Hotel: Fairmont Breakers (Long Beach, CA)
Room Booked: King Bed City View
Rate: $262 rebooked to $249 + $40 taxes and fees (does not include $46 resort fee, which Amex Travel lists, but was eventually not charged, or parking)
Late Checkout: 4pm
Upgrade: Deluxe room and higher floor upon request
$100 Food & Beverage Credit: Yes
Breakfast: $60 room credit for two (although I stayed solo, but, as you'll learn shortly, it doesn't buy you that much)
Prepaid/Paid at Hotel: Prepaid + resort fee not charged
Loyalty Points/Benefits Received?: Accor points and night credit No. The front desk employee said I'd get both (I didn't even ask, she volunteered the info); when I saw nothing post in my account, I e-mailed them and was told third-party bookings, including Amex, weren't eligible. Today, checked my Accor account and the points and night credit did post.
Comment: I've not seen this hotel discussed here much (I believe it's a fairly recent add to the FHR portfolio), so I figured I'd add a data point if anyone searches for it. All in all, it's a pretty decent property in a location that I personally feel is under-appreciated. I'd lived in L.A. until 2010 and never really considered Long Beach as much of a destination, the aquarium and Queen Mary notwithstanding, but in 2025, there's actually quite a bit going on here. But, this isn't meant to be a review of the city as much as it is of the hotel, so here goes:I booked it more or less last-minute (a week in advance). The rate was $301, then dropped to $289, so I re-booked and still kept my credit (Amex didn't even have time to claw it back because of the cancellation). I was informed, on Amex Travel, that I would be responsible for the $46.xx "urban experience" fee at the hotel (which includes a $60 Spa, $40 food and beverage and $20 movie rental credit). When I e-mailed the concierge and, indeed, upon my arrival at the hotel, I was informed that I would not need to pay this because I booked through FHR. Weird. But I'm not complaining, even though I did transfer some points into my Accor account in advance to pay for the charge (which the front desk also didn't think was possible, but, through others' experiences, I know it is). So, $89 in total to stay at a historic location right in the middle of everything. I could do significantly worse.

The hotel itself is as beautiful as advertised. They upgraded me to a deluxe room; I asked for a higher floor and got the 10th, overlooking the city. Not much of a view, but what can you do. The room itself was nice - given the era it was built, I could have expected a lot of gold and mouldings, but it turned out to be pretty modern. A few spots of marble and a mid-20th century lounging chair were pretty much the only indicators of the hotel's historic design. There's a gym on the first floor and a pool, which, even though it's only 3 1/2 ft deep, is good enough to do some laps in.

The room itself was actually pretty spartan, but I actually like it this way. The aforementioned lounger, plus a large and fairly comfortable bed, big heavy pillows, absolutely awesome shower, large up-to-date TV, a round desk/dining table and an armchair - and that's pretty much it. As far as amenities go, there's a Nespresso machine and a pretty generic mini-fridge. There is a pretty glaring omission, though - I was only able to find one electrical outlet and although it featured both USB-A and USB-C, it was located on the same wall as the TV. Definitely could have used one by my bedside table to charge my phone and watch.

As far as on-site credits go... There's a spa on site and you can book a massage or a facial. A regular 60-minute massage costs $220 and above (depending on the technician, I guess) and, ironically, it would have been better value had I been forced to pay the "urban tax" and stack the $60 on top of the $100. As it is, I'm not sure I'd get a better massage here for $120 and above than in any number of places for less. There's no gift or sundry shop on site, so you can't use the credits there, either. So, basically, the only thing you can spend this credit on is food. Which is exactly what I did. "Free breakfast" amounts to a $60 credit since there is no buffet. So, in all, you've got $160 to spend between breakfast and dinner (since you'll probably have checked out by lunch, unless you take full advantage of the 4 pm checkout).

For dinner, I went with the burrata and pear salad, the tenderloin steak, a panna cotta for dessert and a virgin Bloody Mary. The steak was pretty good (even though the knife they give you to cut it is barely sharper than a butter knife, so you might suspect shoe leather before you bite into it), the fingerling potatoes and broccolini were perfectly cooked, so zero complaints there. The burrata and pear "salad" (which basically amounted to half a roasted pear and a blob of burrata with some bread slices was also pretty on point. The panna cotta was OK. Definitely not $14 worth, but tasty. The Bloody Mary was disgusting - and not just because they messed up my order and I took a healthy swig of vodka when I didn't really expect to. To their credit, after initially being defensive about not hearing the "virgin" part, they apologized it, removed it from the bill and brought me a real one without alcohol, but it tasted horribly. Oversalted and overspiced, super bitter - honestly, the one with the vodka might have been better. The total damage, with the slutty Mary removed from the bill - $116, including the $7 delivery charge and 20% gratuity. Would I order such a meal in the normal course of events? Not on your life. Was it still a tasty early dinner for someone who had barely eaten all day and ended up paying sixteen bucks for it in the end? Definitely.

For breakfast, I went with the avocado toast with two poached eggs, a side of bacon and a latte. $68 all in, so $8 after the credit. The bacon came cold, the "medium" poached eggs had whites that were way too runny and yolks that were way too hard, but the toast with the avocado mush was good. The latte could be best described as "drinkable". The food selection overall is pretty varied, so you might have better luck with other options, but if you really like avocado toast and feel inclined to get it, then just get it by itself, without the add-ons. Again, value for money is basically nonexistent, but you're not paying for it, at least overtly, so it's fine.

Oh, yeah, wi-fi literally took multiple attempts across multiple hours to bring me to a login screen and I'm not convinced it wasn't my call to reception which prompted a router reset. It's not super fast, either.

TL;DR: excellent value if you hadn't yet used up the credit, perfect location in DTLB, okay-ish food offerings, no real other use for the on-property credits, quality rooms with some questionable tech choices. Overall 4/5.