Prepare for possibly the most luxurious hotel stay on the planet. When you walk over the stone footbridge from the car park to the hotel's reception, you are leaving an ordinary life and entering a world of pure pampering. Gaze down at the swans gliding on the small lake below and smell the fresh scents of the myriad of plants and flowers inhabiting the lush gardens.
Bel Air is where you move to once you have outgrown your Hollywood mansion. Bel Air is Hollywood royalty, full of old school celebrities. It also boasts the most expensive real estate in the world, anything up to Dh44 million ($12 million) per acre. The Bel-Air has 12 of these pricey patches - one of which is devoted to a garden that grows what must be the most expensive herbs ever eaten.
Exemplary in every department. I heard an angry male guest swearing at a manager one morning and yelling because he could not check into to his room. With complete aplomb and calm dignity, the manager reminded the guest that he had arrived three hours before he said he would and three hours before the former room guests were obliged to check out. Rarely have I seen a situation diffused so professionally. The restaurant staff were superb; even the gardeners were helpful and friendly.
Room? Forget it. This was a suite. In fact it was more like an apartment. Huge sitting room complete with log fire and window bays, equally spacious bedroom with walk-in wardrobes, and an enviable bathroom. When I was being shown around I had been asked: "Do you have a laptop, sir? If not, we can get one for you." Regular guests stay in the suites so often they get the staff to fill cedar wood chests with their clothes, so they don't have to bring anything except a mobile phone and a BlackBerry when they check back in.
The concierges at the Hotel Bel-Air can direct you to walking trails and order you airport pickups, but they are more used to booking private jets or arranging for million-dollar necklaces to be couriered in under lock and key from the nearest branch of Harry Winston's.
Very Hollywood. Oprah Winfrey, Sly Stallone and Sharon Stone are all regulars; the money-people love it here, too. Producers and film-backers lunch here. Despite this glittering A-list scene, the hotel is very discreet. More like a fabulously wealthy country club where you hear murmurs that could be famous voices but all you get to see are the backs of people's heads as they disappear into their suites. The stars arrive and leave without being spotted by the paparazzi via a private road around the back.
The lush grounds and the wonderful restaurant. Spent rainy days eating salad in front of a roaring log fire in my suite, pretending I was famous. And the oval pool, around which guests sit and are brought (in season) frozen raspberries to cool them down.
Some of the brash Hollywood types (casting guys and agents) showing off in the restaurant and the bar. Not the hotel's fault.
Overwhelmingly special. If money was no object, I would follow suit and spend a month there each year, reserving my cedar wood chest in which to park my most stylish outfits.
Hotel Bel-Air, 701 Stone Canyon Road, Los Angeles, +1 800 648 4097. Guest rooms from approximately Dh1,450. @email:www.hotelbelair.com.
