Hotel Bel-Air

We stayed at the Hotel Bel-Air in March 2013. The grounds are so beautiful and give the hotel a special "oasis"ambience. This is a hotel that allows animals to stay in the rooms and both of our rooms had a strong dog smell. While the hotel sprayed air freshener in the room to help with the problem, we were left with wondering how clean the room can be with such a strong odor. It is a special challenge for any hotel that allows animals to properly clean the rooms - we wish they would allocate some rooms that are non-pet to prevent the issue entirely for guests with allergies. The rooms are nicely decorated, comfortable and amenities appropriate. Housekeeping could use some training as each time they came to our room while we were there, they would ring the doorbell nonstop until you opened the door - a little obnoxious and while two of us were in the room, night turn down was consistently prepared for only one. We found the food at the Wolfgang Puck restaurant unimpressive at best. Service is good, but the Wolfgang Puck concept is overextended and mediocre especially for this type of hotel. Front desk staff were pleasant, concierge not well trained - had a hard time recommending sushi places in LA and wouldn't bother to do a little research and make a reservation, and we never received the email receipt promised at check out. Valet staff are outstanding and most efficient. Overall, beautiful property but a little over priced for the way it is managed.

Charming oasis. A perfect combination of a chic resort, lovely inn, and fine hotel. Rooms are gorgeous, restaurant is heavenly, staff are wonderful. Highly recommend.

Superb job. This was my 12th time and I was very worried 18 months renovation would ruin the charm but it was superb. Food service best it has ever been. Unique among American hotels.

My fiance and I were very excited to stay at the newly reopened Bel Air for Thanksgiving after waiting years for the renovation to be complete. While our stay was enjoyable, we didn't love the experience or facilities as much as we'd hoped. The new decor is nice, but in many cases very at odds with the exterior which seemed completely unchanged. Some will find that last point a relief, but I myself would like to see a modernization of the pink stucco (I know I'm probably alone in that view) - to me it just looks old, dated and very tired. The interiors are now black & white and largely modern, in stark contrast - it's a bit odd, especially around the restaurant patio where all the different motifs come into play. But I was thrilled to see the swans are still there and very happy! The new pool is lovely, but the gym is way too small for a hotel of that caliber (with that much space!). I was extremely disappointed. Our suite was nice and quite large with wonderful beds and bathrooms. The big negative was that everything is controlled by touchpads that were VERY glitchy - trying to turn off one light vs. another was an exercise in frustration. The hotel staff are very focused on being friendly and attentive, but could use some work in efficiency. A perfect example was check-in. We were asked dozens of questions about what we wanted in our room from newspapers to pillows to mattress type (huh?) - the process was borderline annoying it took so long. And then it seemed as if the questionaire was ignored - none of our answers were implemented. None of the missed items were a big deal at all, but let's please not spend 10 minutes talking about things if you're not going to bring them. A lot of staff are new and seem a little confused, to be honest. All are trying VERY hard and have great attitudes, but some things were just a bit off. One person called us at 8:15am to ask if we liked the room - ? We were well awake so no biggie, but it's a little early for a "how are you doing?" call - and our privacy light was on too. Odd. We found the food to be very good though overpriced and VERY slow in arriving - we'd be alone at breakfast and simple items would take strangely long amounts of time to arrive. The servers were wonderful though. So all and all, a mixed bag. We certainly won't be racing back. In most catagories the Montage Beverly Hills is much better. But there is still something about being at the Bel Air that's special I guess. Must be the swans :)