Cameo Beverly Hills Review
Newly added to the Hilton portfolio, the Cameo Beverly Hills bills itself as “Modern elegance in Beverly Hills.” We had the opportunity to stay here for one night using points as Hilton Diamond members. The hotel is in a great, central location if you’re travel is focused on the west side of LA. It’s not too far from UCLA, the Sunset strip, and the rest of Beverly Hills.
We had a great stay, but had mixed feelings after we moved on to our next hotel. The Cameo Beverly Hills has all the makings of a luxury 5 Star property. Customer service was great, the room was exceedingly spacious, all the drinks and food we had were great. However, the physical hotel is very rough around the edges. That being said, the service was amazing. Every staff member we interacted with was such a pleasure to interact with. From the valets to the bar tenders to the security guards, they certainly have found a wonderful staff.
Booking Cameo Beverly Hills
This area of Los Angeles has a very competitive luxury hotel market. From the larger hotels to the funky boutiques, there lot of hotels in this price range to choose from. While we’ve transitioned to mostly IHG and Hyatt stays, we still had a free night certificate. With the Milken Institutes conference going on, the hotel prices in the Beverly Hills area were astronomical for a Tuesday nights stay. Many hotels were sold out, and the Cameo Beverly Hills was going for $1k+/night.
Luckily, when we booked (about 30 days out), they still had standard room rewards available. We booked a regular king room for a Tuesday night. Our free room reward was expiring in less than 30 days! So, this was a great value for us.
As Hilton Diamond Members we get the following when booking through Hilton:
No resort fees on award stays
Space available room upgrades
Daily food & beverage credit
Welcome amenity (usually bottled water)
5th night free on award stays
100% points bonus on cash stays
We have Hilton Diamond status through the American Express Hilton Aspire card. While this card comes with complementary Hilton Diamond status, it does have a hefty $550 yearly fee. However, this is easily offset though the benefits it offers to Hilton travelers:
$400 Hilton resort credit (2 x $200 credits/6 months). We usually use these in Las Vegas
$100 onsite credit when booking 2+ nights on hiltonhonorsaspirecard.com or when staying at Conrad or Waldorf properties. Again, we usually use this perk in Las Vegas
Free night reward - in this case we used it on a $600+ night at the Cameo Beverly Hills
$200 flight credit (4 x $50 - quarterly benefit) - We usually use this to add to our United Airlines travel bank to pay for flights we’ll already be taking
Cameo Beverly Hills Location
The Cameo Beverly Hills is located at 1224 Beverwil Dr in Los Angeles. The location is ideal for visiting the west side of LA. LAX is 11 miles away, and took my morning Uber about 50 minutes in traffic. There are 100s of great restaurants and shops in the area, and Rodeo Drive and the Grove are close by. We love to visit Chaumont Vegan pastries every time we’re in the area!
Cameo Beverly Hills Checkin and Lobby
The lobby at the Cameo Beverly Hills is quite small. After entering through the front doors, you walk past the restaurant, the bar, and the elevators to reach the checkin desk on the left.
We were checking in at about 4pm on a Tuesday. While we were the only guests checking in at the time, it took a good 2-3 minutes to be recognized. Once started, the checkin process was quick. The agent gave us a detailed overview of fees and services:
$66 for overnight valet
$50 food & beverage credit as Hilton Diamond members
Additional $32 food & beverage credit - usually included in the nightly “resort” fee - this fee is waived on a points booking, but we still got the food & beverage credit!
Pool and pool deck are closed for renovations
Lastly, the friendly agent walked around the desk to hand us our keys and escort us to the elevators.
Premium 1 Bedroom King Suite Los Angeles View at the Cameo Beverly Hills
Because of our Hilton Diamond status, the friendly desk agent upgraded us to the Deluxe King to the Premium 1 Bedroom King Suite. This was an upgrade that we were not quite expecting! The King Suites generally cost over 2x the Deluxe King. Our assigned room was on the 11th floor, in the southeast corner of the hotel.
This Premium 1 Bedroom King Suite was a generous 795 sq. feet with a separate foyer, living room, and bedroom. The foyer features a floor to ceiling mirror on one side, and a massive closet space on the other side.
The living room in the Premium 1 Bedroom King suite has a large, built-in entertainment center with a flat-screen tv and a quirky collection of books.
The living room also has two seating areas. One area has two small chairs, while the larger area has a comfortable couch, a large coffee table, and two mid-century modern chairs. In the corner of the living room there is a Nespresso Vertuo coffee maker, with 6 pods, and a nice selection of tea.
The living room also opens the the larger of the two balconies in the suite. This balcony has a small chair and excellent views of downtown LA to the east and the neighborhoods to the south.
The bedroom in the suite has an incredibly comfortable king bed.
There is also a good size ergonomic desk, with pen and paper, a large flat-screen tv, and what appeared to have been a dry bar - though it was completely empty.
There is also a small balcony off of the bedroom which has two comfortable seats. Unfortunately, the seats and the furniture on this balcony were badly stained and had multiple cigarette/cigar burns on them.
Between the bedroom and the bathroom, there is a room with a good-size vanity and two small closets. In the closet there were two robes, slippers, and a suite case stand.
The bathroom in the Premium 1 Bedroom King Suite features a double-vanity (always nice when travelling together), a large soaking tub, a rainfall shower, and Molton Brown amenities. This bathroom was definitely showing some age and use. The baseboards had serious water damage and one of the sinks in the vanity had a massive crack through it. That being said, the rainfall shower was wonderful, and the plush towels were quite comfortable.
Bar at the Cameo Beverly Hills
With $82 in food & beverage credit to use on a one night stay, we decided to head down to the bar to get a couple of cocktails before we headed over to Crossroads for dinner. The bar is in a spectacular room with a few bar seats, and ample couches. The area behind the bar is sunken, which felt a little awkward. Likewise, there was some serious water damage on the ceiling and a broken, light fixture with a lot of condensation hanging askew, and the storage cabinets behind the bar were being held closed with packing tape. Another part of the hotel in serious need of renovation.
Nonetheless, the bartender (who was working on their own) was very friendly and made us two wonderful cocktails.
In room dining at the Came Beverly Hills
Again with the rest of our $82 in food & beverage credit to spend, we decided to get breakfast in our room. The menu had a nice selection of breakfast items, and most of them were reasonably priced in the $20 range - this seemed inexpensive for the hotel. We ordered some avocado toast and an acai bowl. Breakfast took about 15 minutes from ordering to make it up to the room, and the room service attendant who brought up the meals was exceedingly friendly.
Conclusion
Overall, we had a comfortable stay at the Cameo Beverly Hills. The hotel is in a prime location and our Hilton Diamond benefits when far. Also, the staff was very friendly and the bed super-comfortable.
That being said, there are hotels in a similar price range in the area (looking at you Andaz West Hollywood) that are in far better condition maintenance wise. Likewise, hotels like the Andaz have a rooftop bar and pool that help complete the hotel experience. So, we’re not quite sure we would stay here again if paying cash.
