In a city where even sidewalks are buffed up with celebrity monikers, the A-list name drop can feel overplayed. But in these hotels, the stars lay their heads down. And partied. And wrote themselves into Hollywood history.
Each property on this list – the estate, the castle, the glamorous gaggle of bungalows – is a home-away for the rich and famous, with down-to-the-details extravagance: the wallpaper is trademarked, the in-house Ubers are Rolls Royce. In this town especially, with money, you get honey.
Hotel Bel-Air (Three MICHELIN Keys)
Luxury is everywhere you look at the Hotel Bel-Air, starting with its zip code. This is the anchor of Bel Air, the most exclusive enclave in a city that loves its velvet ropes. While a fictional prince embedded the name in the cultural memory, Grace Kelly, the real-life princess of Monaco, actually has a suite dedicated to her at the hotel, a cream-colored expanse with a private tiled jacuzzi where the actress was photographed after her 1954 Oscar win.
The regal air extends to the hotel’s common areas, like the Living Room, where afternoon tea is served on the weekends around an oversized hearth, and the Bar & Lounge, which has an impressive collection of Japanese whiskey.
Inspector Notes: Built in 1946 in a style that can only be described as romantic Mediterranean, the Hotel Bel-Air, with its rose-colored mission-style bungalows, is about as elite a hideaway as you can find. Hidden by bougainvillea, ficus, orange blossom, and fern, on eighteen acres right in the middle of LA’s most exclusive suburb, the grounds are mapped by terracotta passageways, and the reception area lies just beyond an arched stone bridge.
The Beverly Hills Hotel (Three MICHELIN Keys)
The runway shows of 2025 made it clear: quiet luxury is over, welcome back monied maximalism. In Beverly Hills, the eponymous hotel that literally put this fashion capital on the map never doubted that trends come and go. There is a lot of bold Old Hollywood glamour at The Beverly Hills Hotel (see the sprawling red carpet that greets each arrival and the 5.5 miles of iconic banana leaf wallpaper on its walls), but the luxury is, in the end, timeless. That means soaring woodwork in its classic bungalows and a restaurant synonymous with power lunch.
Inspector Notes: For true luxury, take advantage of the sprawling hacienda-style grounds by booking one of the bungalows. Utter privacy and the option of butler service guarantee you’ll feel like a star, and the Presidential Bungalow comes with a private jacuzzi and lap pool.
The Peninsula Beverly Hills (Two MICHELIN Keys)
It’s the little things at the Peninsula Beverly Hills that make this urban hotel an ultra-luxe establishment. But, it’s also the big things. Little: the pillowcases in every room are monogrammed with guests' initials, a surprise that can be taken home free of charge. Little: every bathroom is bedecked in a signature pink marble. Big: the black Rolls Royce Ghost parked out front in the stately drive. If you’re staying at the hotel, feel free to reserve it for an outing.
Elegance pervades the property, which feels almost like a resort, despite its prime main street address. For the visiting mogul enjoying an immense residential villa, that’s just the point.
Inspector Notes: The Peninsula Beverly Hills is almost impossibly opulent, even by Hollywood standards, a cinematically pristine Renaissance mansion of the sort that takes offense at sparing expense.
The Maybourne Beverly Hills (Two MICHELIN Keys)
As the sister hotel to London’s esteemed Claridge's (Three MICHELIN Keys), the luxury here is particularly grand and majestic, with 5,000 square feet of manicured gardens along the palatial Spanish Colonial Revival retreat. Inside, a museum-worthy collection of contemporary art hangs on the walls: a Damien Hirst cherry blossom in the café, a Yoshitomo Nara series on the sixth floor. The bilevel spa is the property’s crown jewel, with 17 treatment rooms and a gorgeous mineral pool set in a tiled atrium.
Inspector Notes: The interiors are every bit as elegant as those of the Maybourne’s English sister hotels, though they’re obviously Californian through and through, in a warm and sunny Art Deco–influenced style. As for the comforts, they’re pure 21st-century luxury, and the spa and rooftop pool cement the hotel’s pleasure-palace status.
Chateau Marmont (Two MICHELIN Keys)
The Chateau Marmont, the nearly 100-year-old French Gothic castle looming over the Sunset Strip, has a bad boy reputation: scuffed by rock star shenanigans, worn-in by live-in bachelors. But that’s not to say the stars and star-gazers who love to stay here are slumming it: the luxury at the Marmont is less white glove, more leather jacket. Built originally as an apartment, every room is different, from Latinesque bungalows, to the shabby-chic Room 29 with its baby grand piano. In each, you’ll feel compelled to act legendary.
Inspector notes: The building is pure movie set. Constructed along the specifications of the Loire Chateau Amboise, it is a perfect eighteenth-century replica, fluted pillars graced by ivy and untouched by mold, with a swimming pool to boot.
L’Ermitage Beverly Hills (Two MICHELIN Keys)
A just-completed renovation by style virtuoso Champalimaud Design has burnished the 50-year-old L’Ermitage Beverly Hills to a high-luxury sheen. In the lobby and new restaurant, a California glow color palette comes together with bronze, natural stonework, and sunset orange velvet. The redesigned rooftop, opened this spring to the public for the first time, will introduce to the masses what L’Ermitage long-timers already know: the views of the Hollywood Hills and Los Angeles skyline are unmatched.
Inspector Notes: The glamorous mid-century style is perfectly tailored to Beverly Hills, with Venetian cut-glass mirrors and hues of champagne and metal. The Studio suites spare nothing in their pursuit of comfort, and each of the four Residential suites feels like it could be a Hollywood mogul’s private home.
Hero image: The Peninsula Beverly Hills
