Los Angeles: Hotel Bel-Air to reopen next summer after face-lift [Updated]

It’s been little more than a year, but to fans of the Hotel Bel-Air, the elapsed time since the iconic hideaway closed for renovation might as well have been in dog years. There’s an end in sight: July 2011. When the 64-year-old Los Angeles hotel welcomes guests next year, the face-lift will have changed not just the look but the feel and function of this luxury lodging.

The multimillion-dollar effort aims to maintain the hotel’s residential sensibility, using a decorating scheme that draws on the best homes of Bel-Air and other Los Angeles areas through the decades.

“It will be a combination of several different time periods, including Regency, Art Nouveau and what we call Hollywood glamor,” said Wendy Schnee, director of public relations at the Bel-Air’s corporate cousin, the Beverly Hills Hotel and Bungalows.

After a sneak peek at the new look, Schnee said she was particularly wowed by the now-larger bathrooms. Every guest room and suite will have an enlarged bathroom with separate tub and shower and heated floors.

[Updated at 4:10 p.m. Oct. 27: An earlier version of this post incorrectly described the new bathrooms at the renovated Hotel Bel-Air as having thick glass countertops shot with brilliant streaks of color.]

As a member of the Dorchester Collection, the Bel-Air has some famous family members, including London’s Dorchester, and in Paris, Le Meurice and Hôtel Plaza Athénée.

With 12 new indoor-outdoor suites built into a hillside beyond the ballroom, the Bel-Air will grow to 103 guest rooms and suites. All of them will be wired with the latest tech toys, which, among other functions, will allow guests to use their iPhones to remotely operate their rooms’ lighting and temperature.

The rates will be updated too, and are expected to be considerably higher: between $565 and $10,000 a night, up from $395 to $6,500 before the renovation.

The shutdown, which was not without controversy, has allowed the hotel’s owners to address many long-standing issues.

Clearly, the majestic lady isn’t getting just a face-lift but also orthopedic surgery. Wiring, plumbing and infrastructure required to go “green” are being updated in the 22-month-long remake. Even the hotel’s trademark swans are getting a fancy new recycling and filtering system in their pond.

“The swans never had it so good,” said Schnee.

Info: Hotel Bel-Air, 701 Stone Canyon Road, Los Angeles 90077; (310) 472-1211. The hotel isn’t yet taking room reservations. Inquiries should be directed to Kayal Moore, director of reservations, at (310) 887-2454.