Renaissance Agoura Hills050

This hotel is welcoming from the greeting at the front desk until the moment of departure, and almost as comfortable as home - but with a nicer pool.

Renaissance Agoura Hills' accommodations are ample - a generous-sized outdoor pool, communications connections, exercise rooms, and a terrific restaurant. While the restaurant looks like a grown up kind of place, the staff is very accommodating and kind to antsy toddlers, hungry soccer players, and weary parents.

Dinner choices are uniformly good, but our favorite meal is the breakfast buffet (Adults $13; Kids $5), which features made-to-order waffles, a constantly replenished supply of fresh fruits, eggs, bacon, sausage, oatmeal, cold cereals, and sweet breads.

Overeating can be worked off at either of two indoor exercise rooms, equipped with ellipticals, freeweights, treadmills, stationary bikes, and a stair machine. Water and towels are provided in both rooms.

A coin-operated guest laundry room on the main floor offers four washers/dryers, laundry soap, and a neat solution for families who might need to wash a favorite blankie or stuffed animal before someone can go to sleep.

A small snack shop near the main desk sells the sorts of things people forget (like razors and hairspray) along with postcards, stamps, and film.