The catch at Sunset Tower Hotel
Sunset Tower is an Art Deco tower with the Tower Bar downstairs, and most of what you pay for is the building and the evening. Five things are worth knowing before you book it. None of them is hidden, and none outweighs a table at the Tower Bar if that is why you came.
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The $595 entry room costs about $747 a night once tax and the amenity fee are added, and about $822 with a car.
The Superior Queen was $595 a night before tax on a Tuesday in early December 2026. West Hollywood's hotel and tourism tax is 16.695%, about $99 on that rate, and every stay carries a nightly amenity fee of $52.43, tax included, so the room comes to about $747 a night. The fee pays for the Nespresso machine, a minibar of snacks and alcohol restocked every three days, coffee and tea on the Terrace from 6:30am to 9:30am, turndown, the 24-hour gym and local and domestic calls. Parking is by valet at $75 a night, which takes the total to about $822.
What to do. Compare the all-in figure, not the headline rate, and use what the fee buys: the minibar and the morning coffee are yours. Without a car you skip the valet charge, though beyond the Strip you will be paying for taxis.
The same room is $900 on a Tuesday in late January, when awards season is under way.
On Tuesday 8 December 2026 the Superior Queen was $595, the Deluxe King $700, the Studio Suite $850 and the Deluxe King Suite $940, all for two before tax and fees. On Tuesday 26 January 2027 the same four rooms were $900, $965, $1,115 and $1,450. That is about 50% more for the entry room and $510 more for the Deluxe King Suite. The Oscar nominations are announced five days earlier, on 21 January, with the Grammy Awards on 7 February and the Oscars on 14 March, and with tax and the amenity fee the entry room on that January night comes to about $1,103.
What to do. Price your own nights before you commit. If the dates can move, early December was the cheaper of the two.
There is no beach, no Metro station within walking distance, and almost everything beyond the Strip is a drive.
On foot you reach the Strip: The Comedy Store in 3 minutes, Chateau Marmont in 8 and Sunset Plaza in 12. Everything else needs a car. On clear roads the Santa Monica Pier, the nearest sand, is 22 minutes away, Downtown Los Angeles 17, the Getty Center 19 and LAX 27. Those are times without traffic, so allow longer at rush hour. The nearest Metro rail stations, Hollywood/Highland on the B Line and Wilshire/La Cienega on the D Line, are more than 3 km away, so beyond Sunset Boulevard you will be in a car, a taxi or a rideshare.
What to do. Plan the beach as its own half-day, leave outside rush hour and budget for rideshares. If sand is the point of the trip, stay on the coast.
Only some rooms look at the city, and below the top suites no category is tied to the south side, where the view is.
All ten room and suite categories have floor-to-ceiling windows, but the building's street front faces north onto Sunset Boulevard, and the Hollywood Hills rise across the road. The city view is on the south side, where the ground falls away towards Century City and downtown. The hotel names a view for only a few categories: the Premier King (city and hills, higher floors), the Premier Suite (downtown, upper floors), the Townhouse Suite (south) and the Penthouse Suite (hills and downtown). The entry Superior Queen, about 350 sq ft (33 m²) with a queen bed, comes with panoramic views and no side, and some guests find the standard rooms smaller than they expected.
What to do. Ask for the south side when you book and again at check-in, knowing a request is not a guarantee. A Studio Suite, at about 550 sq ft (51 m²), gives you room to enjoy whichever side you are given.
The pool is small and for guests only, and there is no spa.
There is one outdoor pool, reserved for registered guests, with a strict no unaccompanied minors rule, and it is small. The deck doubles as a dining room, with poolside breakfast, lunch and an afternoon menu served from 7am to 5:30pm. There is a gym open 24 hours, with three styles of treadmill, twin Peloton bikes, an elliptical stair climber, free weights and a Pvolve low-impact training platform, but no spa. If you want lengths to swim or a spa day, neither is on offer.
What to do. Treat the pool as a place to sit with lunch and the view. For a proper swim or a spa day, plan it elsewhere in the city.
Who should skip it
Anyone who wants a beach, a big pool scene or a spa, and anyone who would rather not add a nightly fee and valet to a $595 room. Anyone who will chafe at the Tower Bar's rules, which ban shorts, baseball caps, sweats, sandals and tank tops, and phone calls and laptops. And anyone booking the entry room for the view, because no entry category is tied to the south side.
Who should book it anyway
Anyone for whom old Hollywood is the reason to come: a 1931 Art Deco tower on the National Register of Historic Places, a ground-floor bar with a fireplace and live jazz, and The Comedy Store three minutes away on foot. A first Los Angeles trip, a couples' weekend or an anniversary dinner suits it. Book a Studio Suite, ask for the south side, price your own dates, pack long trousers and closed shoes for the Tower Bar and be there when dinner starts at 6pm. The tower, the bar and the evening are what the money buys, and they are worth it.
The catch elsewhere in LA
- The Beverly Hills HotelBeverly Hills
Extras sit on top of a four-figure rate. Beverly Hills hotel tax is 14 per cent and the hotel's other city and state levies bring the total to roughly 15.5 to 16 per cent, and parking is $70 a day, which you will want because almost everything is a drive.
- Shutters on the BeachSanta Monica
A $60 nightly resort fee plus tax is added to every stay, and overnight valet is $90 a night, so a room that starts around $740 comes to about $930 with the 15 per cent hotel tax, the fee and $11.25 in nightly tourism fees, before the car.
- Malibu Beach InnMalibu
Pacific Coast Highway runs directly behind the building, and some guests mention hearing traffic over the surf; the King Pier View Rooms have the highway in view. Ask for a sea-facing room on the third floor, away from the street entrance.
- Terranea ResortPalos Verdes
A $75 resort fee and $75 for overnight valet add up to $150 a night on top of the room rate and the Rancho Palos Verdes hotel tax; the one- to four-bedroom bungalows, casitas and villas carry a $90 resort fee.
- Santa Monica Proper HotelSanta Monica
A $55 nightly destination fee plus tax is added to every stay, and valet parking is $90.27 per vehicle with tax, so the room rate is not the nightly cost, least of all for a guest with a car.
- The Hollywood RooseveltHollywood
Noise is part of the deal. The hotel runs restaurants, bars, private events and pool programming, music and pool activity can be audible in the cabana rooms around the pool, the Tropicana is shared with day-pass guests aged 21 and over, loungers are first come, first served, and the pool can close for private events or film shoots.
- The GarlandStudio City
The 101 freeway runs along the north-east edge of the grounds, and some rooms hear it. The hotel had its balcony doors replaced in 2013 to cut the noise, so keep the door shut at night and ask for a room away from the freeway side.
- Silver Lake Pool & InnSilver Lake
Noise is the recurring complaint: thin walls let through footsteps from the floor above and the corridor, and street-side rooms hear Santa Monica Boulevard traffic into the night, so ask for a quiet room away from the boulevard.
- Hotel FigueroaDowntown LA
The entry rooms are small: the 1 Queen Bed room is about 187 sq ft (17 m²) and the 1 King Bed about 270 sq ft (25 m²), so book the king or a suite if you want space to sit.
Questions people ask
Good questions about Sunset Tower Hotel
What are the downsides of Sunset Tower Hotel?
Sunset Tower is an Art Deco tower with the Tower Bar downstairs, and most of what you pay for is the building and the evening. Five things are worth knowing before you book it. None of them is hidden, and none outweighs a table at the Tower Bar if that is why you came. The $595 entry room costs about $747 a night once tax and the amenity fee are added, and about $822 with a car. The same room is $900 on a Tuesday in late January, when awards season is under way. There is no beach, no Metro station within walking distance, and almost everything beyond the Strip is a drive. Only some rooms look at the city, and below the top suites no category is tied to the south side, where the view is. The pool is small and for guests only, and there is no spa.
Who should not book Sunset Tower Hotel?
Anyone who wants a beach, a big pool scene or a spa, and anyone who would rather not add a nightly fee and valet to a $595 room. Anyone who will chafe at the Tower Bar's rules, which ban shorts, baseball caps, sweats, sandals and tank tops, and phone calls and laptops. And anyone booking the entry room for the view, because no entry category is tied to the south side.
Our verdict
Book it for the Tower Bar, the Art Deco tower and the city through the glass, and pay the step to a Studio Suite, asking for the south side, for room to enjoy it. Budget for the amenity fee and valet, and expect to drive to the beach.
Last checked: October 2026