Hotel W Los Angeles unveils $25M renovations, adds STK steakhouse

The W Los Angeles – West Beverly Hills hotel, located on Hilgard Avenue a block from UCLA, recently completed its $25 million renovation and now includes the STK Los Angeles steakhouse that opened in June.

Hotel officials hired design firm Dawson Design Associates to lead the renovations, which included the addition of 39 new guest suites and redecoration of the existing 258 guest rooms. The overhaul also included the addition of an Extreme WOW suite with a screening room – the hotel’s version of a presidential suite.

The West Hollywood steakhouse STK, which was located on La Cienega Boulevard for the past seven years, also moved inside the hotel, replacing the restaurant NineThirty and the lobby lounge Whiskey Blue. The restaurant is larger in the hotel than at its previous location and has a simple but stark design, with white booths and chairs that contrast with the dark walls and tables.

Mia Giobbi, director of sales and marketing for the hotel, said the demand for extra rooms provided a good opportunity to renovate the entire hotel.

“Hotels go through different lives, and I think it was time for a change,” she said. “It’s important to keep the product fun, new and exciting, so we took the chance to create a more luxurious product for our guests.”

The guest rooms have an oasis theme, with palm tree motifs and a palate of whites, grays, blues and greens. Andrea Dawson Sheehan, the Dawson Design Associates’ art director, said in a press release that the new design was intended to be contemporary and bold.

“Our goal was to create an energetic luxury experience that allows guests to capture the intrigue indicative of Los Angeles,” Sheehan said in the press release.

The One Group, which owns STK, has also assumed all food and beverage operations at the hotel, said Jessica Miller, the firm’s senior marketing manager.

W Hotels Worldwide, a luxury hotel chain owned by Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. has locations in more than 25 countries and typically caters to a younger clientele. Giobbi said officials changed the hotel’s name from Westwood to West Beverly Hills to make the hotel more recognizable worldwide.

“Westwood is well-known in the Los Angeles area, but we have a customer base from all over the world,” she said.

Some students in Westwood Village said they think the renovations are positive for the Westwood community but don’t necessarily cater to students.

Shelley Shi, a graduate student in medicine, said she thinks the hotel’s renovations and STK will add an upscale feel to Westwood Village, but she doesn’t think the hotel or restaurant will appeal to students.

“It’s not a place I would go,” Shi said. “It doesn’t add to the (college) community.”