The Wilshire Grand

So I agreed to go on a vacation with my sister and niece to LA and Universal Studios. The accommodations were to be at the Wilshire Grand. There was some sort of an online special for a standard room at $80 a night, which is absurdly cheap for a hotel in this area.

Upon arrival we found that they were all out of standard rooms, and sadly they had to upgrade us to a suite. "What's more important to you, 2 bathrooms or a view?" 2 bathrooms won out, and we found ourselves on the 5th floor staring at the Staples Center. The "bad" view wasn't so bad after all.

The room is about the same size as a standard Rio suite in the Masquerade Tower, but with an extra bathroom thrown in for good measure.

Since a standard room usually runs about $250 a night, and they're tiny (I saw one tonight since my cousins are staying in the same hotel which miraculously now has some standard rooms open), I can only imagine what this normally goes for. But for $80 a night, I'd like to live here.

At about midnight my sister went out searching for a vending machine to get some soda. She came up empty, and stopped by the front desk to ask where she could acquire some. "Are you hungry?" They responded by having a sandwich and a salad brought over to her, along with some bottled water. All for free.

Every employee was friendly and helpful (though the hotel operator was trigger happy when it came to relaying simple questions to the front desk), and despite this being a smoking room (they were out of all non-smoking rooms) it smells fine. I'm pretty sensitive to that, having had smoked for 10 years, and the hallway smell didn't leak into the room in the least.

Aesop says: if you ever get a chance at a Wilshire Grand suite for $80, take it.