It’s a carpet divided on the fourth floor of Marriott’s Courtyard and Residence Inn L.A. Live. To the right, the flooring takes on a vibrant orange hue, while the left brandishes a royal purple.
No, your eyes don’t deceive you. The carpet didn’t jump onboard the trendy ombre train, either. Your feet are standing where the hotel splits off into two separate brands and subsequently, offers different types of rooms for various sets of travelers.
Courtyard and Residence Inn L.A. Live is a two-in-one, custom-designed hotel that plays to the individual strengths of sister brands Residence Inn by Marriott and Courtyard by Marriott. Though a hotel with the same concept opened in Manhattan last January, this property — which celebrated its grand opening on July 1— is the first of its kind on the West Coast.
As a longtime force in the extended-stay hotel segment, Residence Inn L.A. Live caters to business travelers and families in particular. Studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom suites — 219 in total — are available, designed to accommodate stays of five nights or more.
Business trips are made seamless at the Residence Inn due to a functional in-room work space; free high-speed Internet access (even faster Wi-Fi access is available for a fee); and useful services such as faxing, copy and printing. Families and other traveling groups will also appreciate complimentary buffet-style breakfast and fully-equipped kitchens with a refrigerator (that can be stocked through the hotel’s grocery delivery program), a stove, a microwave, a dishwasher and a cooktop.
Meanwhile, Courtyard has rightfully earned its reputation as a prominent lodging brand in the upper-moderate tier. Standard rooms at Courtyard Los Angeles L.A. Live offer a pull-out sofa with either one king bed or two double beds, in addition to a separate seating area and a large work desk. Courtyard’s 174 rooms (only 14 are suites) are geared toward shorter stays.
All guests, regardless of which side they stay in, have shared access to a 24-hour, hi-tech fitness center; an on-site laundry room; dry cleaning services; an outdoor pool with cabanas; a business center; and abundant meeting space.
Guests can drink and dine at Table 901 Cafe, located in the chic hotel lobby, or opt for lighter options at Starbucks. For a more upscale meal, head across the street to LA Market, a restaurant located at the lobby level of JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. Live, also in the Marriott family. Diners can order seasonal dishes with a heavy California influence containing farm-to-table ingredients such as herbs and citrus grown in the hotel’s rooftop garden.
With a hip neighborhood such as the burgeoning downtown of Los Angeles, the hotel will draw in guests from all over the world. L.A. Live — an entertainment district with sports and music venues, restaurants, a bowling alley and a movie theater — is merely steps away, while the Staples Center and the Los Angeles Convention Center require only a short walk.
“Right now, about 15 percent of [Residence Inn properties] are in downtown locations, but about 35 percent of [what is in the] pipeline is urban,” said Diane Mayer, vice president and global brand manager of Residence Inn by Marriott, in an interview with TravelAge West. “It’s downtown, so there are higher barriers of entry. But there is a lot of extended stay demand in downtown that historically has only been met by full service hotels. So, as more developers have been willing to develop Resident Inns in urban markets because they know how successful the brand is, we want to be in every major city that we can be in the U.S.”
The $170 million project of building the hotel, led by owners American Life, Inc. and Williams & Dame Development, is expected to contribute more than $89 million annually in spending to the downtown area.
The Details
Courtyard Los Angeles L.A. Live
www.marriott.com
Residence Inn Los Angeles L.A. Live
www.marriott.com
