Holiday Fitness Hotels: The best hotel fitness centers in Los Angeles

'Tis the season for lots of feastin'! With turkeys, sweets, fatty trimmings, and sugary cocktails in your face all winter long, it wouldn't be such a bad idea to bump fitness center offerings up closer to the top of your priority list when you're searching for a place to stay. To offset your festive calorie bombs during your holiday travel, you best be hitting those hotel gyms -- and here are our selections for the finest hotel fitness centers in Los Angeles.

With floor-to-ceiling windows and top-of-the-line equipment (as well as a separate exercise studio with spinner bikes), the Terranea's large fitness center feels more like a full-service club than a typical hotel gym. On the less-rigorous side, the resort offers boccie ball and croquet terrain with free equipment rental, and three pools with great views of the ocean.

The 24-hour fitness center on the 2nd floor isn't especially big, but there's plenty of high-end equipment -- and a skylight and ample windows keep it bright and airy. The hotel spa's exercise studio runs classes that fuse core conditioning, Pilates, Lotte Berk, and yoga; $20 for hotel guests, $24 for others; includes use of spa facilities (no spa day passes available otherwise).

The Beverly Hilton's Fitness Center by Precor, added in 2006, is bright and open, despite the lack of windows. There are seven treadmills, four elliptical machines, and three bicycles, all with individual TV screens.

The spacious, sun-bathed fitness center at the Loews Santa Monica has a separate spin class/yoga/aerobic studio, free fruit and fruit-enhanced water, and a locker room with a sauna and steam room. The Technogym cardio equipment features personal TV screens and iPod docking stations. Full gym access, including classes, costs $10 per day.

The 2,500-square-foot, 24-hour SLS gym has four treadmills, five elliptical machines, two upright bikes, and one recumbent bike -- all with personal TV monitors -- and an enormous assortment of weight machines, weights, and balls. Even the stretching mats and exercise balls at the SLS fitness center match the hotel's aesthetic. Personal training sessions are available; trainers are overseen by celebrity fitness instructor Harley Pasternak, whose clients include Kanye West and Halle Berry.

Among the Sofitel's top features is its 5,000-square-foot spa and fitness center -- so well equipped that locals can buy memberships to use the facilities. The SoFit fitness center is just a few years old and has dozens of Life Fitness cardio and weight machines.

Although the London's indoor gym is small and cramped, its outdoor rooftop fitness area, with a treadmill, a recumbent bike, and two yoga mats, offers superb city views for exercisers.

The Beverly Wilshire's huge fitness center has a whole floor devoted to cardio, with over a dozen TechnoGym machines with individual TVs. The 2nd floor is dedicated to strength training, with a vast array of weight machines; there's also a large, tranquil room set aside for yoga. Water, Gatorade, and fruit are offered free; all that's missing is 24-hour access -- the gym is open from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m.

• 24-hour fitness center on the 2nd floor isn't especially big, but a skylight and ample windows keep it bright and airy; high-end equipment.
• Exhale Spa, open 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., has the usual lineup -- changing rooms with steam, sauna, lockers, and showers, nail-care salon; standard array of spa treatments.
• The spa's exercise studio runs classes that fuse core conditioning, Pilates, Lotte Berk, and yoga; $20 for hotel guests, $24 for others; includes use of spa facilities (no spa day passes available otherwise).