The Hotel Bel-Air closed quietly Wednesday, shutting for two years of renovations without agreeing to a severance package with its unionized employees.

The resort — for more than 60 years a retreat for presidents, movie stars and others — has refused to commit to rehire 250 union employees after its multimillion-dollar face-lift is complete in 2011. Leaders of Unite Here Local 11 have accused the hotel’s managers of using the renovation project to rid itself of the union.

Management has offered workers a severance package but union leaders have rejected the deal, saying it provides inadequate health insurance coverage and no guarantees that the employees will have jobs when the hotel reopens. A federal mediator is expected to oversee further meetings, starting Thursday.

Shelton said the severance package offered to give workers two weeks’ worth of salary for every year on the job plus a contribution to a health plan that could last about six months. But she said that the deductibles on the plan were so high that workers could not afford them.

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