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The Tommie Hollywood is the latest Hyatt property to open its doors in Los Angeles so as I’m currently back home on the West Coast and as the Tommie is only three weeks old, I took the opportunity to head over to Hollywood to see what the new property offers.
Current health measures mean that as I’m not a guest of the hotel, I didn’t get to see the inside of a room (I apologize for not being able to show you what a standard room at the Tommie Hollywood looks like), but I did get to see the lobby, the Tommie’s main restaurant area, the rooftop pool, the rooftop lounge, and the views from the top of the hotel so what follows should give you a reasonable idea of what the Tommie is all about.
A bit of background
The Tommie Hollywood is a sister property to the larger Thompson Hollywood which sits on the same block just 2 minutes walk away.
The Tommie brand was the brainchild of Thompson Hotels and was supposed to offer smaller and more affordable options to the Thompson brand. However, before a single Tommie property could open its doors, Hyatt purchased Thompson Hotels as part of the Two Roads Hospitality deal and plans for the Tommie brand changed.
“Tommie” is no longer a standalone brand but, instead, has been made part of the Joie de Vivre (JdV) portfolio that also came to Hyatt as part of the Two Roads Hospitality deal.
Nevertheless, once you see the images of the Tommie Hollywood (below) and then take a look at the images I posted of the Thompson Hollywood, you should see quite a few similarities between the two.
The location
The Tommie Hollywood is located at 6516 Selma Ave in Hollywood California.
As with the Thompson Hollywood, that puts the Tommie within a short walk of the W Hollywood and the Kimpton Everly and within walking distance of most of what Hollywood has to offer.
As I’ve said many times before, this isn’t a part of Los Angeles that I like (it’s an area I actively avoid if at all possible), but then I don’t think that the area is attempting to appeal to people like me.
The entrance & lobby area
At the time of writing, you’d have to know that the building you’re looking at is a hotel and that it’s called “Tommie Hollywood” because aside from a small sign on the valet stand, there’s nothing on the building to let you know what it is.
Inside the front doors of the Tommie, the property opens up into an area that appears to have been designed to look like a living room in a large home.
There’s no shortage of armchairs and sofas…
…and there’s a high table at which guests can work or consume the food and drinks they’ve purchased from the lobby coffee shop/store.
The lobby coffee shop & store
The decor above the lobby coffee shop suggests that alcoholic beverages may be available here but there weren’t any on the menu,…
…and I couldn’t see any in the pantry area that sits across from the coffee shop.
While the coffee shop offers a small selection of cold and hot meals, the pantry offers a mixture of cold drinks and chilled snacks…
…as well as a few dry snack options too.
The 1st-floor restaurant & bar area
As should be pretty obvious, the coffee shop is really just for grab-and-go food or for a quick snack while you do some work or relax in the lobby. Situated next to the lobby, is where you’ll find the 1st-floor restaurant and bar.
The main (indoor) part of the restaurant was still closed on my visit, but the restaurant and bar extend to the outside of the property (this is California after all) and that’s what you can see below.
Note the dozens of (mostly) very expensive patio heaters that the Tommie has to allow guests to enjoy the outdoors even when the temperatures in LA are in the 50s.
The rooftop bar & lounge
The 9th (and top) floor of the Tommie Hollywood is where the fun is to be had.
The entire area has been decorated to make it feel like guests are vacationing in the California desert (no, I don’t know either) and this is where you’ll find the rooftop bar…
…a good amount of outdoor seating…
…and an indoor sitting area too:
There’s no shortage of relaxed seating options here…
…and based on one corner of this indoor area, the Tommie plans to offer live music here too.
There was nothing to indicate what sort of music will be offered here but despite the decor, I doubt this will be a haven for lovers of Country!
The rooftop pool
Sharing the roof with the bar and associated seating areas is the Tommie’s pool…which looks a lot like the pool at the Thompson.
There’s not really much to say about the pool area except that it looks nice but that it may not offer enough space for everyone that would like to make the most of it during busier times of the year – it will be interesting to see how crowded it gets in the summer.
The rooftop views
The rooftop areas at the Tommie allow guests to look out at all points of the compass. You’ll see the Hollywood and Highland complex over towards the northwest…
…the antennas on top of the old Pacific Theatres building and the Hollywood sign are clearly visible to the north…
…and you can catch a glimpse of the Thompson Hollywood’s rooftop pool area to the southeast:
Quick thoughts
I’m not about to offer an opinion on the Tommie Hollywood because without having seen the inside of one of the guestrooms and without having sampled the service that would be a rather useless opinion to offer.
What I will say, however, is this: There’s good and bad here.
The good: The property looks nice, the staff members that I encountered seemed very friendly and the rooftop area looks like it could be a very nice place to enjoy a few drinks and to relax. Also, the Tommie Holywood is currently offering a very good introductory room rate of just $159/night.
The bad (and potentially bad): The property charges a ‘Destination Fee’ of ~$23 (including taxes) and I find that inexcusable. Destination fees are a rip-off and should be outlawed. Also, the property’s rooms are small (entry-level rooms are under 200 square feet) and I can see there being an issue with overcrowding at the pool during busier times. If the property puts a cap on the number of people that are allowed in the pool area, some guests may miss out, and that won’t be ideal either.
From what I can see, the Tommie’s biggest issue will be that it’s just steps away from the Thompson (which offers bigger rooms) and that its regular prices aren’t significantly lower than the prices offered by the Thompson. There are numerous dates on which you can book the Thompson for ~$50/night more than the Tommie and if I was looking for a Hyatt property in Hollywood, I’d happily pay $50 more to get a noticeably larger room…although I’d avoid both if I was forced to pay the ludicrous Destination Fee.
Do any readers have plans to visit the Tommie Hollywood?
What is it about the neighborhood that you dislike?
As an area, it’s grimy and mostly unloved. There has been quite a bit of ‘regeneration’ in parts, but Hollywood, on the whole, is an unclean area with a serious homeless problem which is little more than a giant tourist trap full of people trying to sell tours and tourists looking lost while wondering where all the ‘glitz and glamour is’ (hint: not in Hollywood!)
Destination fee isn’t charged for Globalists so its a nonissue for lots of people.
Globalists make up a small percentage of people who travel. The overwhelming majority of travelers will have to pay the destination fee.