L'Ermitage Beverly Hills Rating: 4.5 Pearls

Beverly Hills/Bel Air, Los Angeles, California

Multiple porters greet guests

The appropriately named L'Ermitage (French for hermitage) has long been considered a calming, luxurious, and extremely private respite for the famous and well-to-do. (Particularly for the famous after some infamous plastic surgery -- Michael Jackson and Liz Taylor both recovered here.) Tucked away on a quiet residential street in Beverly Hills with no other hotels for blocks, it's a place where Angelina Jolie can cruise in unnoticed via the private VIP entrance, romantic couples can escape to the guest-only, 24-hour rooftop pool, and agents can discreetly broker deals at the restaurant's outdoor patio or the downstairs Lounge.

The rich and famous book here for other reasons too: huge 650-square-foot standard rooms with walk-in closets and balconies, and some of the best hotel service in the city. Greeted by a staff of at least four porters at the entrance, guests are addressed by last name and escorted to the front desk, where the receptionist sets to booking spa or restaurant reservations immediately. A rare, relaxed check-in/checkout policy allows guests to come or go at any time, and a free-first-come-first-served Mercedes Benz shuttles guests around within a three-mile radius. Business execs will find the L'Ermitage particularly attuned to their needs, with personalized business stationery, in-room fax machines with direct lines, and in-room Wi-Fi and printing all free.

Of course, one hotel can't do it all. With such a hushed, silent-as-the-grave lobby, L'Ermitage isn't ideal for party seekers (who should try the Thompson Beverly Hills) or families (head to the Beverly Wilshire). Fitness-center fanatics and spa fiends will find better alternatives at the Beverly Wilshire's two-level fitness center and the Beverly Hills Hotel's La Prairie spa. Still, for service, room size, and its 24-hour rooftop pool, this lavish hideaway has few equals.

The front desk lets you checkout anytime.

Easily one of the most service-oriented hotels in L.A. Although the concierge doesn't seem as knowledgeable about restaurants as the London's concierge does, features like L'Ermitage's flexible check-in/checkout policy and no room service charge are rare treats that you won't find at the luxury Beverly Wilshire or Beverly Hills Hotel).

• Flexible arrival and departure policy allows guests to check in or out at any time within a 24-hour period.
• Free first-come-first-served Mercedes Benz shuttles guests within a three-mile radius (good for trips to Rodeo Drive).
• No room-service charges
• Poolside wait service
• $35 overnight valet parking
• Free 24-hour shoe shine
• Concierge is not 24 hours, only from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.

View on a Larger Map

The hotel is hidden away on a quiet block of Beverly Hills, an enclave of wealthy living and luxury shopping in the middle of L.A.'s westside. With no other hotels within blocks, L'Ermitage guests can find all the seclusion they desire. But the busier streets of Wilshire Boulevard and Rodeo Drive, where the lion's share of Beverly Hills restaurants and shops are located, are only a five-minute drive away. And as Beverly Hills is so centrally located, the Los Angeles International Airport is only a half-hour away.

• Luxury designer boutiques of Rodeo Drive a five-minute drive away
• UCLA and the surrounding Westwood Village of shops, restaurants, and movie theaters about 10 minutes away
• The Getty, L.A.'s free art and cultural center, is a 15-minute drive away.
• Hollywood tourist spots like Grauman's Chinese Theatre and Hollywood Walk of Fame are 20 minutes away.
• Santa Monica Beach and San Fernando Valley are 30 to 45 minutes away.
• Universal Studios theme park is 20 to 30 minutes away.
• Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is a 30- to 40-minute drive.

Guest room at L'Ermitage

Rooms at L'Ermitage are huge (650 to 800 square feet) and luxurious. The 11-year-old hotel was last renovated two years ago, but the work mostly consisted of creating rooms with two double beds.

The six types of rooms differ by view and size. Superior Rooms (650 square feet) face the back and are on the bottom floors; Deluxe (675 square feet), also on bottom floors, face the front (Burton Way); Burton and Mountain rooms (700 square feet, floors 3 to 5) face Burton Street and the mountains, respectively; Executive (700 square feet) has a mountain or city view from high floors; and Studio (800 square feet) has a view of Burton from on high.

• Private balconies, walk-in closets in all rooms
• Comfy but not spectacular beds: An excellent-quality Simmons Beautyrest mattress was topped with 100 threadcount sheets that were 45 percent polyester; four very soft down pillows and a down duvet included.
• Guests can also choose from a six-pillow menu for therapeutic and massaging neck pillows.
• Big bathrooms (even in the standard rooms) have separate soaking tubs and a large marble shower with a massaging shower attachment (the main showerhead was hard to get to work, however).
• Fragrant Raffles Amrita Spa toiletries, plus loofah and bath salts, two pairs of plush embroidered slippers, and four robes (two thick terry cotton, two a thinner cotton/poly waffle knit). Egyptian cotton towels from Boca Terry.
• Free Wi-Fi, free Internet printing service, and free local calls
• Fax/copy machine and scanner in every room, with separate fax and phone lines
• New flat-screen TVs recently replaced old tube models; rooms also have a DVD/CD/VHS player and Bose speakers.
• Pay-per-view movies (Hollywood hits, adult entertainment) run $15; 46 cable channels, including an impressive selection of five premium Showtime channels and four HBO channels.
• Minibar with free soda and bottled water
• Six types of suites vary widely in size (1,200 to 4,400 square feet) and amenities, and start with the standard 1200-square-foot Grand Luxe Suite with a separate living room, two bathrooms, a pantry, and two balconies.

The cardio room

While the spa here falls short of the La Prairie one at the Beverly Hills Hotel, and the fitness center can't touch the two-floor gym and separate yoga rooms at the Beverly Wilshire, L'Ermitage holds its own when it comes to freebies like the personalized business cards guests receive upon arrival and the Mercedes Benz car service.

• Raffles Amrita spa (8 a.m. to 9 p.m.) offers the full gamut of massages, body treatments, and facials, but pales in size and luxury to spas at Beverly Hills Hotel, Beverly Wilshire, or Mondrian in West Hollywood.
• Free business cards, stationery, and fax cover sheets with your name printed on them
• Guests' choice of free newspaper in the morning
• Free 24-hour business center off lobby with single PC with Internet and printer, and free newspapers and magazines
• Free transportation: a Mercedes Benz to shuttle guests within a three-mile radius of hotel, from noon to 10 p.m. daily; first-come, first-served
• The fitness center is small and only open until 10 p.m., but does have a separate cardio area (two treadmills, two bikes, two ellipticals), a separate strength-training room, and a sitting room.
• All machines (good-condition Cybex and Technogym) come with separate cable TV monitors. Bottled water, two types of fruit infused water, and apples.

Available only to guests, the rooftop pool overlooking Bel Air offers 360 degree views of the city and dining on the 1,800-square-foot terrace, in $400-a-day private cabanas, or at towel-lined lounge chairs by the pool. Like the Ritz Carlton in Marina del Ray, this pool is open 24 hours.

With a staff prized for its discretion and a remote location to boot, L'Ermitage has earned a reputation as the hotel where stars can recover from their plastic surgery in private -- Michael Jackson and Liz Taylor among them. It's also a popular refuge for extremely paparazzi-stalked celebrities like Angelina Jolie, who's both stayed and conducted interviews from here. A private VIP entrance in the parking garage let celebrities enter and leave unnoticed -- although it looks like Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes chose to leave by the front when he took her here for her birthday dinner one year. Part of Jennifer Lopez's music video Jenny from the Block was filmed here, as were scenes in the Julia Roberts movie Full Frontal. Actors who bunk down or party at the hotel after the Oscars have been known to dump their statuettes off at the front desk for safekeeping.

Provided they weigh less than 40 pounds, dogs and cats at L'Ermitage are treated just as lavishly as their owners. For the $150-a-day fee, pets are provided with beds, bowls, and treats, and they can even eat from their own room-service menu (Fido just loves his caviar and foie gras). The concierge can arrange for pet walkers, sitters, and vet appointments.

The pool

Parents should keep in mind that while big rooms can accommodate rollaway beds and cribs with ease, the lobby stays silent as the grave. The Beverly Wilshire (multiple age-specific kids' menus, spa kids' program) and Beverly Hills Hotel (1950s soda fountain) still have this hotel beat.

• Rollaways and cribs both free
• Guest rooms accommodate two (three with a rollaway); suites fit four.
• Beverly Suites come with pullout couches.
• 24-hour rooftop pool (but unsupervised)
• Kids' room-service menu

Rooms, the pool, the common areas, and the restaurant were all spotless. No mildew or dust anywhere.

Breakfast rolls at Jaan

The well-regarded Jaan restaurant serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner -- and with L'Ermitage's the "Choice is Yours" service, Jaan's French-Californian cuisine can be ordered up at the pool, the Living Room lobby lounge, the Lounge in the lobby, or at Jaan's outside patio. Not surprisingly, prices are steep: a $26 tuna nicoise salad, a $24 burger. But guests pay no additional charges for room service.