Spencer Pratt Says His $1,200-a-Night Hotel Bel-Air Stay Was the Cheaper Option Because of Death Threats and Security Costs, Fox News Reports
Pratt, who lost the June mayoral primary, posted on X that a walled hotel saved him about $3,000 a night in extra rooms for his guards. The threats and costs are his account; Fox did not independently confirm them.
Reality star Spencer Pratt has explained why he stayed at the Hotel Bel-Air during his Los Angeles mayoral run, saying it was the cheapest safe option as threats against him and his family piled up, Fox News reports.
The background. Fox says Pratt, 43, faced scrutiny in May after TMZ reported he had been staying at the luxury hotel even though a campaign ad suggested he was living in an Airstream trailer on his Pacific Palisades lot, which was destroyed in the fire. Pratt disputed the extent of the stay, saying he spent no more than six days there in the prior month. He lost the June primary and ran as a Republican.
His explanation. In a long post on X Tuesday, Pratt wrote that "the Hotel Bel Air was the cheapest hotel in all of LA" once security was counted. He said the hotel is surrounded by a wall with a single entrance and a maze of bungalows, so his guards were comfortable leaving him there. Anywhere else, he said, his team would have needed three more rooms at about $3,000 a night. "Even staying at a Motel 6 would've cost me more money," he wrote.
The threats. Pratt said he got numerous death threats and hired full-time armed security, then a second detail for his family. He said people broke into his lot and left notes containing white powder on the Airstream, and that a man "hellbent on tracking me down" charged at his young son in the ocean. He said his Palisades lot, set on a slope and exposed to high ground, was a security risk and he was told not to stay there. He also wrote that campaign staff had told him not to explain the real reason until the election was over.
His argument. Pratt claimed "an epidemic of left wing violence" leaves Republicans with "a permanent fundraising disadvantage," because security eats campaign money. He said Councilmember Nithya Raman once arrived at debate prep with no visible security while he had several armed officers. He added that he still faces threats and trespassers and cannot now afford the same protection.
What we could not check. Every claim about threats, incidents, costs and the campaign's instructions is Pratt's own account in a social media post. Fox does not say police confirmed the incidents. We have not seen the post and do not know who made or investigated the threats. His claim about political violence falling harder on one party is his opinion, and we have not weighed it against data.