Here’s something Los Angeles residents underutilize: their own city’s best hotels. Conrad Los Angeles, tucked inside Frank Gehry’s stunning Grand on Bunker Hill, isn’t just a place for out-of-towners to sleep. It’s a destination with a Michelin-recognized restaurant, a world-class spa, and now a tableside cognac ritual that may be the most cinematic sip in the city — steps from one of the great concert halls in the world.
The hotel opened in 2022, and at the time, the conversation was largely architectural. Gehry. The skyline. The neighborhood transformation. But this is what good luxury properties do over time: they layer in. The bones were always there. What’s happening now is a refinement of the experience layer — two new offerings, in particular, that give this property a fresh reason to be on your radar whether you’ve visited before or not.
The ingredients for a genuinely special evening, or a full restorative weekend, are all here. Some of the best experiences in this city are hiding in plain sight inside hotel lobbies, and Conrad Los Angeles is one of the best examples of that we have. The only question is how you want to build your visit.
The Indulgent Evening: For Those Who Imbibe
Start at San Laurel, Chef José Andrés’s Michelin-recognized restaurant on the property. The menu moves through the flavors of Spain as seen through a California lens — the abundant, beautiful produce of the Golden State given the Andrés treatment. Book a table, settle in, and before the food arrives, summon the cart.
Conrad Los Angeles has recently partnered with LOUIS XIII Cognac to offer the “Perfect Pour” — a tableside ritual that, to our knowledge, isn’t replicated anywhere else in the city with this level of ceremony. (LOUIS XIII does appear at Hotel Bel-Air and Novikov Beverly Hills, but those venues pour the Rare Cask 42.1, a $5,000-per-ounce expression. This is a different experience built around the house’s classic cognac, and it’s more about the ritual than the price point.) A staff member arrives in a white jacket and white gloves, pushing a branded cart carrying one of the world’s most storied spirits. The glasses are part of the exclusive “Perfect Pour” collector’s kit, originally distributed only to LOUIS XIII’s highest-tier partners: tulip-shaped, double-walled, engineered to ring when they meet. When you toast, the sound carries through the room. Everyone nearby knows what’s happening, and there’s something wonderfully theatrical about that signal.
The pour itself arrives through a precision mechanism that draws the exact right measure without a drop wasted — an echo of the pipette the Cellar Master uses to draw eaux-de-vie directly from the barrel in Cognac, France. What’s in the glass is a blend of up to 1,200 different eaux-de-vie, some aged over a century in Limousin oak. Hold the glass at arm’s length first to take in the deep amber and mahogany hues, then bring it slowly toward your nose — light florals, then wood and spice, then preserved fruits and honey. It is, in a very literal sense, time in a glass. LOUIS XIII recommends it as an aperitif before dinner, which makes the sequencing here feel exactly right.
Perfect Pour pricing: ½ oz ($100) · 1 oz ($200) · 2 oz ($400)
After dinner, the evening has a natural next act: The Phil, right across the plaza. The Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall is one of the great cultural institutions in the world, and the fact that you can walk to it from your table at San Laurel — cognac still warm — is a distinctly LA privilege most people don’t take advantage of. Pre-symphony cognac at a Michelin table, then Gustavo Dudamel. That is the move.
If you’re making a night of it, Conrad’s rooms and suites are worth the upgrade. Waking up in Gehry’s building with downtown LA spread below you is its own reward.
The Wellness Weekend: For Those Who Want to Reset
The other entry point into Conrad Los Angeles is through the spa — and it’s equally compelling.
The hotel has introduced a new treatment: the Lymphatic Drainage & Sculpting Ritual Massage/Facial, led by a certified specialist. For a property that has always had a world-class spa, this feels like a meaningful addition rather than a trend being chased. The treatment begins by opening key lymph nodes to stimulate fluid release and circulation — the essential foundation of any serious lymphatic protocol — then moves into manual drainage and sculpting techniques designed to tone and define while supporting the body’s natural elimination processes and restoring energetic flow. The result is that particular quality of lightness that good lymphatic work delivers. Prices start at $260.
Lymphatic drainage has had a genuine moment in wellness culture, but what distinguishes this offering is the precision of the protocol and the certification behind it. This isn’t a spa adding a buzzword to a menu. It reads as a real specialty, and it belongs in the same conversation as the best standalone wellness offerings in the city.
Build a full day around it. Come in the morning, take the treatment, spend time in the spa’s facilities, then settle into a long lunch at The Beaudry Room. For a true staycation, book a night and let it breathe: spa in the morning, the afternoon at leisure, and a walk across the plaza to The Phil come evening. The Grand rewards slowing down inside it — architecturally, experientially, in every sense.
The Short Version
Conrad Los Angeles is one of those rare places where every element operates at the same register: the architecture, the restaurant, the spa, the partnerships. You don’t need a special occasion to go. But if you’re looking for one — a cognac aperitif before the symphony, a sculpting ritual followed by a long lunch, or simply the pleasure of one of the city’s most considered addresses — the reasons are stacking up.
Hotels aren’t just for visitors. They’re often home to the best of what a city has to offer. Conrad Los Angeles is making that case better than most right now.
