The name may have changed when InterContinental bought this former Park Hyatt property, but most things have remained the same: balconies on all 360 rooms, sushi chefs in the lobby and, of course, a helicopter pad for a grand entrance.

The hotel boasts 17 floors, with views westward all the way to the ocean and eastward to the Hollywood sign. (That's PR speak neglecting the usual smog factor, obviously.) With a little creative landscaping the InterContinental makes its garden gazebo and second-floor outdoor pool seem miles away from its cement goliath of a neighbor, the Twentieth Century Fox lot. Park Grill does three square meals a day, though there are rumblings that the menu and space will be changing soon. The hotel primarily hosts business people on the weekdays who take advantage of their 15,000 square feet of meeting and event rooms, but on the weekends the place is full of tourists and wedding-goers, as it’s a popular venue for getting hitched. The spa, a nice way to dodge the aforementioned 15,000 square feet of suffocation, includes a Zen-like outdoor patio. —Tara Tyson