We stayed at the Renaissance Hollywood as a part of our Honeymoon July 16-19.
It´s a very large and modern hotel,the room was quite large, nice and clean.
It´s location right next to the Hollywood and Highland shopping center and Manns chinese theater makes it very convinient for a short trip such as ours.

Staff was friendly and helpful, nothing more, nothing less.

Liked the hotel, hated the area it was in, as soon as we stepped out of the hotel and away from the H&H center we felt like we´d ended up in a slum area.

Renaissance Hollywood is a great spot as a base to do all your Hollywood/Los Angeles sightseeing. Stayed here for 6 nites in early July right over the 4th of July holiday with my brother as were in town to visit family and do the whole tourist thing. Asked for a room with the view of the Hollywood sign and was given a wonderful high floor room overlooking the Hollywood Hills and sign. Room was clean and comfortable but our bathroom had no fan (my only complaint of the room).

We choose to self park in the underground parking garage which is attached to the hotel and paid $10 to park overnite. U can reach the hotel by taking the garage elevator to the 3rd floor and briefly walking through the outdoor mall to the hotel entrance on the same level. The costs of going in and out during the day were anywhere from the $2 to $4 dollars but we never paid more than $10 so its cheaper than $29 valet charge.

We ate breakfast several times at the hotel restaurant Twist and loved the menu - tried both the breakfast buffets and menu entrees and they are worth the price. Its also the same menu for room service from the restaurant so if you looking for something low budget there is Mel's Diner and IHOP within walking distance. Tried some of the restaurants in the adjacent Mall and found them to be very good. Especially The Grill (massive steaks) and Trastevere (upscale Italian). Went to both in shorts and polo shirts and saw people in t-shirts/shorts so although they appear upscale you can go casual and don't feel out of place. It's a Mall after all !

The hotel is within driving minutes of Universal and Burbank. (Burbank Airport is closer than LAX to the hotel so think about it if u can get a flight there from your hometown). West Hollywood is just minutes away down Sunset Blvd. and has lots of trendy bars, clubs and restaurants. WH is where the nightlife scene is - there is not much going on in Hollywood at nite.

Santa Monica/Malibu beaches are about 30 minutes driving from the hotel and easy to reach. Beverly Hills is also easy to get too and about 20-25 minutes from the hotel. Tried Starline Tours for the movie stars homes tour and happened to catch Dr. Phil pulling into his driveway. Yes it was that Dr. Phil and he did wave back to all of us on the tour bus, lol

For any movie buffs considering doing studio tours the best are Universal, Warner Brothers or Sony/Columbia Pictures. The guides we had were first class and knew the industry and studio lots well. We got to see many sound stages and sets. Paramount Studios was okay but way too historical and really were on a golf cart the whole time.

I would stay here again but if you want a Southen California beach vacation go to Santa Monica or Malibu !

My husband and I stayed here for one Friday night. He was booked a room here for part of a group booking for a work event. His work event was over at Hollywood and Vine and this was pretty close. For the last several years, his company would always book the Holiday Inn because their work event would be on a Thursday night and rooms would be around $150. But this year, the event fell on a Friday night and so the room rates were pretty close at the Holiday Inn so the event manager decided to book the Renaissance instead. I am glad they did as don't really care for staying at the Holiday Inn and chains like that.

We arrived Friday early afternoon and valeted the car. I believe the rates for valet is around $20-25. Check in was fairly easy. In the entrance there's a lounge and little coffee bar. We got to our room quickly and since were were used to staying at the Holiday Inn, the Renaissance was a great relief. We had a view of the city and we could also see the pool. The room was nice, clean and modern. The bathroom stocks Lather products which are great. I know its handy when the products are good quality and smell nice.

We were a bit hungry and I needed a pair of shoes for the event so we walked over to the behemoth Hollywood and Highland entertainment, dining and shopping complex. We had a Japanese cream puff at Beard Papa (awesome). There's tons of your typical shops in there. There's a movie theatre as well as a bunch of restaurants, Starbucks and a bowling alley.

We only stayed a night and were out for most of our stay so I can't really talk about service, etc at the hotel. It was pretty good for our short stay. My husband used the pool in the morning while I went to Runyon Canyon for a hike with friends. The pool looked great and I wished that I had tried it. There were cabanas and a bar in the pool area so I am sure it can get quite lively.

I definitely would stay again. There's obviously tons of great hotels in the LA area but if you want to be close to things like Hollywood, Universal Studios, etc. This is probably a good choice.

Oh the only thing that was a surprise was the tv was not a flat screen. It might matter to some, it definitely matters to my husband. Haha.

We stayed at the Renaissance for 3 nights at the beginning of June and it proved a great location and really nice hotel.

We were really keen to get a room with a view of the hollywood hills and the hollywood sign and we certainly got it. We were on the 18th floor with fantastic view - well worth paying a little extra.

We ate in the hotel every morning for breakfast. They had a really good selection of cold and warm food and I would say it was well worth it.

Staff were really friendly, rooms were a good size (what you would expect from an American hotel) and the hotel bar was quite small but nice to have an end of evening drink.

The hotel is located right next to a mall with a small selection of shops and a number of restaurants and eateries. You are also a stone's throw from the Kodak Theatre and Grauman's Chinese Theatre. As you are so close to these I would recommend doing these sights first thing in the morning. We went down at 7am and there was not another person about so we had the whole place to ourselves - fantastic.

Everyone says about hiring a car but we found taxi's (and buses) worked for us. We used taxi's to get down to Rodeo Drive (about $20 each way) and then actually got the bus down to santa Monica Pier where we walked down to Venice Beach. The concierge in the hotel will be able to provide you details of how to use the bus and where to get it from.

One of the highlights for us was having a tour of LA in a 1966 convertible cadillac. You get a private tour of the city and let your driver know where you want to go and he makes sure you see what you want to but then shows you some other sites that you may not have been aware of. Although this was $300 we thought it was one of the highlights of our trip.

Another must is going down to Santa Monica Pier. We got the bus down here and then walked along the beach down to Venice Beach which is 'interesting' to say the least.

One other think that we enjoyed was going for a early evening drink at Yamshiro's which is very close to the hotel. It is a Japanese restaurant set on a hill with great views over the city. We didn't manage to get to Griffith's Park and the observatory but you had great views of it from Yamshiro's.