L.A. is a land of promises, claims and come-ons, and like any other big city a few of them are actually true and many others are, well, a bit exaggerated. What follows is our very subjective review of hotels around town that really offer special features for the business traveler.

Best Place to Get Faxes at 4 a.m.

The Peninsula, Beverly Hills

Panic time--it's the middle of the night and you're expecting 10 pages of faxes from the Hong Kong office. Except the hotel's business office is shut tight and no one on the late shift has a clue. At the Peninsula, as well as an increasing number of business-friendly hotels, faxes can be picked up at the desk or sent to the room at all hours. Also available at any hour are employees to handle various computer problems, whether it's reformatting files from Microsoft Word to a PDF or clearing a paper jam. "We take every inconvenience of traveling hopefully off their plate when they come to the hotel," said John Rucci, the Peninsula's executive assistant manager. In addition, all the public spaces and nearly 200 rooms are equipped for wireless technology. Laptops can be stored at the hotel and configured just as a guest wants upon arrival in their room.

Best Place to Have a Drink

Standard Hotel, Downtown

A word of advice for drinkers coming to the Rooftop Bar: don't down too much. Blurred vision eliminates the primary reason for coming to this ultra hip downtown watering hole, which is the view. The bar is a visual explosion --a splash of prime colors couched in downtown's skyscrapers. Business people can mingle with Angeleno bar hoppers, and the tattooed bartenders are hard to miss in their red and white outfits. Of course, there's a price to be paid: A drink can easily top $10; add on another $6 if you like guacamole and plantain chips with your martini and another $20 if you skip happy hour in favor of the night scene. And don't forget the valet--it's $25, plus tip.

Best Extra

Mosaic Hotel, Beverly Hills

A business traveler coming to L.A. is sure to pick up quickly on one crucial fact about Angelenos: they love their cars. And let's face it, for the traveler to really fit in, a rented Chevy Malibu just won't do. The Mosaic, a Beverly Hills boutique hotel with fewer than 50 rooms, will take care of a visitor's automotive needs in L.A. style with a snappy Mini Cooper S. The Mosaic will deposit the Mini at Los Angeles International Airport, so guests can jump in almost as soon as they exit the baggage claim. For those who prefer to cab it, the car can be picked up at the hotel. The best part is that it comes free, as long as you pay full price for a room, about $270. The Mini does have a disadvantage for the manual-transmission challenged--it's a stick shift. Not to fear, the Mosaic provides a C-Class Mercedes-Benz as an automatic option.

Best Place for a Meeting

Viceroy, Santa Monica

Want to snag that highly touted recruit? Skip the stale meeting rooms and impress the upstart by interviewing poolside at the Viceroy Santa Monica's fully decked-out cabanas. For that pasty Harvard University graduate, being outside during a sunny mid-winter day could seal the deal. The cabanas seat up to 25 and can be made private with the tug of a curtain. They are equipped for wireless technology, and feature a 26-inch LCD flat-screen television and Power Point presentation capabilities. Sipping on an Arnold Palmer poolside provides needed relief between interviews (not to mention the considerable body-watching). Food and beverages can be ordered from the hotel's Cameo Bar. Price tag for a cabana rental: $500 for a workday.

Best Place for Room Service

Raffles L'Ermitage

Tough call because many of L.A.'s hotels have pretty much anything you want at any time of the day or night. Our vote, though, goes to the Raffles L'Ermitage in Beverly Hills, where it's possible to get Foie Gras in the middle of the night--along with cans of both Pepsi and Coke. Special dietary concerns--even lot dogs--can be accommodated, including kosher and Zone Diet meals. And the kids won't go hungry because the hotel will whip up macaroni and cheese or pizza. Room service prices aren't cheap, but they're no different from the prices in the AAA Five Diamond hotel's restaurant. Continental and American breakfasts run between $18 and $27. Non-alcoholic drinks in the mini-bar are complimentary.

Best Place to Schmooze

Beverly Hills Hotel

Since heading west from New York, top studio executives have used this venerable property as their breakfast room, living room and office. Countless Hollywood deals have been made in the hotel's Polo Lounge, where the famed hangout of the Rat Pack has a timeless feel, with its green and white decor and oversized booths. For those who prefer to do their dealmaking in the sunlight, the lounge has a patio lined with booths that offer near-total privacy. And the hotel goes out of its way to protect its high-profile guests from snooping reporters and stresses that no paparazzi are allowed on its 12-acre grounds.

Best Place to Stay Ripped

Ritz-Carlton, Huntington Hotel & Spa

The 23-acre grounds of the Ritz-Carlton, Huntington Hotel & Spa feature an outdoor Olympic-size pool for business travelers whose pre-meeting ritual is swimming laps. The grounds also have three tennis courts and several nearby private and public golf courses. Visitors can tour the entire area with bikes rented by the hotel's spa. For those who like staying inside, the hotel's fitness center opens at 5:30 a.m. on weekdays and 6 a.m. on weekend days. Guests can work out on treadmills with attached personal flat-screen televisions, or they can opt for stationary bicycles, elliptical machines and weights. Trainers are on call if guests need instruction on how to flatten their stomachs. Complimentary yoga classes are offered at 6 a.m. for travelers who like to stretch their bodies as well as their minds.

A Teetotaling Kind of Town

FOR those not convinced that L.A. has an image problem, it's instructive to scan the findings of a survey by Travel + Leisure magazine.

Of 25 U.S. cities, Los Angeles was ranked least friendly, next to worst in getting around, fourth-worst in sightseeing and the second-worst place to spend Christmas. At least it did fairly well for shopping (sixth most popular).

The survey, based on online responses from 500,000 America Online members, isn't exactly scientific, but it captures all the usual stereotypes--and the naysayers might have a point.

For all the attention paid to the glamour of Hollywood, Los Angeles comes off as, well, kind of boring. The last seating at Ruth's Chris Steak House in Beverly Hills is 9:30 p.m., while at Ruth's Chris in Chicago, you could still be ordering a juicy porterhouse at 11 p.m. (11:30 on weekends). Even in demure Orlando, Fla., Ruth's Chris patrons can sit down 30 minutes later than in stylish Bev Hills.

Los Angeles also has among the earliest bar closings of any major American city--2 a.m. That's when Atlanta shuts down too (although if you head to Underground Atlanta, it's 4 a.m.) New York bars close at 4 a.m. six days a week (3 a.m. on Saturday), while Las Vegas, New Orleans and Miami drinking establishments are open 24 hours.

Not that the ability to buy a scotch and soda at 5 in the morning is necessarily a sign of a great city--just one more attuned to making their guests feel welcome. That might explain a question on the Travel + Leisure survey on the best and worst cities to spend New Year's Eve. Los Angeles ranked third from dead last, ahead of only Houston, Washington and Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Ouch. Time to call the image police.

L.A.'s Lagging Indicators

A survey of 25 U.S. cities puts Los Angeles on the
back end in many categories.

               Visitors    Residents

Family
Trips            7th          20th
People          23rd          23rd
Activities      12th           9th
Romance         21st          19th
Getting
Around          24th          25th
Holidays
&
Seasons         23rd          23rd
Quality
of Life         25th          21st
Sightseeing     19th          18th

Note: Table made from bar graph.

Source: Travel & Leisure Maazine

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