Photos of 17 Luxury Hotels Famous for Celebrity Stays
When celebrities need to disappear from the world for a while, they don’t check into budget motels. They retreat to places where privacy comes with marble floors, where service means never having to ask twice, and where the staff have mastered the art of selective blindness.
These hotels have become legends not just for their opulence, but for the famous faces that have walked their halls, slept in their suites, and occasionally made headlines from their premises.
The Plaza Hotel
The Plaza doesn’t ask for your autograph. It’s been collecting famous guests since 1907 like other hotels collect room keys.
Frank Sinatra kept a suite here. The Beatles caused near-riots on the street outside when they stayed in 1964.
Every president since Teddy Roosevelt has passed through these doors. The hotel treats celebrity like weather – inevitable, sometimes dramatic, but just another day at the office.
The Chateau Marmont
Think of the Chateau Marmont as that friend who never tells your secrets, except this friend has been keeping Hollywood’s secrets since 1929 (and charging handsomely for the privilege). The hotel sits above Sunset Strip like a stone fortress, which is essentially what it is – a fortress against paparazzi, gossip columnists, and anyone else who might interrupt the serious business of being famous.
Writers come here to finish screenplays they’ve been avoiding for months, actors come here to avoid writers who want to pitch them screenplays, and directors come here to avoid both groups entirely while pretending to read scripts they’ll never make.
And the staff – well, the staff have perfected that particular Los Angeles skill of recognizing everyone while appearing to recognize no one at all, which is saying something in a city built on the carefully orchestrated collision of ego and insecurity.
The Carlyle
There’s something about the Carlyle that turns celebrities into regulars rather than guests. Maybe it’s the way the doormen remember your name without checking their notes, or maybe it’s the soundproofed walls that have absorbed decades of private conversations.
Princess Diana stayed here when she needed to escape royal protocol. John F. Kennedy famously kept a suite, though the hotel prefers not to discuss the details.
The walls here don’t just have ears – they have discretion.
Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc
Movie stars migrate to Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc each May like wealthy, well-dressed birds returning to their nest. The hotel perches on the French Riviera during the Cannes Film Festival, and suddenly becomes the most important piece of real estate in the entertainment world.
De Niro stays here. So do Clooney, DiCaprio, and whoever else needs to conduct the serious business of being photographed while pretending to be on vacation.
The staff speak fluent celebrity – a language that consists mostly of knowing when not to speak at all.
The Beverly Hills Hotel
The Beverly Hills Hotel painted itself pink in 1948 and somehow convinced the world this was sophisticated rather than ridiculous. It worked (the convincing part, not just the paint job, though both have held up remarkably well over the decades).
The Polo Lounge became the unofficial cafeteria for Hollywood deal-making, where agents whisper sweet nothings about backend percentages into the ears of actors who pretend to understand what backend percentages actually are.
Elizabeth Taylor honeymooned here six times – not six different honeymoons with the same person, mind you, but six separate marriages, which tells you something either about the hotel’s romantic atmosphere or Taylor’s optimistic approach to matrimony, and probably both.
So when people talk about old Hollywood glamour, they’re usually talking about this place, whether they realize it or not – it’s become the shorthand for an entire era when movie stars were still mysterious and the paparazzi had to work a little harder for their shots.
The Ritz Paris
Coco Chanel lived at the Ritz Paris for 44 years. Not stayed – lived.
Her suite overlooked Place Vendôme, and she treated the hotel staff like family, which for Chanel meant they had to meet impossibly high standards while pretending it was effortless.
Hemingway claimed he “liberated” the bar here during World War II, though the Germans had already left. Diana, Princess of Wales, spent her final hours in the Imperial Suite.
The hotel collects these stories like other places collect dust.
Claridge’s
Claridge’s has been the London address for anyone who matters since before mattering was properly catalogued. The Art Deco lobby has witnessed more discreet conversations than the House of Lords, though with considerably better champagne service.
Queen Elizabeth II has taken tea here. So have Brad Pitt, George Clooney, and every other American actor who wants to feel sophisticated for a week.
The staff maintain that particularly British talent of being simultaneously welcoming and intimidating.
The Gramercy Park Hotel
The Gramercy Park Hotel attracts the kind of celebrities who want to be seen not seeing other celebrities. The lobby feels like a private club that someone forgot to make actually private, with oversized artwork and furniture that costs more than most people’s cars arranged in configurations that suggest deep thought about spatial relationships, or at least expensive consultation fees paid to people who think deeply about spatial relationships for a living.
Musicians love this place – everyone from Bob Dylan to Lady Gaga has holed up here, probably because the soundproofing allows them to practice without disturbing the neighbors, and in Manhattan, non-disturbed neighbors are worth their weight in gold, which coincidentally is about what you pay per night to stay here.
And the key to Gramercy Park itself – well, that’s just showing off, but sometimes showing off is exactly the point.
The Sunset Tower Hotel
The Sunset Tower Hotel sits on Sunset Strip like a Art Deco exclamation point, and celebrities treat it accordingly. John Wayne kept an apartment here back when it was residential.
So did Howard Hughes, though he spent more time watching the building across the street through binoculars than enjoying the amenities.
These days, the hotel attracts actors who want to feel like old Hollywood without actually having to live through the studio system. The rooftop pool offers views of Los Angeles that make even jaded celebrities reach for their phones.
The St. Regis New York
The St. Regis invented room service in 1904, which makes it directly responsible for countless celebrities never learning to cook for themselves. The King Cole Bar has served drinks to everyone from Salvador Dalí to Marilyn Monroe, though presumably not at the same time.
The hotel treats celebrity like fine wine – best enjoyed in private, properly aged, and never discussed in polite company. John Lennon and Yoko Ono lived here for a while, which tells you something about both their taste and their bank account.
Soho House West Hollywood
Soho House West Hollywood operates on a simple principle: if you have to ask whether you’re famous enough to get in, you’re not (though having enough money can sometimes substitute for fame, and having both money and fame means you never wait for anything, ever, which might be the real definition of success in Los Angeles). The rooftop pool has become the unofficial headquarters for whatever passes for the creative class in Hollywood, which means screenwriters pretending to work on laptops while actually watching actors pretend not to notice producers pretending to read scripts.
Membership here carries a certain cachet, the way driving a Bentley carries cachet – everyone knows it’s expensive, most people assume it’s worth it, and the people who have one rarely feel the need to explain themselves.
And the “no phones” policy in most areas means celebrities can actually have conversations without worrying about ending up on social media, which in 2024 might be the ultimate luxury.
The Greenwich Hotel
The Greenwich Hotel in Tribeca feels like someone’s very wealthy, very well-traveled grandmother decorated a hotel, if that grandmother had impeccable taste and unlimited resources. Each room looks different, filled with antiques and artifacts that suggest stories without telling them outright.
Robert De Niro co-owns the place, which explains why so many actors end up here. The hotel spa features a 250-year-old farmhouse imported from Japan, because apparently regular relaxation wasn’t sufficient.
Celebrities appreciate the privacy and the fact that the staff seem genuinely unimpressed by fame.
Four Seasons George V Paris
The Four Seasons George V Paris proves that the French approach to luxury hospitality involves a level of attention to detail that borders on obsessive-compulsive disorder, except when obsessive-compulsive disorder produces Michelin-starred restaurants and flower arrangements that cost more than most people’s monthly rent. The hotel sits steps from the Champs-Élysées, which means celebrities can shop at boutiques that don’t list prices (because if you need to ask, etc.) and return to rooms where the thread count of the sheets has been calculated with scientific precision.
Fashion Week turns this place into mission control for the global fashion industry, where supermodels and designers conduct the serious business of making next season’s clothes while pretending this season’s clothes are already obsolete.
So when celebrities want to feel European without actually having to deal with European efficiency, they come here, where American expectations meet French sophistication and somehow both sides emerge satisfied.
The NoMad Hotel
The NoMad Hotel occupies a Beaux-Arts building that once housed offices and now houses celebrities who appreciate architecture along with their amenities. The lobby library attracts actors who want to be photographed reading, though the selection suggests someone actually curated these books rather than just filling shelves.
Daniel Humm’s restaurant brings in celebrities who care about food, not just being seen eating. The rooftop bar offers views of the Empire State Building, which never gets old, even for people who see it every day.
The hotel feels like a private club that happens to rent rooms.
The London West Hollywood
The London West Hollywood sits above Sunset Boulevard and treats celebrity like a neighborhood amenity – present, appreciated, but not particularly remarkable. The suites come with full kitchens, which means celebrities can pretend they cook for themselves, even though room service probably gets more use than the stove.
The rooftop restaurant draws actors, musicians, and whatever other species of famous person happens to be in town. The hotel’s British roots show in the service style – attentive without being intrusive, professional without being cold.
Shutters on the Beach
Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica offers celebrities something rare in Los Angeles: actual beachfront property they can access without fighting traffic. The hotel feels like a New England beach house that grew up and moved to California, bringing East Coast charm and West Coast weather together in a package that costs accordingly.
The wooden walkway to the sand means celebrities can go from their rooms to the ocean without encountering paparazzi or parking meters. The hotel spa offers treatments with ocean views, because apparently regular massages weren’t sufficiently relaxing.
The Mark
The Mark treats the Upper East Side like its personal kingdom, and celebrities like visiting dignitaries who deserve appropriate ceremony (though the ceremony here involves thread counts and champagne rather than actual crowns, which is probably more comfortable for everyone involved). The hotel’s black-and-white striped floors make every entrance feel like a fashion shoot, which explains why so many actual fashion shoots happen here, along with the occasional celebrity who wants to feel like they’re starring in their own personal movie about being fabulous in New York.
Meghan Markle stayed here before her royal wedding, which tells you something about both her taste and her approach to pre-wedding stress management – most people get a massage, she got a suite at one of Manhattan’s most expensive hotels.
And the restaurant by Jean-Georges means celebrities can eat Michelin-starred food without leaving the building, though given the prices, they might not save any money by staying in.
Timeless Retreats
These hotels understand something fundamental about celebrity that most places miss. Fame isn’t just about recognition – it’s about the exhausting weight of constant performance.
These properties offer something money can’t usually buy: the freedom to exist without an audience, to be boring if necessary, to eat room service in pajamas without someone posting about it online.
They’ve mastered the delicate balance between luxury and privacy, between service and discretion. That’s why celebrities keep returning, why these hotels have survived changes in fashion and taste, and why their guest registers read like Hollywood history books.
The best luxury isn’t always about having more – sometimes it’s about having less. Less intrusion, less performance, less of everything except what actually matters.
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