My reservations were made last November or December, so keep that in mind when I tell you about my check-in experience.

When checking in, the person who checked me in flat out lied to me. I asked her twice to confirm that it had two beds. Each time she said yes. When the bellhop opened the door to the room, it had one king bed. The bellhop called down to the front desk for me and they said I should check back in an hour or two. Unfortunately, when I did check back, I was told that the hotel was oversold and that there was no way I would get the room that had been reserved for me two to three months ago. I was there for three nights and staying with a friend, so we were both not happy. They said they could put a rollaway in the room, which didn't thrill either of us, but we accepted it. The person coordinating our trip then had the hotel give us access to the members floor, so we would be able to get free breakfasts, evening appetizers and evening desserts.

When my friend and I arrived back from dinner. I saw housekeepers cleaning an empty room and asked them if any rooms with two beds were available. They said yes. I rushed to my room and called the front desk to ask for another room. They asked if I needed assistance, and I said yes. About 15 minutes later, someone knocked on our door with the keys, but he didn't seem thrilled about helping us move our luggage to the other room, so we did it ourselves.

The reservation mix-up and lying about it was the worst part of my experience at the hotel.

However, when I went back to the front desk in the morning to turn in the old keys and to have the member service added to the new keys, the same front desk person from the day before was back at the front desk and seemed shocked that I had the member service on my room keys. (I explained that it was added because of the room reservation fiasco. I'm guessing that she is either new or inadequately trained.) I brought out my Marriott member card at that point because I was irritated by her lying and lack of professionalism.

On to the better parts of the hotel stay.

The room itself was small, but nice. It's very modern in design and fresh looking. It features wooden blinds, and a pull down shade, which is a nice departure from heavy curtains. It was very clean, and I never saw any stains, other than on our shower liner. The sheets were nice. The comforter was very heavy though, making it difficult to turn over in the middle of the night without waking.

About the minibar...don't even lift a snack or you'll be charged! This was a new technique I've not seen before. Some others in my group in other rooms were afraid to even open the fridge for being charged.

I was charged $1 to make a local call, so use your cell if you have one.

The bathroom was light, bright and spacious. The shower curtain rod is curved, giving more shower room, which was nice. The bathroom toiletries are nice, very fresh and modern. The towels were thick, plush and clean. There's a large vanity top in the bathroom, which is nice for laying out toiletries.

The housekeeping staff is friendly and excellent.

The room itself is very, quiet, which was wonderful.

I didn't swim, but I did check out the pool area, and it's very nice. It even features private cabanas. The workout room looked very nice, too. They are next to each other.

The hotel location is fabulous. The hotel is connected to a huge complex of shopping and eating areas. It's also very close to Grauman's, the Kodak Theater, the Hollywood walk of stars, etc. I didn't take the Metro, but there's a Metro stop very near, too. It's centrally located to a lot of things. It took about 30-45 minutes to take Sunset Blvd. to the Getty Center during the morning.

Parking is reasonably prices, but it's a bit of a hassle unless you do valet parking.

The concierge staff is very nice and helpful, but they weren't always accurate on the directions. One of them told us wrong, and it cost us 10 very important minutes.

Oh, about the member rewards room, the breakfasts are the best part. The evening appetizers are so-so, as are the desserts. However, the concierge staff there is extremely helpful and nice.

Would I stay there again? Yes, depending on the price I could get. The location is great, and the room is very nice and QUIET. My room rate was $166 before taxes for a Monday through Thursday stay.