The Hollywood Roosevelt — Hotel in Los Angeles

This was a really important trip for us. Our son had been through quite a bit and pushed himself to graduate 2 years early, and it was a reward.

My husband and I are both in hospitality. I'm in advocacy and property management for the short term rental industry, and my husband is a GM for a luxury hotel and spa in Oregon.

I admit I looked for a short-term rental at first, but my son really wanted to stay near the Blvd, and my daughter loves the pool. There were plenty of STRS, but this hotel stuck out and looked really neat from the restaurants to the history.

We booked 2 rooms for 5 nights. Approx $3,500 stay.

Valets were very friendly and even opened the door of our Uber and helped us with our bags.

The young woman at the front desk barely looked up at me and definitely didn't welcome me or smile. Not a great start. I asked her about a message I had received about my husband arriving a day later and asking him to pay on arrival. I figured this was some type of AI mistake, but she assumed or at least treated me as if I was making a complaint instead of asking a question.

We get to our room, and we are so excited because the hotel has really neat architecture, and I can get past one guest receptionist.

What I can't get past is a dirty room. What I couldn't have even imagined is a bathroom floor so filthy that it looked like a subway or a gas station. To be honest, I've been in a honey pot that had a cleaner floor.

I look down and immediately see urine around the sides of my toilet, pooled into that well on each side of the bowl. Absolutely disgusting! I take pictures of it and this wasn't a mishap because the floor is so dirty that you can see it had not really been cleaned for many many turns.

The bathroom door has panels, and there is dust just sitting on the panel edges. The light switch was gross and not one fixture had been polished, not even the toilet paper holder. The shower looked clean but one look up the wall and you could see hair stuck to it, in many places. *Here is a tip, as I have over 35 years of housekeeping management experience, hairspray makes women's hair stick to the wall. Dusters on poles or even a clean dry Swifter mop pad can get the entire wall of a bathroom clean on seconds.

I went downstairs and asked for a manager. She had the same look my husband has when he is being waffled by guest after guest but there was no way I was going to be able to use that bathroom with my children.

I showed her the pictures and long story short both she and her housekeeping supervisor came up to examine the room after I asked if someone could please come back and clean again.

I noticed pretty quickly that the housekeeper was using a dirty, filthy, just dripping with brown water mop to clean the floor.

Grateful for the toilet to be sanitized but still grossed out, I tried to explain just what is wrong with the service, but their solutions throughout the week just made me more annoyed.

The floor needed to be cleaned. A product with bleach and a scrubber and good ol' fashion scrub with your hands and clean the dirt that has been engrained in the floor for who knows how long. I could have cleaned that floor with a washcloth and dish soap or a laundry pod in 5 minutes.

Absolutely rediculous is what their answer was to the problem. After they pored dirty water on the floor and swooshed it around with a dirty mop, they brought us a bathroom rug that almost covered the entire floor. Too bad I could still see it. Then they brought is slippers. Okay so I kinda get it but you're still reminding me that it's unsanitary to walk on the floor.

The next day they call me first thing in the morning to tell me that they are moving us and giving us a suite. Well I know that If you have this kind of issue in my room, you have it in every room. Your housekeeping doesn't know how to clean, they don't have enough time, they are severely underpaid, and your management doesn't understand what quality cleaning supplies are. Moving to a suite isn't going to...

A Disturbingly Discriminatory Experience on Christmas Eve—Stay Away

I have stayed in many hotels around the world, but my recent stay at The Hollywood Roosevelt stands out for all the wrong reasons. On what should have been a magical, peaceful evening, I found myself accosted by a security guard—Officer Martinez (a woman with dark hair, glasses, a round face, and multiple tattoos on her arms and body)—in a manner that was both discriminatory and demeaning. If I could give zero stars for how she ruined my Christmas Eve, I would.

Officer Martinez approached me and demanded that I stop taking photos immediately, or I would be kicked out of the hotel. Her tone was aggressive and left me feeling singled out and uncomfortable. The way she treated me strongly suggested some form of bias, especially given my being Asian and the complete lack of any context suggesting wrongdoing. Rather than explaining the policy in a courteous manner, she was confrontational and threatening.

Shortly thereafter, she summoned the manager to the scene. Visibly caught off-balance, the manager simply echoed her statements—that it is supposedly “hotel policy” to forbid “professional” photography in the lobby. My reasonable explanations fell on deaf ears: Non-Professional Camera: I’m not a professional photographer; this was just for personal memories. Zero Disruption: No guests were around to disturb or photograph inadvertently. We Live Here: We’re not random tourists or visitors; we’re extended-stay guests. Surely some situational understanding or courtesy could be extended. Christmas Eve: Instead of fostering a warm, welcoming environment, they escalated the situation and threatened eviction on a holiday evening.

Why This Felt Discriminatory

The speed and aggressiveness with which Officer Martinez came over to confront me—coupled with her unwillingness to listen or show any consideration—highlighted a serious lack of hospitality. It was not merely about upholding policy; it was about the accusatory, almost hostile undertone. Because everything from my background to my camera use was questioned without reason, I can’t help but suspect I was treated differently than other guests might have been.

Why a One-Star Review • Aggressive & Unwelcoming Behavior: Threatening a paying guest with eviction simply for taking photos of a loved one defies basic hospitality. • Discriminatory Undertones: The manner in which Officer Martinez honed in on me, coupled with her overly harsh stance, left a strong impression of bias. • No Sense of Christmas Spirit: It was Christmas Eve, and instead of providing a warm, festive environment, the hotel staff treated us like trespassers. • Managerial Failure: The manager offered zero constructive dialogue, merely quoting policy without any sign of compassion or willingness to listen.

Final Thoughts

An esteemed property with a storied history should strive to extend courtesy and understanding to its guests—especially on a night as special as Christmas Eve. Instead, I was humiliated in a place I temporarily call home, all for taking a few personal snapshots.

Officer Martinez’s brusque and antagonistic manner, complete with immediate threats to expel me, was utterly misplaced and unprofessional. For a hotel that markets itself as an iconic Hollywood gem, The Hollywood Roosevelt has shown itself incapable of delivering the hospitality that one would expect at any mid-level establishment, let alone a so-called luxury spot.

Recommendation: If you value genuine hospitality, cultural sensitivity, and a welcoming atmosphere, I suggest looking elsewhere. My holiday evening was tainted by discriminatory treatment and callous policy enforcement, and I would hate for others to experience the same. This was supposed to be a cherished Christmas memory, but it was soured by Officer Martinez and the unhelpful management who backed her. A one-star rating is generous under these...

This should have been a five star review. It really should have. I stayed there in May. I absolutely loved this hotel. I love history and I love movies and this was a dream come true to stay here and live with the history. First, the location is perfect. Its pretty much across the street from the TCL Chinese Theatre, right on the Walk of Fame. I went out every night and walked around late, we walked to In and Out Burger, just a great location. The hotel itself is just full of history. Check in was great and the guy that worked there was great. One of the guys who was working by the door when we came back from Griffith Park was super awesome, I wish I had gotten his name because this guy was just so great. I asked him if they ever opened the room the first Academy Awards took place at and he showed it to me. We talked about Carole Lombard, the reason I was there in the first place, as her and Clark Gable's love nest was there. We talked Marilyn Monroe, I Love Lucy, Catch Me If You Can, Shirley Temple, WC Fields, all whom were connected to the hotel. He was just super knowledgeable and I really appreciated everything he did. The room was OK. It was clean. They gave us complimentary water each day. They had snacks for a fee in the room, the downside being the prices were very high on it. The room was older but fine, however two negatives, first, the drain was terrible in the room, it would always fill to at least ankle level during a shower. The second issue was the legs on the bed, they expand out. The first night I was there, it was dark and I needed to run to the John and I was using the bed to guide me and I smashed my toe on the bed frame leg and the next day it was black and blue, I actually ended up fracturing it. I wasn't angry by either issue, and neither would have changed what would have been a five star review, not until the last day.

It started with the elevator not working, so we were told we had to climb the stairs to get to the forth or fifth floor, I forget where I was staying, so fine, we did that, and the door was locked. We had to go back down and find this other hidden elevator which was small and hot and super busy now and we were trying to leave. Still not the worst thing and probably wouldn't have done anything to the five star rating, or worst case, it would have been a 4.5 at this point, but probably not. What did it for me was the aftermath.

When my flight landed at home, I started getting notification that transactions were attempted from the hotel onto my credit card. I always turn my card off when I am not using it, so everything was blocked, but there were still attempts for charges. I immediately contacted them and it was a slow first response and left more questions then answered. First I was asked about eating at different places on property and we had only eaten at one and I had already seen that charge and I felt like I was being accused of eating food at one of the restaurants I hadn't eaten at, and it was different charge attempts, different amounts, so I ended up contacting the manager to find out what was going on and he said it was some sort of mistake, which was resolved, but I really was upset at how the first person was handling it. I held off on writing a review because I figured it would pass but, watching a video on Youtube tonight which brought it up made me think about all that and I still feel frustrated by all that. I felt they created a situation and made it overly difficult to deal with. I think it just disappointed me more then anything that after so much good that tail end of the trip was just negative, and that's what I think...