48 Hours at two of Los Angeles' most legendary addresses
Full reviews of both Dorchester Collection properties in Los Angeles, with my take on what advisor-led travel gets you
Ed. note: This stay was arranged in partnership with SmartFlyer and the Dorchester Collection. As always, I only share experiences that I genuinely love, and all opinions and recommendations are entirely my own. Thank you for reading and supporting my work!
I’d already been in Los Angeles for a couple days thanks to a United Airlines media event, which meant a full day of flying across the country (plus a demo flight!), back-to-back presentations, hands-on experiences, and pretty much non-stop socializing. On top of that, it’d been actual months since I’d felt the sun on my skin. So when I had the opportunity to tack on a couple more nights after the work just to be in the warm embrace of LA, I had exactly one agenda: get horizontal somewhere next to a pool and stay there as long as possible.
What followed was one night each at The Beverly Hills Hotel and Hotel Bel-Air: both part of the Dorchester Collection, both arranged through my partnership with SmartFlyer. The Dorchester Collection, a very exclusive group, operates some of the world's most significant hotels in cities like London, Paris, Milan, Rome, and Dubai. In the United States, they have exactly two properties. The entire American footprint of one of the world’s most selective hotel collections fits within a single Los Angeles zip code—and I stayed at both within 48 hours.
One is the kind of place you go to see and be seen. The other is a private estate that also happens to offer room service. Both are legendary, but nothing about them is alike.
Read on for:
A full review of both stays, including the pool experience at each property and why they’re not interchangeable
The room upgrade that wouldn't have existed if I'd booked direct
The one property between the two I'd return to without hesitation, and why
What you can expect when you book through SmartFlyer
At a Glance
🌴 The Beverly Hills Hotel: The Pink Palace on Sunset Boulevard, aka Old Hollywood’s living room. There’s nearly a century of mythology built into this property between the banana leaf wallpaper that anyone would recognize, the Polo Lounge, and a pool that has probably witnessed more industry deals than most boardrooms. On property: a full-service hair salon, the iconic Fountain Coffee Room, cabana dining at the Cabana Cafe, and 23 private bungalows dotted throughout the gardens. This is the buzzy one, a place to see and be seen. (starting rates ~$1,200/night)
🦢 Hotel Bel-Air: Tucked into 12 acres of landscaped gardens in the hillside overlooking Beverly Hills. You cross a footbridge over a stream that opens to a small pool of swans to get to the entrance; it feels as if it functions like a moat, which really sets the tone. The city seems to stop existing almost immediately. You feel insulated, like you’re half a world away. Luxury here looks like king-sized beds dressed in Fili d'Oro Egyptian cotton, an iconic oval pool heated to 82 degrees year-round, a patisserie, and dining that moves seamlessly from the elegant restaurant to the al fresco terrace to the piano bar. This is the private one, a place to relax and recuperate among nature. (starting rates ~$1,000/night)
Both are part of the Dorchester Collection: one of the most selective luxury hotel groups in the world, with just over a dozen properties chosen for cultural significance and individual character rather than scalability. You’ll find them in London, Paris, Milan, Rome, Dubai. And in the United States, there’s just two: both in Los Angeles, both on my itinerary. Beyond their shared collection, the two properties have almost nothing in common, which is exactly why staying at both, back to back, is such a revealing exercise in understanding what luxury actually means to you.
Booking through an advisor
Booking through a SmartFlyer advisor gets you things that booking direct won’t. Like early check-in, which at both of these properties I was able to secure by noon and 1pm respectively. This alone makes all the difference when you’re only staying one night at a property and want to maximize your time there! They were also able to secure a room upgrade for me at Bel-Air, which moved me from a deluxe room into the Canyon Suite: a MASSIVE difference. There can also be welcome amenities on arrival, and critically, your reservation is flagged before you arrive, which means the hotel knows who you are and has thought about what your stay should look like before you walk through the door.
Unfortunately, none of that is guaranteed when you book direct, even at this price point. That’s the practical use case for choosing to work with an advisor when staying at properties like these—not the fantasy of having someone else plan your trip for you, but the concrete difference it makes to what you actually experience and feel when you get there. I’ve learned that personalization in hospitality makes all the difference between a 5-star stay being memorable or mid.
Two properties, one amazing trip. Here's what two nights actually looked like, and what they taught me about what I'm really looking for in a hotel stay.