A Luxury Gap.NO END IN SIGHT FOR DOWNTOWN'S DEARTH OF FIVE-STAR HOTELS Downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area. The sprawling, multi-centered megacity is such that its downtown core is often considered just another district like Hollywood or lacks stars. Not the kind that drive around in limousines and pop up at movie openings. L.A. is the nation's only major city that does not have a five-star or a four-star hotel in its downtown area. Nor does any hotel receive a Five Diamond Award, the highest rating given by AAA AAA: see American Automobile Association. (Triple A) A common single-cell battery used in a myriad of electronic devices of all variety. Like its double A (AA) cousin, it provides 1.5 volts of DC power. When used in series, the voltage is multiplied. . We're talking hotels. In the five-star category, New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of has the Four Seasons, The St. Regis Hotel, and Trump International Hotel & Tower. Chicago and Boston each have a top-ranked Four Seasons. Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, does have its share of luxury properties. There's The Peninsula, the Beverly Hills Hotel The Beverly Hills Hotel is a hotel in Beverly Hills, CA, at 9641 Sunset Boulevard. It was opened on May 12, 1912 and started by Margaret J. Anderson and her son, Stanley S. Anderson, who had been managing the Hollywood Hotel. , and Raffles L'Ermitage, all given five-star status this year by the Mobil Travel Guide, which has been rating the nation's palaces of hospitality for more than 40 years. In the four-star category, there's the Four Seasons and Le Meridien, both in Beverly Hills Beverly Hills, city (1990 pop. 31,971), Los Angeles co., S Calif., completely surrounded by the city of Los Angeles; inc. 1914. The largely residential city is home to many motion-picture and television personalities. , as well as the Hotel Bel Air Bel Air may refer to: Places in the United States:
No drawing card But nothing downtown. And despite talk of a downtown revival with artsy art·sy adj. art·si·er, art·si·est Informal Arty. lofts, a new cathedral and an expanded entertainment and sports complex near Staples Center, the center of town is unlikely to see a top-rated hotel for a while. "Five-star guests who stay in Los Angeles like to stay in Santa Monica close to the water and close to trendy restaurants, or in Beverly Hills, for all the same reasons," said Jack Westergom, managing director for Manhattan Hospitality Advisors in Los Angeles. "In downtown L.A. you don't have that core of cutting-edge restaurants or high-end shopping." Downtown's hotel woes go beyond the matter of stars. A survey by PKF PKF Peace Keeping Force PKF Pannell Kerr Foster (accounting firm) PKF Park Falls, Wisconsin (Airport Code) Consulting, a hospitality industry adviser, finds that occupancy for downtown hotel rooms costing over $85 a night plummeted in May to 52 percent from 72.3 percent a year earlier. Most other areas of Los Angeles were down for the month, but not nearly as much: occupancy at Beverly Hills hotels was 70 percent, down from 75.6 percent a year ago, and Santa Monica was 69.6 percent, from 78.4 percent. Some of the decline is due to a drop-off in corporate travel. But for downtown, the problem goes beyond cost-cutting. "There is not a lot of demand to be in downtown Los Angeles" for the upper-echelon crowd, said Wayne Williams, president of Williams & Associates, a Los Angeles-based hotel management consulting firm. And of course, not every major business is located in the city's core. There are entertainment companies in Century City, Studio City, Burbank and Culver City. Major businesses are located in Santa Monica, Westwood and West Los Angeles
Plans on hold Plans recently were announced to build a five-star hotel near Pershing Square in downtown. But the company behind the project, Property System Development Company Inc., has put those plans on hold, waiting for an expanded convention center and a nearby 1,800-room hotel. Gaining five-star status is not easy. The elegant Millennium Biltmore Hotel The Biltmore Hotel is a hotel located in downtown Los Angeles, California. Built by John McEntee Bowman, it opened in 1923. At the time, it was the largest hotel west of Chicago and designed by architects Schultze and Weaver. It is now named the Millennium Biltmore. Los Angeles does not have even four-star status. To get a star, hotels rated by the Mobil Travel Guide have to follow strict rules. A five-star hotel room should have a sense of elegance. Amenities include a fax, video, VCR VCR: see videocassette recorder. VCR in full videocassette recorder Electromechanical device that records, stores on a videotape cassette, and plays back on a TV set recorded images and sound. , Internet connectivity and cell phones. The hotel should have at least two full-service restaurants and cocktail lounges should be available. One restaurant should achieve a Four-Star rating. Room service should be available 24 hours with the ability to cater to virtually any culinary request. Service is another factor. Ali Kasikci, general manager of The Peninsula, the only hotel in L.A. to get both the five-star Mobil award and the AAA Five Diamond Award, said his hotel has 1,095 behavior standards that employees must follow. While each department has its own standards, all employees have to memorize the core 35 behavior standards. For example, a hotel employee should use the guest elevator only in an emergency. An employee should never pass guests if walking behind them in a hallway. The staff must be impeccably dressed in well-tailored clothing. And employees should maintain correct posture when addressing a guest. These standards make a big difference in the star system, and in your hotel bill. You will probably be paying $100 to $200 more a night for that five-star room. Top Hotels in L.A. Five-star hotels rated by Mobil Travel Guide The Peninsula in Beverly Hills L'Ermitage in Beverly Hills The Beverly Hills Hotel Four-star hotels Four Seasons Hotel Hotel Bel Air Le Meridien at Beverly Hills The Century Plaza Hotel & Spa Five Diamond Awards by AAA The Peninsula in Beverly Hills The Ritz-Carlton in Marina del Rey Four Diamond Awards Beverly Hilton The Beverly Hills Hotel Regent Beverly Wilshire Raffles L'Ermitage Beverly Hills What makes a five-star hotel? * When guests arrive, the front desk employee must use the guest's name throughout the conversation. Background noise is limited. Waiting guests are acknowledged. A welcome message should be in the guest's room and an ice bucket should be filled. * The furniture in the guest room is of high-quality fabric. At least four magazines are present. The turndown attendant removes or folds spread, folds down blanket and top sheet, fluffs pillows, turns on light, closes drapes drape v. draped, drap·ing, drapes v.tr. 1. To cover, dress, or hang with or as if with cloth in loose folds: draped the coffin with a flag; a robe that draped her figure. , empties wastebasket, and replaces used towels. Attendant also dries wet areas in the bathroom, straightens personal amenities, points toilet and facial tissue, and places good-night gift on pillow or nightstand night·stand n. See night table. . * In the bath, there should be separate shower and tub facilities. The floors and counters are likely marble. Robes and towels are plush, thirsty and large. * The banquet/catering facilities should be world class and able to handle the most sophisticated events. * Upon departure, the hotel employee uses the guest's name. The guest is wished a pleasant trip and invited to return. Sources: Mobile Travel Guide, AAA |
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