We stayed at the Sofitel from 6-8 April as we were anxious to see what it was like after the rennovations! I must say the place looked sensational, the staff were sensational (as they always were) and the rooms were still as comfortable as ever! Check-in was a breeze and the front desk staff were very friendly! The bell boy came up to the room with us and explained the room in detail and also gave us some tips on the area as well as ways to get to the ice hockey which was a nice touch! The new bathrooms are sensational and the rain water showers are awesome! I could have stood under that thing for hours!!!

The gym facilities were great! TV's on each of the cardio equipment, headphones to borrow, fresh towels, wet refrigerated Eucalyptus towels, bottles of Evian, brownies on one of the days and free internet access - what more could we ask for?! Fantastic!!!

The free slippers were great!!!! The amenities were awesome and the rooms were always fresh and clean!!! Turndown service every night and it was great to receive a bottle of Evian instead of chocolates that's for sure!

Check out was a breeze as was valet, the staff were fantastic! Love the black outfits and berrets!!!

We will definately be back (if the price is right!) :)

Enjoy!!!

I have now stayed in this hotel 3 times in the last few years and wanted to add my voice to praise Sofitel.
I have stayed on the Penthouse Level, Run of House and a room with a balcony on a high floor. You get a great view of the LA skyline and local area. The rooms are really nice and the atmosphere perfect. You get a feeling of high quality but not too stuffy, plenty of good customer service, great concierge and fantastic waiter service.
All the fixtures and fittings are extremely high quality and it has just been through a refurbishment programme which has made the rooms even better. The bathrooms are great with lots of little extras you wouldn't even have thought of!
Nice large plasma screen TV in the rooms with a good choice of channels, well stocked mini-bar with top notch snacks and drinks. All the fabrics and furnishings are high quality and the beds are very comfortable (I like soft beds).
There is a taxi rank next to the hotel and there is always at least a couple of cars waiting for you. 'Westfield' or Century City (name changed) is a great shopping area and also the Grove is only a few minutes by taxi with lots more shops. The best part for me was to find the Beverly Shopping Centre is on the opposite side of the road with lots more shops and even a Cinema to catch the latest movies. Whenever I go back to LA I will be staying here. I understand the point made by another reviewer about the slightly sniffy French service at reception but I am from the UK and we are used to dealing with the French so not a problem. I would recommend you stay here, it is expensive but worth the extra dollars.

We recently stayed at the Sofitel LA for 17 nights. Overall the service was excellent - professional, fast and gracious. However, there was one issue and the way it was handled was surprisingly unprofessional.

First, the good:
the rooms are comfortable - bathroom/shower is excellent and huge. beds are pretty good - they're new, which counts for a lot, but a little on the soft side due to a featherbed.

turndown service at night with bottles of evian.

someone always at the front door to welcome you and open the door. Once, there was no one at the door and one of the valets saw me coming and RAN to open it for me.

We had breakfast at Simon 5 or 6 times and it was excellent each time. They serve excellent french press coffee (i'm a terrible coffee snob). One morning I asked for a new cup as I had let my coffee turn lukewarm. Instead, I got an entire fresh new pot of french press. Once they forgot the avocado in my omelet and rushed out an entire plate of avocado. They also let us sit forever on the sunny mornings.

We also had dinner and drinks at Simon/Stone Rose - the scene is a little too much but the food was excellent. Best thing to order is off the menu: it's the Iron Chef Burger. Tiny, perfect burger; fries with truffle oil, and a little milkshake. don't miss it.

The fitness center was clean and open from 5am (helpful when you're on a shoot). They also provided bottles of evian, chilled towels, and brownies or muffins; internet access and computers; and headphones. a pretty complete place to hang out.

the spa has very nice treatments - I did a facial and a massage - though it is very pricey. I'm from new york and this compares to the priciest spas here. however, you can't top having a massage in a relaxing setting just a couple minutes from your hotel bed. The sauna is not open yet, unfortunately, but the locker room is nice.

what else? the location can't be beat. we walked to dinner many nights - not sure that's even possible in other parts of LA. also walked to shopping on the weekend.

there were a couple very minor service issues along the way: the maid opened our door and came in one morning at 8:30am while we were still in bed (she apologized and quickly left) and the shampoo and conditioner were not replaced for days and I had to call housekeeping to get new ones sent up (but they came quickly). not big deals.

Ok, now the bad. After we had been there 10 days with two cars parked, the front desk called up to confirm our credit card because of all the charges piling up. what charges? we asked. Oh, the $26 per day per car charge. That's $884 extra for parking the rental cars for our 17 days.

I went to the front desk to speak with the manager. I don't have a problem with paying whatever needs to be paid, but I thought it was wrong we weren't told. There's no mention on the valet ticket they hand you, there's no mention in the literature in the room, there's no mention in the packet they give you at check-in, and there's no option to park in a separate lot.

Instead of apologizing for not informing us of the charge and making some small gesture of good will (for example, a $25 credit to the restaurant or spa or something that wouldn't cost them much - or, god forbid, an apology) they just said "This is LA and parking is at a premium." Yes, I said, I understand, I'm from New York. I don't have a problem with paying for parking, I have a problem with the hotel sneaking charges onto my credit card. It's something a less professional place would do and doesn't fit with the rest of our experience here.

Anyway, it continued this way for a while, with the manager refusing to acknolwedge that we should have been told and getting increasingly more huffy. Did i mention we were there for 17 nights?

In the end I paid the $884 and consoled myself with taking a few extra brownies and bottles of evian from the fitness center.

It's still a very nice place and, though it pains me to say it, I would probably stay there again.

I have had the pleasure of staying at three US-based Sofitels in the past few years. Bloomington, Minnesota, Chicago, Illinois and the one I am going to write this review about which is located in Los Angeles, California.

My stay at the Sofitel in Bloomington was back in the mid-90's on a rather unremarkable business trip. The one thing that stands out in my memory is how odd I thought it was for the front desk staff (who were obviously dyed-in-the-wool Midwesterners) to be speaking with an affected French accent.

The Sofitel Water Tower in Chicago is a spectacularly beautiful building that comes to a knife's edge point. And they actually made good use of this unusual architecture. I know because the suite I had there was *IN* that narrow portion of the building and it was gorgeous and eminently functional.

I moved from Northern California to Orange County at the end of 2006 and have stayed at the Sofitel Los Angeles more than half a dozen times since then. The reason being that I often spend my weekends in LA proper and the drive back to Newport Beach sucks after a night of partying. But I digress.

From my first stay there, I have been tremendously impressed with this property. From the well laid out carriage-way, to the polite valets, bellmen and front desk staff to the lightning quick elevators. This hotel recently underwent a $40M renovation and it really shows.

The lobby is very understated and elegant. Black marble and subdued lighting. That same sort of low-key elegance is evident in the rooms as well. I have been lucky enough to stay in both of their uber-suites at either end of the top floor. Both boast gorgeous marble bathrooms with HUGE tubs and separate shower, outdoor patios with fireplaces and seating areas and voluminous sitting areas in addition to the spacious bedrooms. Both also have wide-screen high-def televisions in both the living area and bedroom and have gorgeous views of Sunset Blvd and the Hollywood hills.

Those rooms are prohibitively expensive (even for someone like me who spends money like a drunken sailor) but even their standard room is a pleasure and a joy to behold.

The room service is excellent, especially the hamburger and ham and cheese sandwich. Steer clear of the chicken soup which was surprisingly tasteless.

I wasn't too impressed with Stone Rose despite the Rande Gerber connection. I am pretty spoiled when it comes to nightclubs and the one time I popped into Stone Rose it was WAY too crowded to be enjoyable.

Simon:LA served an excellent breakfast the one time I managed to make it downstairs to eat in their dining room. I will have to try them for lunch or dinner sometime since a birthday dinner at Kerry Simon's other location in Las Vegas back in 2005 was outstanding.

All in all, if you can afford it, the Sofitel LA is an exceptionally nice hotel. It is centrally located to Beverly Hills and just a short drive to the endless club and dining opportunities in Hollywood.

No fake French accents here. This place is a class act from start to finish.