I thought you would all be interested in an update on the Hotel Bel-Air. As you know, Global Traveler held many events at the property, and it become our home-away-from-home. It closed this past October for massive renovations, including the completion of the spa.

The Hotel Bel-Air refurbishment is still in the design phase, and I am told it will be spectacular. The owners are bringing the property up to the standards of today’s guest while still maintaining the residential feel for which the HBA has been known for many years. Those of us who frequented the property are anticipating the changes as well as looking forward to what will remain the same.

The swans are still on property and are very happy to be home throughout the refurbishment. As those who have been to the Hotel Bel-Air know, the swans are a signature of the property. They make their home in the little pond over which guests cross to enter the hotel.

Alexandra Champalimaud, the famed designer of other Dorchester Collection properties as well as Boston’s Liberty Hotel and the American Airlines Arena skyboxes, is the interior designer. She just won an award for “Interior Designer of the Year.” David Rockwell, the HBA restaurant designer, was just awarded, for the second year, the opportunity to do the 82nd Academy Awards production. The Hotel Bel-Air definitely has the top people on this project!

The Bar will be also be upgraded, yet the area’s illustrious history will be maintained, which I think is very important. Overall, I am told the process is going well, with an anticipated completion date in mid-2011. That might be a bit optimistic, but one never knows.

— Fran Gallagher, publisher and CEO