The hospitality, with its optional butler service, is as exceptional as its distinguished accommodations. Among 210 rooms and suites and 23 bungalows, the Presidential Bungalow is the most coveted, featuring a private pool Jacuzzi and a chef's kitchen within tranquil tropical gardens and California palms. If the Bel-Air is for privacy, the Beverly Hills Hotel — with its iconic Polo Lounge restaurant — is where celebrities go to see and be seen.

A celebrity retreat since shortly after its opening in 1946, guests have included Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor. The sprawling property, set within the confines of the mansion-strewn neighborhood of Bel-Air, features rose-colored bungalows, swan-filled ponds and lush landscaping — a timeless elegance in an exclusive location that continues to attract Hollywood luminaries. Visitors enjoy a garden paradise with private patios, gorgeous pool, spa, and several restaurants and bars.

On the vibrant Sunset Strip, the hotel looks like a French castle and has more fascinating scandals to its name than perhaps any in the world. To pick a mild one, legend has it that members of Led Zeppelin once tore up the lobby on their motorcycles. Still, there is a reason the hotel has remained the choice of Hollywood royalty for decades — today, the hotel maintains its legendary atmosphere of refined discretion, with amenities that include secret gardens and extremely livable rooms.

There’s no one location in Los Angeles that captures the appeal of the whole city, but the Sunset Strip comes close — Hollywood glamour, rock-and-roll decadence, spectacularly set against the backdrop of the hills. The Sun Rose takes up a whole block along Sunset, and it needs every square foot; the Pendry contains not just 149 rooms and suites, but a spa, a pair of Wolfgang Puck restaurants, a members’ club, a 100-seat music venue, and even a bowling alley.

A just-completed renovation by style virtuoso Champalimaud Design has burnished the 50-year-old L’Ermitage Beverly Hills to a high-luxury sheen. In the lobby and restaurant, a California glow color palette comes together with bronze, natural stonework, and sunset orange velvet. The redesigned rooftop, opened this spring to the public for the first time, will introduce to the masses what L’Ermitage long-timers already know: the views of the Hollywood Hills and Los Angeles skyline are unmatched.

As the sister hotel to London’s esteemed Claridge's (Three MICHELIN Keys), the luxury here is particularly grand and majestic, with 5,000 square feet of manicured gardens along the palatial Spanish Colonial Revival retreat. Inside, a museum-worthy collection of contemporary art hangs on the walls: a Damien Hirst cherry blossom in the café, a Yoshitomo Nara series on the sixth floor. The bilevel spa is the property’s crown jewel, with 17 treatment rooms and a gorgeous mineral pool.

It’s the little things at the Peninsula Beverly Hills that make this urban hotel an ultra-luxe establishment. But, it’s also the big things. Little: the pillowcases in every room are monogrammed with guests' initials, a surprise that can be taken home free of charge. Little: every bathroom is bedecked in a signature pink marble. Big: the black Rolls Royce Ghost parked out front in the stately drive. If you’re staying at the hotel, feel free to reserve it for an outing.

The Downtown L.A. Proper Hotel, set in a transformed 1920s landmark building where celebrated designer Kelly Wearstler's trademark aesthetic creates its own living museum through rotating local art and vintage touches. Bright, colorful rooms feature imported linens and tiled bathrooms, while the rooftop provides seasonal dining with sweeping city panoramas.

Soho Warehouse DTLA is set not in Hollywood but in a 1916-vintage warehouse in the downtown Arts District — which is not just an arts destination, but is also central to the L.A. food scene. Like the other Soho House locations it’s a club first, and a hotel second, but overnight guests earn the benefits of temporary membership — this means access to the 50-foot rooftop swimming pool, as well as the House’s public spaces, including the Rooftop Terrace and Bar, the House Kitchen, and the Garden.

This 1920s estate in LA’s hip Silver Lake began its life as a Mediterranean Revival mansion for a now-forgotten silent-film star. When interior designer Dana Hollister bought it, she intended for it to become the kind of luxury boutique hotel that we’re all familiar with. But the neighborhood had other ideas, and in the end, what it became is something much more unique: part film set, part event venue, part dream house for Hollister herself and home to nine of the most stylish rooms of the city.