Hotel review: The Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons, Los Angeles

I thought it might be tricky to stay at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons without feeling as though I had stepped onto the set of Pretty Woman.

The 1990 movie was filmed in and around the hotel, which faces directly onto Rodeo Drive, on some of the most expensive real estate in the world.

Turns out that the hotel is so much more than the sum of its parts, and it certainly manages to transcend the legacy of a movie shot there over twenty years ago. (Although it doesn’t feel that long ago. I am getting old.)

Driving through Beverly Hills and up Wilshire, and then pulling into the hotel’s valet parking is an other-worldly experience. Instead of thinking about old films, I felt as though I was starring in my own movie.

The hotel pivots on immaculate, charming service: from the front desk to housekeeping, everyone smiles, stops to ask if you need help, goes the extra mile. I particularly liked that not one of the many employees dealing with my arrival flinched at the little teeny tiny car and its attendant burrito wrappers. Which was nice.

Every part of the hotel feels stupidly, gorgeously, indulgently luxurious, from the banks of arum lilies and endless vases of orchids in the reception halls to the echoing marble floors and period detailing on the staircases and in the elevators.

It’s not an inexpensive hotel, but it is a window into another world, and well worth a night or more whilst you are in Los Angeles. The people-watching alone is spectacular, from the grande dames with hair lacquered a foot high ushering spangly party-frocked infants and surly teens in tuxes & trainers by the ballroom to track-suited male septuagenarians pulling pocket-sized Chihuahuas and the Gucci-clad Russians drinking cocktails in the Blvd Lounge, where MTFF & I spent Saturday afternoon drinking tea and eating quantities of cake

with my wonderful old schoolfriend musician Julian & his lovely fiancée.

Quite one of the most enjoyable parts of my trip.

LLG was a guest of the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons. (But she bought her own cake.)