Dream Hollywood

I really wish I could write a more positive review as I had an an amazing stay here about a year ago but unfortunately, there were some serious service issues which should not happen at a hotel in this category and at this price point. While the hard product is still really posh, service levels just badly need improvement. I reserved a standard King room and applied a Hyatt Suite upgrade certificate to my 4 nights stay. On arrival, I realised that they had assigned me a really strange room- it’s technically classified as a “specialty suite” so a class higher from what I had upgraded to with my certificate. However, if someone really wanted the proper separate bedroom suite, they’d be disappointed: This one is called a “studio suite” which really is just a fancy name for a rather large corner room. This worked almost better for me as I was travelling by myself and it’s definitely a very posh room with all around windows looking at Hollywood. But it’s still strange to “upgrade” me to this as I could very well demand a “proper” suite and it’s arguable which one is better. But hey, the hard product ie actually what I still liked about this property. It’s service which is the issue throughout and that started at check in already: I arrived at a very messy time around 10pm on a Friday night and the property likes making a buck both ways with its actually guests and externals so they were hosting a loud and messy Halloween party at the pool deck. So imagine dozens of dressed up drunk and most likely stoned (it’s California after all, as evident from the pot smell in pretty much every corner of the property) twens while I am slogging my three heavy suitcases up to reception. Fine, I expected nothing else on a Friday. But the real problem was with the check in crew. Three guys, mostly just observing the scene and chit chatting, gave me a less than warm welcome, rattling down the meaningless “Thank for being a Hyatt Globalist” spill and confirming my late check out but then COMPLETELY ignore me having to somehow bring up all my luggage to the room. I proceeded to grab myself one of those trolleys even and the guys at receptions clearly noticed this but did anyone offer me a hand or, shock horror, even offered me to bring up the luggage to the room? Nah. Could not be bothered, too much chit chatting to do and clearly purposely avoiding eye contact to not having to offer any assistance. Horrible, really. And this as a theme that then continued throughout my stay. Service at breakfast (which in itself is still rather nice and a great Globalist benefit) was lacklustre at the least with several incorrect orders taken and making me wait for aaaages for the coffee, then the second correct coffee, then the food and finally getting he the cheque to sign. How often I heard a dishonest “Sorry for that!” from the mostly badly trained and/or completely disengaged staff I can’t count anymore. Cade in point, on the first morning, I had left my room around 9am switching the green “Please clean my room” light on. The housekeeping lady was literally two rooms down in the hallway at the then, saw me leaving and even somehow managed to clean the room opposite of mine which also had the green light on so she must have seen my light. But alas, I come back over 4 hours later after some relaxing time by the rooftop pool ready for an afternoon nap but nope, room not done. This is one of my absolute hotel pet hates and in this case it was very evident that staff could simply not be bothered. I call housekeeping to complain but the lady on the phone is clearly not keen to hear about it and just tells me that her staff is on “lunch break right now” so that I will have to wait a while. Of course that lazy housekeeper is on break now pretty much destroying my carefully planned afternoon. Again, no real apology or proper reaction even to the issue. Very annoying and simply not good enough. Comparing the Dream to the Andaz in WeHo is interesting: I’ve stayed several times at both properties so would think I have a good perspective to compare the both: The Andaz is in a better area of town in my opinion, the surrounding areas of the Dream/Thompson/W hotels are pretty dodgy. Hardly any place in the world I can think of where rich and poor are in such close proximity. At the Dream, I like the hard product better than the Andaz which is in bad need for a renovation unfortunately. The pool deck at the Dream is lovely and you can have a fabulous breakfast up on the same level with perfect views of the Hollywood sign- beats the gloomy downstairs cafe at the Andaz by miles. However, service is significantly better at the Andaz in my opinion- very hit and miss here at the Dream. But for my booking dates, the Andaz was about $100 a night more expensive which I would say is definitely not worth it while rooms have still not been renovated. Read less

Small, dated rooms and $42 "facility fee" for a hotel with one small pool. Hotel was unable to provide a folio until I called five times and finally sent an email threatening to write a true and appropriate review to customer service. When I finally got the folio I was charged for over $100 in minibar items we never took. They are in a great location and a fun place for nightlife but operationally underperform for the money. Read less

We were informed that there are services included in the resort fee - 2 free bottles of water, taxi within 2 miles area, champagne at check in. Basically none of these services were delivered. Champagne was not offered - we had to go back later and ask about it. I was charged 13 USD for the one bottle of water I drank at my room - I asked in writing about the free bottles of water and I received no response back from the hotel. There was a taxi advertised at the front desk but it was not only paid, it was more expensive than Uber. While making a reservation, I requested a quiet room. I was given a room above the club, which pulsed till 2am with music. My colleague got a quiet room. Overall the impression of the hotel was much worse than I expected from the pricetag and the reviews. Read less