Hotel Bel-Air wants to give you your privacy

https://www.ft.com/content/02dc9915-b1f2-4f4b-ba65-6695ed070ea7

Publish Date: 2026-03-22 04:00:00

Source Domain: www.ft.com

This article is part of FT Globetrotter’s guide to Los Angeles. Our full Where to Stay guide is here

I am watching an elite woman of a certain age give an etiquette lesson to five little girls in the courtyard of the Hotel Bel-Air. “I do not like the word bored,” she tells them. “I also do not love the word fine.” Her blonde bob bobs. “When you point, point with an open hand. Keep open body language — don’t cross your arms.”

The girls around the table are attentive, and raise their hands with follow-up questions. “Everyone goes through a self-conscious phase,” she continues as they nod, “but it’s all part of life.”

‘This is King Charles’s preferred hotel in Los Angeles . . . ‘ © Dorchester Collection.’ . . He supposedly once described it as like “staying at a rich friend’s home”.’ © Dorchester Collection

I walk through the hotel’s 12-acre grounds, conscious of my body language. I uncross my arms and release my shoulders. I wander past a 70-year-old citrus tree and a 30-foot bird of paradise plant, past pink arches and voluptuous stone sculptures (I’m told later they’re by Michael Wilding, one of Elizabeth Taylor’s sons). I walk along winding paths and through courtyards, past a babbling fountain and three house swans. A big old tree grows through a wall. I see a rock formation along the edge of the gardens and realise this is the cliff of Stone Canyon, the light streaming down it in that nostalgic California haze. It’s hard to know how big this place is, or really where I am, topographically. Despite the 103 rooms, most of which are full, and dozens of staff, many of whom are likely watching, I feel comfortably, peacefully, wistfully alone.

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