Renaissance Los Angeles Airport Hotel: The Stylish Rebirth of an LAX Favorite
You’re a forward-thinking millennial traveler, preferring rideshares to car rentals, opting for locally sourced meals wherever possible, and relishing your mobile lifestyle that has been known to confound baby boomers. Favoring urban environments over suburban neighborhoods, your ideal hotel when traveling affords you the opportunity to effortlessly work hard and play hard. As you’ll soon find out, it’s as if the Renaissance Los Angeles Airport Hotel personally asked you for a blueprint of what you want in a hotel, and then renovated it to your exact specifications.
From the comfort of the free shuttle from LAX, you take advantage of the mobile check-in option, and in just minutes, you’ve arrived. From the outside, the Renaissance Los Angeles Airport looks like a standard airport hotel. But as a card-carrying member of the Instagram generation, you know that looks can often be deceiving, and this is definitely the case with the Renaissance LAX.
Along with the proposed $14-billion renovation of LAX itself, the Renaissance LAX has also undergone a massive remodel in the last year, transforming it into an eclectic, urban-style haven, which is immediately obvious upon walking into the lobby. Feeling equal parts coffee house and art gallery, the redesigned lobby has a Central Perk meets Natural History Museum vibe, with no shortage of options for entertaining your eyes.
There are the communal workspace tables, couches with lively throw pillows, and private tabletops and sitting areas everywhere you look. There’s vibrant, lively art adorning the walls, along with tabletop sculptures, vases full of flowers, and interesting accent pieces that invite more than a passing glance. And the lion statues? They are just…everything.
The concierge provides the key to your Club Lounge Access Executive Suite and reminds you to check out the live music at Studio 12 later that evening. But since the day is still young (and so are you), there’s no reason why you shouldn’t first stroll over to the Studio 12 bar and lounge, which came to life during the recent renovation and offers free Wi-Fi.
Vinyl records adorn the walls of the lounge at Studio 12, which offers loveseats and easy chairs, again topped by delightfully random throw pillows. (Is that a pillow featuring a bulldog wearing a bow tie? Yes. Yes, it is). There are also human-sized chess pieces, coffee table books, and bold patterns everywhere you look. Case in point, adjacent to the bar and framing the pool table is a wall entirely outfitted with houndstooth wallpaper. Speaking of the bar, a cold beer sounds excellent.
The bartender recommends a local craft beer from one of the 12 taps, which you readily accept. It’s perfectly chilled, and you feel relaxed with the first sip. Like the concierge, the bartender also recommends you come back later when a local singer-songwriter will be performing. Plus, there’s awesome food in the adjoining Studio 12 dining area, where you’re told the chef has truly turned dinner into an art form, using locally sourced ingredients to offer seriously scrumptious California Cuisine. After time well spent enjoying your ale, you decide it's time to check out your new digs for the next few nights.
Your Club Lounge Access Executive King Suite is frankly nicer than you need. It’s all heather greys and LA-inspired artwork, again with creative attention paid to details by way of the eclectic décor. It definitely is a place of respite, rest, and rejuvenation, as evidenced by the linear, minimalist furniture, super comfortable bed, mini fridge, free Wi-Fi, sleek workspace, 55” flat screen, and soothing accents like potted succulents.
In the bathroom, you find more of the same thoughtful attention to detail. With Aveda toiletries, a large vanity, super soft towels, and more interesting art to digest - from the lobby to your bathroom, the Renaissance Los Angeles Airport suits you to a T.
Since there’s still plenty of sunshine to enjoy, you grab your tablet and head down to the pool to check email, take a dip, and maybe even get a little reading done. The brilliant blue pool is perfectly complemented by the black and white color scheme of the lounge chairs, umbrellas and seating areas. A dip in the water is as refreshing as you could hope for, and before long you find yourself waking up after a short snooze in the sun.
Before the sun sets you decide to head to the gym to get in some weight training before dinner and music at Studio 12. The cardio equipment has individual television monitors, which helps you to catch up on the news as you warm up. Kettleballs and free weights are in abundance, so before long you’ve worked up an appetite - it is definitely time for dinner.
Less than an hour later, you arrive back on the main floor level, where a young singer is strumming her guitar while a handful of your peers sip cocktails and snap selfies. You opt for a cocktail at the bar, watch a few minutes of the Dodgers, then head over to the music-themed dining room. You start with the Potpourri Salad (Asian greens, goat cheese, raspberries, pistachios, and edible flower petals) followed by the Pan-Seared Atlantic Salmon with tomato chutney, smashed potato and green beans). The dinner feels quintessentially California and tastes even better.
Before calling it a night, you decide to take a quick visit to the Club Lounge, where you take a few minutes to enjoy the view overlooking the runways of LAX, which is lit up in the night sky. You snap a couple for the 'gram and head back to your room. As you flip to HBO, you notice that the room is remarkably quiet for being so near the airport and begin making a mental checklist of tomorrow’s activities. Work will eat up most of the day, but after that, the evening is yours, and there’s so much to do, so close to the Renaissance LAX.
Within less than eight miles you could be exploring the Venice Canals, the Venice Boardwalk, Abbot Kinney, or strolling along the beach in Marina del Rey or Playa del Rey. Since you have so many options, you decide to play it by ear. You smile as you turn your attention to your favorite series, happy that your hotel is perfectly designed, appointed, and located to allow you to work hard and play as hard as you can while you're in LA.
Renaissance Los Angeles Airport Hotel
9620 Airport Blvd, Los Angeles 90045
310.337.2800
