Beverly Hills Hotels

We would like to stay in the Bevery Hills area prior to a cruise that we will be taking out of San Pedro. We realize that there are closer towns to San Pedro (eg., Long Beach) but we want to stay in the Beverly Hills area.

We would like to stay at a 4 or 5 star hotel and would appreciate any recommendations on this. At the same time, we have been doing research on other web sites such as traveladviser.com but would appreciate any thoughts from Cruise Critic posters.

Thanks,

Keith

I need a few more specifics in order to help you better...

#1 Are you renting a car or wanting somewhere where you don't neccessarily need a car?

#2 How many days are you talking, because there would be a difference if it is one night or more?

#3 When you say Beverly Hills "area" are you talking specifically Beverly Hills per se? Or would Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood or Hollywood Hills be good (as they are all adjacent)?

#4 What are you looking for, a place to sleep? A Beverly Hills experience?

Budget? Boutique Hotel or generic Marriott type?

So, many options, knowing these specifics will help to direct you better.

CJW

I need a few more specifics in order to help you better...

CJW

Let me try to answer your questions.

#1 Are you renting a car or wanting somewhere where you don't neccessarily need a car?

We do not plan to rent a car.

#2 How many days are you talking, because there would be a difference if it is one night or more?

We wil be staying there six to seven nights.

#3 When you say Beverly Hills "area" are you talking specifically Beverly Hills per se? Or would Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood or Hollywood Hills be good (as they are all adjacent)?

I would say Beverly Hills although I am not an expert on this area.

#4 What are you looking for, a place to sleep? A Beverly Hills experience?

Budget? Boutique Hotel or generic Marriott type?

We are looking for a four or five star experience and yes a Beverly Hills experience.

So, many options, knowing these specifics will help to direct you better.

Just wondering if you're planning to take taxis everywhere or use the bus system and how far you plan to sightsee, etc. Are you booking a tour (Greyline, I think it is, is the name that comes to my mind)? Do you want to go to Farmers Market/The Grove? See TV shows?

We have friends that are going to take us around so that will not be an issue. At the same time we would like to enjoy the amenities of the hotel so again we are looking for something in the 4 to 5 star range. I would appreciate any recommendations that any of you have.

Thanks,

Keith

If your friends that are going to be your main source of transportation live in the Beverly Hills area, then you are going to be fine. If not, please ask them for recomendations. On a map B.H. may looks close to other places, but traffic can be so horrid! And public transportation is kind of a joke. Except for Rodeo Drive, there is very little to actually "see" in B.H. If you are planning on staying at the B.H. Hotel on Wilshire (where Pretty Women was filmed), then you could walk to Rodeo Drive and take a bus (or two) to Farmers Market and the Grove. And, I suppose you could take the Wilshire bus all the way out to Santa Monica. NOT at night though!

Keith,

We recently stayed in BH prior to our Mexican Riviera cruise. We chose the Beverly Hilton. There were a number of reasons for this choice

- Proximity to Rodeo Drive (only a 6 block walk)

- Good sized hotel with a very good reputation

- Home of the Grammy Awards

- Easy access to the Interstate for the trip to San Pedro.

- Discount available from AAA

We found the room to be very nicely decorated and upscale. The front desk staff were very helpful and friendly. The room was small which was okay for the one night we stayed but too cozy for a longer stay. There are larger rooms available for a higher price. The Beverly Hilton also has a car/driver available to take you to (and pick you up from) restaurants etc that are close by. The pool area is very nice and large with lots of sun and deck area for tanning/lounging. There is also a Starbucks across the street in case you are a caffine adict ;-)

The Beverly Wiltshire is right next to Rodeo Drive and could also be a good choice.

The other options that we looked at were The Elan hotel which is more of a boutique hotel but with a lot of good reviews. You will need a vehicle if you stay here since there isn't too much within a reasonable walking distance other than a few nice restaurants. It is close to a shopping centre which is a plus for the women.

I found it diffucult to chose a hotel in BH because all of the locations are expensive (it IS Beverly Hills)! Some that were just a few dollars cheaper were just old apartments turned into hotels - and no I didn't mention that they had been fixed up - some photos were pretty scary.

Take a look at TripAvisor.com under Beverly Hills Hotels or Commerce City Hotels and you will get a good variety with lots of reviews and even some photos. Then once you have selected a couple of possible hotels - go to http://www.webshots.com and search for those hotels. You will probably get quite a number of pictures from people who have actually stayed at those hotels.

Beverly Hills is Beautiful and only 45 minutes from San Pedro.

Good luck in your planning!

1. Beverly Wilshire Hotel.

2. Beverly Hilton Hotel.

3. Beverly Hills Hotel.

You might want to consider Shutters or Lowes in Santa Monica-both are very nice, on the water, and way closer to LAX and San Pedro.

Have fun!!:D

Thank you (R Wethereyet and ElvisandTracy) for the recommendations on the hotels. We have been to the Los Angeles area many times and when we cruise we normally stay in Long Beach. There are many factors why this time it makes sense for us to stay in this area before our next cruise thus my questions on a hotel recommendation.

Thanks,

Keith

Keith1010!

Getting closer here...

So...

#1 You are not renting a car, you are spending six to seven nights, and have "friends that are going to take you around"!

#2 You want a 4 or 5 star "Beverly Hills experience"!

My couple of more questions are...

What area of Los Angeles do your friends live in?

Because if they are going to "take you around" for several days, then you want to be somewhat convenient for them.

Or are they just doing this once or something during your 6 or 7 night stay?

A "Beverly Hills Experience" - depending on what you mean by that, can be had in several places not neccessarily in Beverly Hills (most modern film, television, fashion, etc. stars don't live in Beverly Hills anymore)...

Santa Monica, Bel Air area, Sunset Strip, Malibu, Brentwood, could all be a Beverly Hills experience...

Finally, what are your interests that you want to do and see during that time?

Shop? (for what?), Restaurants? (what kind?), Spas? (Lots)...

I apologize upfront for the more questions, but I know all of this intimately, so I want to help you craft the specific experience that you want and are looking to achieve (and taking into consideration your friends, etc.)...

CJW

CJW, we really just want to stay in the Bevery Hills Area and therefore I was looking for recommendations on hotels in the four or five star category.

Keith

Curt - I think we are wasting our time trying to help this man. He should just read Post # 8 and move on. Either he has an agenda worked out or he'll wish he'd listened. :-)

At least he doesn't want to stay downtown. That I don't recommend. If he wants to pay for BH, those three listed would do. But if one doesn't have a car, I just wouldn't want to have to wait for others to traispe by unless those friends live in the West Hollywood/Fairfax/Burton Way area that they'll be close by. I would recommend something more to the west myself.

Hey Keith1010...

Based on all of your info, I've done a Beverly Hills experience hotel thred for you here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=558825

Click on that, and hopefully it gives you all the info that you needed!

CJW

CJW, thank you very much for the information on the hotels. It's most appreciated. You have provided a lot of solid information to make our decision.

The issue for us is that we wanted to stay in the Beverly Hills area as after we are there for a few days we will be transfering to another hotel within Beverly Hills for one night before we get on a cruise. We have never stayed in Beverly Hills and rather than staying in many of the other places that we have stayed we decided to just stay in that area. We know that there are lots of other places to consider from Santa Monica to Bel Air, etc., but we just figured it would be easier to try this area. On top of that we have a number of friends who live nearby who will be visiting with us and will be taking us to varoius places.

So, in the end, we weren't looking for any other options other than Beverly Hills even though we know there are lots of areas to choose from. What we were looking for, was some nice hotel recommendations that you have provided along with the posts from R Wethereyet, and ElvisandTracey.

Again thank you very much for your thoughts on the hotels.

Darlipoo, the information that I received was not a waste of time. My original post was just asking for input on Beverly Hills Hotels. I was not asking for input whether I should stay in Beverly Hills Hotels nor was I asking for input on whether or not it would be difficult for friends to meet us or anything else. What I was asking for input was recommendation on either a four or five star hotel in that area. Therefore, in my last post I reiterated that.

CJW, again thanks for the solid input on this.

Keith

Keith - I'm sorry if my last reply sounded kind of rude. The thing is, often on this board someone from out of town will ask about a hotel or city they want to stay in. And many times it is WAY more expensive, inconvenient, or even dangerous than they were aware of . So, those of us that kind of know certain areas try and be helpful to fellow cruisers. Since you post in the middle of the night Ca. time I am assuming you are back east or over seas. That is why we were trying to zero in on helping you. So, again I am sorry for my "tone". Re-reading it I see it did sound kind of bitchy. I hope you have a wonderful stay in B.H.

Darl

Thanks Darl. I really appreciate your post.

While we have stayed in various locations in Southern California over the years this is the first time that we will stay in Beverly Hills and we decided to go this route for the convenience of switching hotels to the other hotel that we will be staying at for the kickoff of our cruise. The good news is that we have varoius friends who are more than willing to meet us there so we thought this would be a nice opportunity to see an area that we have never stayed at before.

Keith

Hey Keith1010!

Please just let us know when you get back which hotel(s) you ended up at, and if you would be so kind...

Please give us a review or report of the hotel when you get back...

So, many people ask for advice here, and never give their reviews when they return so we never know how our advice worked!

At any rate have a great time.

Any of the hotels I recommended are good in different ways for the reason I recommend.

And to Darlipoo and everyone else, I know, it's really difficult a lot of times on the boards here and in things such as email to ever know someone's vocal tone and intonations in the writing. So, it's easy to misunderstand someone's intentions behind their post.

I've been completely misunderstood on the boards a few times, so I'm empathizing!

Oh well, it happens!

Again have a great trip Keith1010, and try to remember us here when you return!

CJW

At least set foot in The Beverly Hills Hotel. It has been beautifully restored and is really something to see! Here is their homepage:http://www.thebeverlyhillshotel.com/index.html Click through the links to see more. The comment about the traffic was correct, especially if they are doing any kind of road construction or repair...so take that into consideration if you have specific times to get anywhere. Have a very nice stay!

Just to reiterate, the reason we may be questioning a location is that often people visiting LA for the first time get an idea about staying in a location that us natives know is not very safe. We're guessing that that's why someone is posing a question here.

We trying to be realistic. Hollywood often is seedy, downtown LA not too inviting (I was there from early morning today to just after 6pm and I can't imagine staying there, even in the more upscale hotels there), other places too far away unless you have access to a car (I would put my area, the Valley, in that category).

Beverly Hills can be nice, but pricey. I still remember getting locked in a stairwell years ago in the one that's on Sunset Blvd, while working PR at a charity event (long story). Got an interesting view from the roof when I finally found an unlocked door.:o

CJW, absolutely. As someone who has posted quite a bit on Cruise Critic over the years (both providing input to others on questions they have had along with seeking input from others on questions that I've had) I too appreciate when someone provides feedback from their trip. I plan to do so. Thanks to you and to everyone else for the input that has been provided. Now the fun begins as we narrow down the hotels to one choice and then eventualy begin our journey.

Keith