The Palomar (Kimpton) is enigmatic. Some aspects of our stay were wonderful. Others, not so much.
I hope Tripadvisor allows me to say this, so here goes: I got 2 weekend rooms on a certain name-your-own-price website and ended up at the Palomar. I had once stayed at the Muse in New York City (another Kimpton) and enjoyed that so I was looking forward to the Palomar. Our price was good: much lower than the rack rate.
Like many hotels in LA, the location is "central". That is, it's not walking distance to anything. In LA, I guess "good location" means no more than a 45 minute drive. It may be excellent for certain business visitors, though that was not our purpose.
I detest smokers and I have a smoke allergy. I called ahead to verify a nonsmoking room and was told not to worry, all the rooms are smoke free. Not so fast. BOTH rooms given to us were obviously smoked in. One so bad it would almost gag you. I know the hotel can't control their guests, but they can certainly scour the rooms after some deadbeat smokes in one. And not release that room until it is clean. We were transferred to smoke free rooms.
Then there was was issue with the dead battery in the electronic door lock. All I know is the lock stopped working. OK.... new key. Doesn't work. Called maintenance. Had an appointment....please expedite. I guess expedite was interpreted as "expedition", as that was what it took to get new batteries in and get the lock working.
The doors have virtually no soundproofing so you hear everyone walking the halls. The walls are thin for a hotel with high aspirations. We could hear our neighbors through the wall. Unfortunately it was all G rated. Oh well.
On the upside, the hotel had a nice wine tasting in the afternoons. The bar is nice. The front office is very service oriented.
This was probably a lower end Marriott or Hilton bought out by Kimpton and "boutiqued". But basically it remains a lower end Marriott or Hilton with an upscale finish and an excellent staff. Because our price was low the value was there. If I paid rack rate I would not be happy.
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