The Hollywood Roosevelt

We had a very frustrating stay at the Roosevelt hotel :( Besides the fact that the rooms are really tiny, their customer service is absolutely terrible. We had booked four nights for a summer vacation and wanted to relax by the pool. Upon our arrival, we were informed that the hotel was entirely booked for a wedding during our entire stay, meaning that neither the pool, nor bar, nor lobby, nor any other facilities were accessible. We were told to use the pool at the Loews Hotel, which was more than 800m walking distance away. Instead of informing guests in advance, we were only advised after arrival — or after the first night — to cancel our reservation and book a different hotel. We did so, but to this day we are still chasing our refund — no one from the Roosevelt has been reachable for the past 14 days. We really cannot recommend your hotel.

Beautiful hotel! Reception staff graciously checked us in earlier. Room was well maintained and bed was extremely comfortable. So many great restaurants and sights in walking distance! Pool and lobby had such a great old Hollywood vibe.

We stumped up extra for this hotel and it was meant to be the grand finale of a month long roadtrip in the US. Sadly as soon as we got there we realised essentially all the hotel facilities were hired out for majority of the stay including pool, lobby and (my personal favourite) 1 of the only 2 elevators (this last one made a very frustrating situation faintly comical when a growing queue of guests had to wait 15 minutes to get to our rooms - no obvious stairs- whilst the elevator which had been hired kept opening at the lobby empty). We made clear to the staff that them advertising their pool as their biggest selling point (which is why we booked it!!) and then closing it for several days was not acceptable but we were met with disdain and disinterest- no attempt at a genuine apology. I can only imagine how disappointing this would have been for those travelling with children. The hotel said that they had attempted to inform us but could neither reach us nor discount any of our stay as we had booked with a ‘third party provider’. There was a distinct accusation that we had done something wrong here; this ‘provider’ was booking.com and given this is one of the largest hotel booking chains globally I am shocked they were unable to communicate with us and seemed bizarrely unfamiliar with it. For comparison every other hotel we have stayed at over the past month could use it just fine. Admittedly, they did take the daily amenities fee off after we complained but given basically no amenities were available I think that should have been a given. Overall, I think a bad situation was made into a terrible one by poor service. Outside of the above, rooms were a bit shabby and dated, especially for the money. Location was central but it was similar to staying in the middle of Leicester Square so quite full on!

Was so looking forward to this hotel stay. Even though the rooms were great and the hotel has a nostalgic feel it ended up not being great. We stayed from a Thursday till Sunday. A wedding party did what they call a buyout and they pretty much denied access to everything at the hotel to everyone staying. No pool- only one restaurant was open to us and then we were only allowed to use one elevator. As much as I was looking forward to my stay here I heard this happens fairly often at this hotel. Be sure you call and book and ask ahead of time and then call again a week before your stay to be sure there hasn’t been a buy out. Staff did take off some fees for our stay but there are many of those be sure you ask about all the fees you are charged on top of your room price.

Style over substance. Historic charm? Maybe. But when your “premium” room faces loud AC units, the only bathrobe gets to sleep alone, and the pool is closed (texted on arrival day!), the magic fades fast. No outlets by the bed – because who needs a charged phone in 2025? Bathroom? More like a closet. Service? Let’s just say Marriott gets it right every time. We came with excitement, left with disappointment. Won’t be back.