Los Angeles, United States

Chateau Marmont

Price per night from$541.45

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (USD541.45), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Style

Louche, luxe and legendary

Setting

High on Sunset

This luxury hotel in Los Angeles is where the stars go to get their rocks off in private (or in public, if they court the limelight). Built in 1920 using blueprints drawn from a French castle in the Loire Valley, Chateau Marmont has a history as spectacular as its architecture, and a reputation as hedonistic as it is glamorous. The arts and crafts ‘castle on the hill’ is the epitome of all that’s great and good about tinseltown: glamorous, cool and utterly captivating.

Smith Extra

Get this when you book through us:

A bottle of wine, cookies freshly baked by the chef and, subject to availability, a late check-out

Facilities

Photos Chateau Marmont facilities

Need to know

Rooms

62, including 52 suites.

Check–Out

11am, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 4pm.

Prices

Double rooms from £493.84 ($628), including tax at 16 per cent.

More details

Rates exclude breakfast, from US$25.

Also

In-room beauty treatments and spa therapies can be arranged at the drop of a face-shielding sunhat – this is the land of the beautiful people, so you can expect your treatments to be top of the range. They’ll even arrange a personal trainer, should you so wish. If you’re bringing a stupendously large wardrobe of red-carpet dresses, supersized rolling racks (that’s a garment rail, if you’re more Baftas than Oscars) can be added to your suite for US$30 a day.

At the hotel

Gardens and courtyard, pool, gym, music and movie library, free WiFi throughout, laundry, valet parking, concierge. In rooms: 48-inch TV, DVD and CD player, iPod with curated playlists, fridage, minibar, tea- and coffee-making kit, fluffy bathrobes and cashmere throws, own brand toiletries.

Our favourite rooms

Standard Rooms have garden views; go for one of the Suites – even the modest Junior Suites feel like mini-apartments with fitted kitchens but the Premier and Two-Bedroom Suites have large balconies or patios overlooking the pool. Hillside Bungalows offer the coolest mid-century decor, kitchens, working fireplaces, private street entrances and carports, and direct access to the pool from a private walled garden; Poolside Bungalows have more classical decor and are a shade larger (no private parking spot, though). Go totally A-list in Room 64, the two-bed Penthouse with wraparound terrace and polished marble hallway.

Poolside

The chic oval outdoor swimming pool is heated year-round and flanked by hide-me palm fronds and a perfect-for-posing patio.

Spa

There's no spa, but treatments, facials, mani-pedis, hair styling and colouring, as well as vitamin drips can all be done in your room. Fitness-fanatics can also visit the gym, open daily from 7am to 11pm.

Packing tips

Red-framed Ray-Bans; iPhone chock-full of LA contacts; Liza Bruce bikini.

Also

If you’re bringing a stupendously large wardrobe of red-carpet dresses, supersized rolling racks (that’s a garment rail, if you’re more Baftas than Oscars) can be added to your suite for US$50 a day.

Pet‐friendly

Pampered pooches and fancy felines can stay for $250 a night; they're welcome everywhere except for in the restaurant and the pool. Food, water bowls, two kinds of treats and pick-up bags are provided. Just let the hotel know when booking. See more pet-friendly hotels in Los Angeles.

Children

Extra beds or cots – dressed in Frette baby linens, no less – can be added to rooms on request for US$50 a night. Nannies can be drafted in with at least five hours’ notice.

Overview

Extra beds or cots – dressed in Frette baby linens, no less – can be added to rooms on request for US$50 a night. Nannies can be drafted in with 24 hours’ notice.

Best for

All ages.

Recommended rooms

Two-Bedroom Suites are ideal for families; twin beds in one room, plus a generous living area, fully fitted kitchen and giant retro fridge. Hillside Bungalows are also a good choice as they have private, enclosed gardens.

Activities

There’s the pool for splashy play (bring some inflatables or water wings), and a ping-pong table for older kids. Your best bet is to hit the town though – LA is a surprisingly child-friendly city if you know where to look. Popular family attractions include the La Brea Tar Pits, Santa Monica Pier, Graumann’s Chinese Theatre and Warner Brothers Studios.

Swimming pool

There is a shallow end in the heated outdoor pool, but you’ll want to keep on eye on your little ones, as there’s no lifeguard and it’s a fairly adult playzone.

Meals

Kids are welcome in the restaurant at any time, and though there’s no special children’s menu, there are high chairs and staff are happy to heat up milk or baby food for you.

Babysitting

Nannies can be arranged with 24 hours’ notice – costs vary depending on age and numbers.

No need to pack

Steamers/sterilisers can be rented for $50 a day. As you’d expect from the movie capital of the world, there’s an extensive selection of DVDs to choose from; but if your kids can’t live without Barney/SpongeBob/Hannah Montana, make sure you bring it.

Also

Chateau Marmont’s staff are great and will try to help you out as best they can with any other diddy diva demands.

Sustainability efforts

Food and wine is seasonal, organic and locally sourced wherever possible; and the hotel tries to conserve water, recycle and reduce waste.

Food and Drink

Photos Chateau Marmont food and drink

Top Table

We love the soft velvet banquettes in the white plasterwork alcove at Bar Marmont; if you’re dining at the restaurant, make a beeline for a table in the garden to make the most of California’s balmy climate.

Dress Code

Channel your inner diva and don vintage chic, rock-star cool or movie-mogul slick.

Hotel restaurant

Spotted Pig star Carolynn Spence turns out imaginative Med-infused Californian haute cuisine at the renowned Chateau Restaurant: we loved the roast bass and crispy rock shrimp risotto, and the black truffle arancini with wild mushrooms. You can also eat at the buzzy poolside restaurant during the day, people-watching beneath crisp white parasols and screened by lush foliage.

Hotel bar

The dashing and discreet hotel bar mixes up Mr & Mrs Smith’s dream cocktail menu of perfectly poured, cleverly modernised classics: a Vesper, a Marmont Mule with ginger-infused vodka, and the Roman Holiday with gin, bergamotto and fresh basil. The bar's light bites cater to every appetite, from nibble-friendly cheese boards and pickled-pepper, olive and anchovy skewers; to tuck-right-in sardines croccantini and vegan 'chicken nuggets', with just the right seasoning.

Last orders

Bar Marmont winds things up around 2am; the restaurant serves its last delicious dish at 11pm. Reservations are recommended.

Room service

A full menu is available 24 hours a day.

Location

Photos Chateau Marmont location
Address
Chateau Marmont
8221 Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles
90046
United States

Planes

LAX is 45 miles from the hotel. British Airways (www.ba.com) and American Airlines (www.americanairlines.com) both fly there. The hotel can organise private transfers from $148.

Automobiles

You'll find the hotel just north of Santa Monica Boulevard. The hotel's valet parking is $65 a night.

Worth getting out of bed for

West Hollywood is the place for boutiques and retail excess, particularly on Rodeo Drive, Beverly Boulevard and Melrose Avenue. Santa Monica and its fun-filled pier are a short drive from where you are; Third Street Promenade is also good for browsing. For something a little more boho, head to the independent shops on Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice; we like Japanese emporium Tortoise and purveyors of vintage beach wares, Surfing Cowboys. Drop by for a giant cupcake at Malibu Kitchen & Gourmet while you’re there.

Local restaurants

Sushi fans will want to get themselves to the best sushi bar in LA: Matsuhisa at 129 North La Cienaga Boulevard – open weekdays for lunch, and every day for dinner. Fans of Cecconi’s in London can now sample its trademark classic Italian fare at 8764 Melrose in West Hollywood – check out the cicchetti and dolci on the midnight menu, available for night owls from 11pm–1am on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Definitely book a table at either Osteria Mozza at 6602 Melrose Avenue or Pizzeria Mozza at 641 North Highland Avenue (+ 1 323 297 0101), the hot new Italian eateries from a triumvirate of dedicated foodies: Nancy Silverton, Mario Batali and Joseph Bastianich. Worship at the altar of meat at Boa, a celeb-studded steakhouse with good looks and potent cocktails at 9200 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood. Much like the Marmont, Sunset Trocadero channels classic Hollywood, with a menu of firm favourites and a dab hand at Martini-making. Head to Katana at 8439 West Sunset Boulevard, for traditional Japanese food cooked on a charcoal grill, served with a tasty trio of dipping sauces – ginger, ponzu and soy mustard.

Local cafés

Urth Café on Melrose (+1 310 205 9311) is where West Hollywood’s locals head for their organic tea and coffee fix.

Local bars

Check out the deco styling of the Terrace at Sunset Tower Hotel’s Tower Bar and have pre-dinner drinks on the old-Hollywood-style terrace.

Reviews

Photos Chateau Marmont reviews
Raoul Shah

Anonymous review

By Raoul Shah, Superbrand superhero

The giddy anticipation begins as we leave LAX, set for Sunset Boulevard. Having flown in from Las Vegas, we needed a place that was less Hollywood cliché and more European retreat. Perched on the hills above the hustle and bustle, this folly bourgeois has all the rambling corridors, vaulted colonnades and palm-fringed pools we could hope for – thrown in with a decent measure of mod cons and mid-century design to temper its original 1930s Arts and Craftsiness. Its idiosyncratic pseudo-Norman architecture shines out across LA from high in the hills like a Disney castle gone bad; its turrets and towers a siren call to playboys and their perfectly coiffed muses. You know the script – Led Zep roaring through the lobby on their Harleys; Jean Harlow bunking up with Clark Gable; Johnny Depp and Kate Moss romping in every room – it is time for us to write, direct and star in our own off-screen version.

James Dean, Greta Garbo, Helmut Newton, Jim Morrison, John Belushi, Chateau Marmont... It's rare when a hotel's name itself sits so comfortably in a roll call of Hollywood greats and rock ’n’ roll legends. That's what this hotel has become – great and legendary – since it first opened in 1929.

The entrance is so discreet we feel we’re being led into a private house. In fact, the first person we meet is the valet guy, since the path to the front door passes the garage. He’s keen to carry our cases up to reception and doesn’t even hang around for a tip – perhaps he was trained in Europe?

Reception is low-key, relaxed and no one makes much of a fuss. Given the hotel’s clientele, it’s unlikely much would faze the folks working here. The staff is even more stylish than the guests – none are in a typical uniform. The only giveaway someone might be on the payroll? A mannered French pronunciation of ‘chateau’ that sounds like ‘shut-o’.

Our room not quite ready, we’re offered a drink in the lounge. A no-camera policy enhances the off-duty mood, and people are all actually talking to each other. Conversations seem more social than business, although we earwig a ‘shopping’ and ‘script’ dropped in the same sentence. This lobby is one of the inner-circle hangouts by night, alongside the terrace and restaurant, all within view of each other. As next door’s Bar Marmont is open to all, we take advantage of our exclusive chance to dine here, and make a reservation in the hotel’s restaurant later.

Keys are handed to me with the fantastic news I’ve been upgraded to a top-floor suite with a terrace. Merci, Marmont. Suites are individually furnished, and beyond the array of vintage furniture and parquet flooring are two headline acts – a bedroom and a kitchen. In attention-grabbing cameo roles come,old-fashioned keys and ‘do not disturb’ signs. The kitchen has a huge American-size fridgee and it’s filled with virtually everything for all tastes. A 1950s-style diner is definitely the place to invite friends for drinks to and it proves a fun place to start and finish a hedonistic evening with friends, with dinner in the middle.

Supper is, as expected, delicious and lively. Call me unadventurous, but I plump for the spaghetti bolognese. It’s rare for this to be a standout dish, but it more than lives up to the restaurant’s reputation. Accompanied by a good French red from an excellent list, I could see this becoming a habit. We secretly hope we get to meet the executive chef, Carolyn Spence, who’s behind the Chateau Marmont's dining options. Not just to thank her in person for such a great meal but also because secretly I I’ve heard folk marvel at her arms tattooed with foliage as lush looking as out in the garden.

And so to the pillow talk: the bed itself proves to be the most comfortable ever, sorting out my jetlag in eight relaxing hours. My carpeted boudoir couldn’t have been cosier, helped along by a scented candle that the chambermaid lit as part of the turndown service. If Chateau Marmont is an American take on a French castle, it’s certainly got the styling, decor and vintage furnishings correct.

In the morning, we sneak a tour of the infamous bungalows. Each is terribly private and begs more than a night’s stay. Designed as second homes/private party places/city retreats/illicit affair rendezvous* (*delete as applicable) – as per the inscription of producer Harry Cohn’s quote, ‘If you must get in trouble, do it at the Chateau Marmont’. Shrouded in amazing gardens, the bungalows allow for very VIP-fit entrances and exits.

Jasmine blossoms and eucalyptus leaves lend an exotic aroma, and our stroll conjures memories of a romantic island holiday in the Maldives. Given that the pool is heated all year, it’s a little patch of year-round tropicality. It’s hard to imagine that only a wall and some very well landscaped trees and plants stand between this sanctuary and traffic-packed Sunset Boulevard.

While louche Sunset Boulevard may not be the sexiest address in town for everyone, the Château makes it a true destination – you can even spot buses of tourists pulling up to photograph that signature neon sign. Deserving of its iconic status, this hip but homely hideaway is an antidote to the over designed tendencies seen in Tinseltown. Here it is easy to relax and drop a gear, knowing that you’ll be treated with the same attitude whether rich, famous, or neither.

Now I have a confession to make. I know I’ve been saying ‘we’. It is kind of the royal ‘we’. Truth is, I’ve been here on my own – but I didn’t want to bust the Mr & Mrs Smith vibe, as this is a place made for times as a twosome. Next visit – and there will definitely be a next visit – upgrade or not, I’m bringing my wife. Not only will she love this hideaway, she also says ‘chateau’ in that alluring way that only French women can.

Book now

Price per night from $541.45