Josh Flagg Reveals the Key to a Great Hotel (and He’s the Expert… He Lives in One!)

At just 30 years old, Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles’ Josh Flagg has already closed $1 billion in real estate sales over the course of his career. So you can bet when he travels, he’s not exactly staying in Holiday Inns.

No, Flagg has a deep passion for travel, and a serious affinity for some of the world’s finest hotel properties — with vast knowledge gleaned from significant first-hand experience.

With decades of luxury travel already under his belt, he cited a couple of favorite hotels to which he remains deeply loyal.

“My favorite hotel on earth is Hotel du Cap,” Flagg told The Daily Dish of the ritzy property in Antibes, France. “There is no greater place then sitting in the pool overlooking the Cote de Azure and sipping on a bellini.” (Yes, please. Oh, garcon!)

Hotel du Cap

In addition to Josh, many other bold-faced names have taken note of the property’s blissful offerings over the years: It’s been famously photographed many times, perhaps most notably by Slim Aarons, whose photographs, he said, “say it all.”

Josh said his runner-up pick for his favorite hotel in the world is also in France: the George V in Paris, a Four Seasons property. “I adore this hotel because I would stay there with my grandmother two or three times a year,” he said, remembering the late Edith Flagg, a prominent figure on MDLLA until she passed away last year; the pair were deeply devoted to one another.

 George V

“We would sometimes hop on a last-minute flight and just be adventurous and go to the hotel for a few days before coming back to L.A.” 

Among his fondest memories from those days? “I can still see my grandmother drinking her coffee next to the piano off the hotel lobby,” he said. “It will forever be engraved in my mind.”

When it comes to what makes a superlative hotel, Josh — a well-known aesthete — said design is important, of course. “Firstly it has to be aesthetically pleasing.”

Josh and Edith

But exemplary service is a close second on his priority list. “The service is almost just as important as the looks of the property,” he said. “When I go to a good hotel, I like to get my ass kissed. That makes a really good property: When you walk in, they know your name. They Google you, they do their research, they do what they need to [to provide a personalized V.I.P. experience].”

In fact, he loves five-star hotels so much… that he actually lives in one! Rather than building an opulent nest in a traditional residence, Flagg has lived in high-end Beverly Hills hotels off and on for years.

Four Seasons Beverly Hills

“I just just love [the lifestyle],” he said. But is a private home in his future? “I have immediate plans to buy another house, but I don’t think I’ll move into that house — I’ll probably live in a hotel forever,” he said. “People ask me why would I want to live in a hotel… I say why wouldn’t I?”