Brentwood hotel offers a posh voting experience

Turn into the winding driveway hidden by foliage and a man in a suit greets you before offering complimentary valet parking. Staff members in lavender polo shirts guide you to a hallway where smoked salmon sandwiches garnished with olives and cucumbers await. Ceramic platters of cookies are plentiful and salads are served in Asian takeout boxes paired with chopsticks. Tiny jars of honey are available to accompany your tea.

This is voting, Brentwood-style.

“It just makes it an experience,” said Erla Perez as she noshed on a salad at the Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel, located in one of Los Angeles’ most affluent neighborhoods.

The 18-year-old nursing student lives in the dorms at Mount St. Mary’s College and arrived Tuesday with her two roommates after class, all of them still in their white scrubs and tennis shoes.

One of them, Yanira Olague, 19, had requested an absentee ballot but was glad she decided to turn it in by hand, even if it meant feeling self-conscious about her 1992 Honda Civic among the luxury cars.

“This was way more exciting than if I had mailed it in,” Olague said.

It was the first time at the polls for all three, and the young women laughed that their future voting experiences probably were ruined.

“Next time we’ll be like, ‘Where are the cookies and sandwiches?’ ” said Diana Zuniga, 19.

Things appeared to be going smoothly at the hotel Tuesday afternoon with no lines and many voters enjoying the refreshments and shaded patio, where the background noise was made up of soft elevator music and the rush of fountains.

Guests were encouraged to use the free Wi-Fi and watch TV. Many lingered at tables covered in white linen. Employees were quick to answer questions and encourage voters to help themselves to the food. “This is great marketing,” remarked one man.

The only problems were “too much sun, too many croissants for the day,” joked Charles Harris, the hotel’s vice president of marketing.

He said the hotel simply aimed to “present ourselves in a professional manner” on what is the Luxe’s third time serving as a polling place in a presidential election.

The perks were open not just to voters but hotel guests and members of the community, General Manager Amy Commans said. This year the hotel added bundles of red, white and blue balloons to the decor and gave flag lapel pins to all the staff.

“It’s overall just a patriotic glow,” Commans said.

Next to the coffee, soft drinks and bottled water wrapped in the hotel’s logo were cards that read, “Thank you for voting today!” along with an offer for a hotel room at the discounted rate of $185. The average nightly rate for a room is about $250, while a suite can cost up to $1,200, Commans said.

Some voters appreciated the hotel’s effort but admitted they felt a little guilty when hearing about long waits at other places that probably lacked hors d’oeuvres.

“This place is like, ‘Come vote!’ ” said Greg Ferkel. “We’re a little spoiled, I guess.”

But the 38-year-old attorney said that although the setup was nice, he was more excited about the day itself, one that had even inspired his 4-year-old daughter. (She is firmly in support of President Obama.)

“It’s a day where everybody’s doing the same thing and I think it brings us together as a city,” Ferkel said. “There’s kind of a nice mood to the day, everyone’s checking the same stories, everybody’s invested.”

corina.knoll@latimes.com