Living Room is the Garden Patio, a cute spot for all-day bites and quiet corners for scrolling on your phone.
- The location is hard to beat as many of L.A.’s most-visited tourist attractions (including Runyon Canyon, Hollywood Bowl and the Warner Bros. studio tour) are either within walking distance or just a few freeway stops away.
- Steamers, Marshall speakers and bathrooms stocked with high-quality products by Skin Regimen and Davines mean you can forgo bringing toiletry basics from home and have more room for Oscar-themed tchotchkes and Funko figurines, which conveniently has its flagship store across the street from the hotel.
- While there isn’t a spa, within the larger complex, there is a blow dry salon, a Kalologie Medspa outpost for cool sculpting, facials, IV therapy and dermal fillers, and CEO2 Health, which offers trendy cold plunges, infrared saunas and hyperbaric oxygen chambers.
- The new bi-level gym, which also has a custom mural by James Peter Henry, features top-line TechnoGym machines, a yoga corner, natural light and enough room to spread out. If you’d rather sweat solo, book a Deluxe King as it has a nook with a personal Peloton.
- Across the 12th-floor foyer from the pool sits a wide music and events room equipped with amazing views through walls of glass and a state-of-the-art spatial audio system. With 44 speakers across 6,000 square feet (of the property’s 35,000 square feet of rentable space), fully immersive sound experiences like sound-bath yoga, concerts and art installations are already being brainstormed.
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