The first time I walked through the doors of the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills, I wasn’t there to dilly dally. It was all work, and I was there on assignment, working with Vaseline on a trip that put me in the same room as the incomparable Viola Davis (‘twas a different time, and a different publication).
And I don’t care how many interviews I’ve done, sitting across from Viola Davis will humble you every single time. I remember taking it all in and thinking, this is where queens stay. I made a quiet promise to myself before I left. I’d be back. Not for work, but for me.
It took nearly a decade (because, well… I was in my 20s and I didn’t have Waldorf Astoria coins), but I finally made good on that promise.
I’ll be honest, part of me was nervous I’d built it up in my head over the years. You know how you have high hopes and then reality has the nerve to disappoint you? That’d been me, because whenever anyone asked what my favorite hotel (in the United States) is, the answer always came easy to me. It was this one. But thankfully, the experience of disappointment did not happen when I arrived. If anything, the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills has only gotten better, and I say that as someone who came in with genuinely high expectations.
Located in the heart of Los Angeles and a short walk from Rodeo Drive, the hotel hasn’t lost a thing. The place just has it. Whatever it is. From the moment I pulled up, it was clear the staff understood the assignment. I was greeted immediately, checked in without a hitch, and no one was looking me up and down before deciding how to greet me. It was just warm, attentive service that made the whole arrival feel easy.
I was in the Beverly Hills Junior Suite King, and listen. The room is big, well-designed, and warm in a way that a lot of luxury hotel rooms miss completely. The bed alone was enough to make me reconsider every plan I had for the rest of the day. I genuinely did not want to go anywhere. But, I had things to do and people to see, so I unpacked, sat by the window, looked out over Beverly Hills, and gave myself full permission to just be still for a minute. That right there was worth the trip but I really and truly only gave myself a minute because I had a massage waiting for me at the La Prairie Spa and I wasn’t about to be late.
The La Prairie Spa at the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills holds a Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star rating, and if you’ve heard about it, the reputation is earned. I booked the Relax-ology 60, a full-body treatment, and I will say this, I don’t know what they did or in what order they did it, but sixty minutes later I floated out of that room. Everything in my body had finally exhaled after being held tight for way too long, particularly after a 6-hour long flight.
The spa recently launched the “Art of Beauty” wellness program, which brings together a series of results-focused treatments that actually back up what they’re promising. The Bespoke Body Ritual is one of the standouts, a full-body journey inspired by Switzerland and Beverly Hills that goes well beyond your average massage. Then there’s the Phenomenal Glass Skin Facial, which incorporates anti-aging molecules, cryotherapy, and lymphatic drainage. I didn’t get to it this trip but it’s already booked in my mind for the next one.
What I appreciated most about the whole experience was how personalized everything felt. Nothing about the La Prairie Spa operates like you’re just cycling through a menu. The approach is specific to you, what your body needs, what your skin needs, what you actually came in for. As someone who has left more than a few spa appointments feeling like I could have just stayed home, this was different.
After the spa I made my way up to The Rooftop Beverly Hills for dinner and I was not disappointed. The views are everything you’d expect from a rooftop in Beverly Hills, but the food is actually good, which isn’t always a given when a restaurant is sitting on top of a view like that. That dinner plus everything else I’d experienced made me go back and actually read through the suite package details, and I wish I had done that sooner. I’m still a little annoyed at myself for not looking into them earlier because private concerts and exotic car rentals were just sitting there waiting to be taken advantage of.
All in all, the experience was spectacular. And really, it just felt like a full circle moment. I think about the version of me that walked into this hotel almost ten years ago (a young reporter), on assignment, trying to hold it together before sitting down with Viola Davis, and I remember thinking I had to come back here just for myself one day. Not for a story, not for work, just because the place deserved to be experienced without an agenda attached to it. It took me longer than I planned to make that happen, and I won’t pretend life didn’t get in the way more than once. But I got here. And what I can tell you is that not a single part of this trip made me feel like I had waited too long to come back.