The Peninsula Beverly Hills

We stayed at the Peninsula Beverly Hills for our honeymoon and 40th birthday and it was absolutely wonderful - even before we arrived all of the staff were amazing from the concierge team booking all of our restaurants and roof top bars (special shout out to Heike who was amazing) to all the special touches pre-arranged for our room (huge thanks to Angelee and Rebecca for this). It far exceeded our expectations and everyone was so friendly, welcoming and accommodating and we cannot recommend the hotel enough and are looking forward to returning soon. Thank you Rebecca, Angelee and Heike.

I stayed here about 5 years ago and the hotel is as good as i recall. I was upgraded to a suite through Amex Platinum and I recommend rooms here with good light; the bungalows are in the garden area and are dark, which is where I stayed last time. The gym is as good as it needs to be, pool is very good (and was heated well enough that I swam there each night even though it was in the 50's and raining; and the jacuzzi next to it is really super on nights like that!). The suite was very nice and functional, and the hotel is easy to get in and out of. I never waited for an elevator which is an advantage of a hotel that has only several levels of rooms. Dinner at the Belvedere was excellent and the pastry chef is top notch; this has always been strong at this hotel. Breakfast was also excellent although I was perturbed at the lack of pastries aside from muffins and croissants; i was hoping for a nice danish or cake. You can get print newspapers delivered to your room, something that has become a special thing to mention. There are a few things here that I don't particularly like that made me walk across the street to check out the Waldorf Astoria as an alternative. They could use a bathing suit dryer in the spa area near the pool. You have to walk around the hotel with a wet bathing suit after using the pool or jacuzzi and get it to dry in your room. I wound up leaving my bathing suit in my room because there was no way to get it dry for the trip home. There is no steam room in the spa; I don't like dry saunas and the one they have there is not really hot anyway. I was told that they used to have a steam room but had piping problems. I guess they just chose not to fix or relocate it but after several years it would be good to figure it out and fix this. The Waldorf has a steam room by the way. Their gym and pool area are comparable with killer views from the roof which has a good bistro up there. Room faucets spray water but not like a normal faucet; in the spa they are fine, so I guess they just want to save money in guest rooms. It's annoying when you want to brush your teeth and things like that. I also don't like the bathroom amenities with these caps you have to open with a sharp point and the metal packaging makes them heavy and hard to squeeze. The Peninsula chain has a history of being a top-level luxury hotel and at least the bathing suit spinner ought to be there. Top hotels have those and they shouldn't cut corners like these. The location here is convenient for Ubers and you are in the heart of Beverly Hills. The hotel compares well against the top hotels such as the Beverly Hills Hotel, the Montage and Bel-Air, but it has some rough edges lacking certain amenities that I really want when I travel, and it's not a slam-dunk favorite. I'd probably want to check out the Four Seasons Wilshire on my next visit.

The Peninsula really pulled out all the stops for my husband’s birthday weekend — definitely trying to make up for our underwhelming stay in Sept 2021. But the monogrammed pillows and eye masks for us and embroidered blankets for our dog, Dram, might take the cake — and that doesn't even include the actual cake. Plus the bedroom at 61 F was bliss for the me (even as I had to raise it to 65 F to make everyone else happy). This was a pretty close to perfect stay. The lovely GM even met us and reserved a table for us one night at the crowded bar. This was the first time we stayed in the Superior Suite 301 (usually we’d been in the next door Superior Suite 302). The living room was a bit smaller, but we still had plenty of space and it’s otherwise similarly appointed. It’s a very comfortable suite. The balcony had morning sun rather than afternoon sun, but the view was definitely better. The only things wanting were the lack of an enclosed toilet room in the bathroom and no powder bathroom otherwise. We still prefer the Superior Suites to the more costly — but smaller, more crowded, and with less natural light — Villa King Suites. Room service breakfast was always timely and hot. Service throughout the entire stay was always warm and enthusiastic. The concierge team wasn’t able to get us into n/naka, but thankfully my friend was able to get that almost impossible booking for us. The concierge team did let us use the house Rolls for our dinners at both n/naka and CUT. The team also was great about our almost 2 yr Ridgeback puppy (all 100 lbs of him). They had treats, dog food, blankets, bowls, and everything we could have asked for waiting for us. This stay absolutely restored our faith in the Pen. We can’t wait to get back.