Palihotel Westwood Village — Hotel in Los Angeles

Good Stay with Room for Improvement

We stayed at the Palihotel Westwood Village for three nights in a king room. Overall, it was a good stay, though there are areas that could be improved.

The Positives: The location is great—close to the hills and downtown but not overly congested. It’s within walking distance to restaurants, which was a big plus. The hotel felt safe and comfortable, which is always important when traveling. The staff was generally friendly, and Jose at valet was particularly helpful. The valet garage parking was convenient one night, though we found street parking to be fairly accessible.

The Challenges: Valet was a bit confusing. Most of the time, it felt more like a key-holding service, with the car ending up parked out front regardless of whether we or they parked it. We also had to approach the valet ourselves multiple times and often had to track them down rather than them being readily available or assisting with the door. The room, while cozy and decorated, had some functionality issues. The sink was separate from the toilet/shower room, which was fine, but towel placement wasn’t convenient, and a few towels had stains. As other reviews have mentioned, the large bar cabinet takes up valuable space and could be replaced with more practical furniture like functioning nightstands (only one small table was provided on one side of the bed). No desk was available, which might be a drawback for some.

Breakfast was underwhelming—don’t expect a continental spread or anything beyond the basics. It’s grab-and-go with a limited selection of fruit, yogurt, croissants, or bagels. While functional if you’re in a hurry, it doesn’t add much to the experience.

The pillows were very thin and flattened quickly, and soundproofing wasn’t great—we could hear stair usage and plumbing from neighboring rooms. The windows also faced directly into an apartment building, so we kept the curtains closed most of the time. Lastly, while the staff was polite, they weren’t as personable or proactive as we’ve experienced at other boutique hotels.

Overall: This wasn’t a bad stay by any means, but it didn’t quite deliver the charm or comfort we’d expect from a boutique property. That said, we’d consider staying here again due to the location and potential, though we hope to see some improvements in functionality and...

Not worth it. This is more like a 2-star hotel than 4 star. I travel a lot for work, and a client booked this accommodation for me, but I wish I had checked the Google reviews before visiting so I would have known to find my own accommodations instead.

WiFi didn’t work frequently during my stay. An error of “Too many subscribers are already logged in. Please try again later.” Which as someone traveling for business just isn’t an option.

There is very little sound-proofing between rooms, floors, and the hallway. You can see this in many reviews previous to mine, and one of the offerings the manager has offered is “we offer rooms higher up for those who are staying for longer or are light sleepers.” So am I supposed to inform the front desk I’m a light sleeper without knowing this is an issue? Because I’m staying for two nights I don’t deserve a good nights sleep? They offer earplugs which is a sign they recognize this but expect you to do something about it instead of solving the issue themselves.

I did not have any issues with staff members, but it’s obviously the owners don’t care much for the operation of the business. Trash left in the hallways for 12+ hours. Front desk attendant was expected to attend to an individual who entered the hotel with obvious mental health issues (some folks mentioned a security guard, that was not available that night) while also attempting to check guests into the hotel.

Some normal things you’d expect in a hotel were not available. A luggage rack? No where to be found. A towel bar for your hand towel? Ha! Store that in the bathroom or on the vanity. A desk? No no. That won’t fit in the room Because instead they have chosen a MASSIVE buffet to fill 1/4 of the room.

For me, this is 100% a skip. I’ve never stayed at a Pali before, but my brand awareness was it was meant to be a high-end option. I’ve learned my lesson.

Pro tip: if you’ll be gone from the hotel most of the day, avoid valet. There was plenty of street parking available, save the...

I typically choose boutique hotels because the hotel group usually puts a lot of effort into the small details and has personality and good vibes vs large conglomerate chain hotels with no soul.

The Palihotel Westwood has so much potential but it has missed the mark… by a lot.

Let’s start with service… basically, there isn’t any… they don’t answer the phones and when they’re there and you need assistance, they visibly show you how you are inconveniencing them. Irma was probably one of the worst hospitality folks I’ve met. Very unpleasant and will treat you like a criminal if you accidentally locked yourself out of your room. The nicest person was actually the overnight security guy. Shout out to him for our only pleasant interaction at the hotel.

The free breakfast is a stale croissant and some basic fruit like bananas and apples. Once it’s done, they don’t even clean up the plate or crumbs. It is left out there, and I suspect they don’t wash and change the serving platters.

The rooms… they are decorated okay but super musty and humid with some mold growing on the bathroom tiles. No exhaust fan in the bathroom so the room stays humid after you shower and if you need to use the bathroom, any smells will linger.

The bathroom sink is in the entry way right next to the door rather than inside of the bathroom, so if you are there with a partner with different work schedules, one of you will not sleep well when the other one needs to get ready. If you’re on your own, than no biggie!

The bed… old school spring coil mattresses with a dip in the middle and pillows that are so flat they feel worse than the cheapest IKEA pillows… not comfortable at all.

The location, however, is great because you can walk everywhere, and sadly it’s the best feature about the hotel.

Lastly, if you left something at this hotel, good luck trying to get it back. You might as well consider it gone.

As someone who leads brand for companies, this hotel really needs some TLC and the staff needs a major...