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“I’ve never seen so much red – except at a French brothel,” a fellow guest said to me as we rode the elevator together. She was right. From the moment you enter the lobby, the Rouge lives up to its colorful name with its red quartz tile, red lamps, and the Red Hot Room (for meetings). You’ll find crimson headboards and velvet drapes in each room -- although there’s plenty of zebra print, too. One of eight Kimpton hotels in Washington, DC, Rouge is certainly the rosiest. Stylish and eclectic in that Kimpton fashion, my street-facing room was both comfy and oversized – and convenient. It’s just three blocks to DuPont Circle and then only a bit further to Rock Creek Park (great for jogging, biking, or just walking). The White House is five blocks away and Whole Foods Market just two. For the athletically minded (like me), the good news is that each room has a yoga mat in the closet and nearly all are large enough to do a complete Vinyasa flow. The less good news: the small fitness room in the basement is dreary (but for $5 you can get a pass to the local “Y,” which has every amenity, including a 25-meter pool). The Rouge’s guests are as idiosyncratic as its décor. Families, business warriors, and hipsters seem to be the main human food groups –converging for the hotel’s wine hour from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. and at then, again, breakfast. If eclectic’s your thing, the Rouge is your place. Leave the rose-colored glasses at home – you won’t need them here.

A compound-like hideaway on a leafy street a block from trendy South Congress Avenue, Hotel Saint Cecilia is a retro-glam love letter to the 1960s and ‘70s rock music scene, named for the patron saint of music and poetry. But that doesn’t mean that rock stars smash guitars and throw ragers here (unless they rent out all 14 rooms, of course); unlike at its nearby sister properties, Hotel San José and Austin Motel, only guests and club members are welcome at the lounge, a laid-back affair with a Parisian-café–style patio, chesterfield sofas and a fireplace indoors, and craft cocktails and gourmet small plates. Between the 1888 Victorian main house—originally inhabited by a descendent of Davy Crockett—and verdant grounds that hide private porches and a serene pool, the hotel feels more like an impossibly stylish artists’ retreat than a celebrity getaway.

Each distinctively decorated room is larger than many an apartment, and seems ripped from the pages of a fashion magazine photoshoot. Every detail has been thought through, from the refreshing Grown Alchemist body care products to the Swedish Hästens mattresses (the hotel is the only one in North America with them in all rooms) to the impressive library of LPs to borrow. Everyone’s a rock star, here.

The Hotel Flora is an ivy-clad 17^th-century palazzo tucked down a narrow alleyway in San Marco. It’s hidden from the crowds, but still an easy stroll to the buzz of San Marco Palazzo and the Grand Canal. Like all grand Venetian homes, it’s had its share of interesting inhabitants over the years, including a School of Painting, a salon for well-known local artists. Continuing the artistic legacy, the Romanelli family—photographers, writers, and antique collectors among them—has owned the hotel for the last 50 years.

In the classic manner of a pension, the hotel is intimate and the staff welcoming and friendly. Rooms are cozy and decorated with traditional antique furnishings, heavy drapes, and bold brocade wallpaper in some. Pop down to the Victorian-styled bar for an aperitif, or linger over an espresso with a good read in the hushed garden.

“Buongiorno, Signor Farley,” said Umberto, the head waiter at Hotel Missoni’s Cucina restaurant. By the beginning of the third day of my stay, the staff knew my name. And what I drank with breakfast. An espresso doppio was delivered to my table a minute later. “Prego,” the server said.

You’d think I was in Italy. In fact, I was 2,500 miles southeast of the country’s heel, in the capital of diminutive, oil-rich Kuwait. Opened in spring 2011, Hotel Missoni, owned by the eponymous fashion and home furnishings house, is one of many designer-conceived hotels that have popped up around the globe.

I have to confess: I have a complicated relationship with fashion. Maybe it’s related to my childhood. (Isn’t everything?) In the seventh grade, I wore a T-shirt to school that read, “My Son Is in the Navy.” My trend-conscious peers, who clearly had no sense of irony, laughed at me until the final bell rang. When I wore bowling shoes to high school, I was similarly mocked. How would I do in a hotel designed by a couturier?

I was picked up at the airport in Kuwait City in a Maserati (a complimentary perk for all Missoni guests). Not a bad start.

The property (like its sister hotel in Edinburgh, which opened in June 2009) is the brainchild of the Missoni family matriarch, Rosita. The hotel’s 169 rooms were designed to feel like her home. Compact Hans Wegner wishbone chairs and tuliplike Eero Saarinen–designed tables rest on hardwood floors, and everything—espresso cups, towels, even the swimming pool—displays the colorful striped patterns Missoni is known for. Generous helpings of turquoise, gold, and beige are splashed throughout the hotel to evoke the bayfront landscape outside, and every room looks out on the ever-expanding Kuwait City skyline. Like many things Italian, the hotel is simple and comfortable.

The Missoni team, which is fine-tuning its approach before opening hotels in larger markets, learns fast. There are no design hotel clichés here: no faucets with the function designed out of them, no overly formal staff. “Are those Camper shoes?” a waiter asked me one day at breakfast. I nodded. “Like bowling shoes,” he said. “Very cool.” Here, it seemed, fashion and I got along great.

965/2577-0000, from $414. This appeared in the September, 2012 issue.

Nestled among the boutiques and restaurants that line the city’s main shopping street, the historic Hotel Goldener Hirsch has all the hallmarks of a Tyrolean hunting lodge right in the heart of medieval Old Town, from vaulted ceilings and mounted antlers to staff dressed in lederhosen and dirndls. Vintage guest-room keys are embellished with stag silhouettes, and even the tableware and linens in the two restaurants (one a former blacksmith, the other a goldsmith) feature the signature leaping-deer motif. Both serve hearty local fare—stop in for schnitzels, beef goulash, and bratwurst with sauerkraut, then call it a night in one of 70 cozy guest rooms, which balance cheerful country textiles and antique furnishings with modern amenities like flat-screen TVs, minibars, and free Wi-Fi.

Arriving at Viceroy Los Cabos (formerly Mar Adentro) is like getting a glimpse into the future of hospitality. Linked by a seemingly boundless plane of water, a series of minimalist white cubes—housing a rooftop bar, spa, world-class fitness center, movie theater, and more—rises from the desert landscape like a mirage, the work of Mexican architect Miguel Angel Aragonés. The view is memorable at Nido, a ceviche restaurant that sits under a nestlike dome of twigs. Equally striking are the 104 modernist guest rooms. Unlike the region’s traditional stucco and terra-cotta haciendas, they’re serenely spare, with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Sea of Cortez and tablets that guests can use to create their own lighting concept.

While “haughty” may be be a little extreme, this imposing building, Paris‘s City Hall, stands very proudly, indeed, in the heart of the 4th arrondissement’s Marais district. Not only does Hotel de Ville serve as seat of Paris‘s government, but, its grand front square is often the site of a sundry list of community and commercial events.

Opened in 1926 by Maude N. Bouldin as a women’s hostel, Hotel Figueroa served as a safe haven for female travelers for several decades. Nearly a century later, it remains one of the best-preserved buildings in Downtown Los Angeles and has become a member of The Leading Hotels of the World. The Mediterranean-style property recently underwent a two-year-long renovation, in which its original Spanish Colonial design was fully restored. Now, rooms feature leather headboards, curvy lines, and original artwork for a stylishly feminine look that suits the building’s history. Feather-top mattresses are fitted with Sferra linens, while spacious glass-enclosed showers boast subway tiles and brass fixtures. Some rooms and suites even have spacious sitting areas and balconies.

Philippe Starck’s design firm, Yoo, transformed an 1872 dowager hotel into the 63-room Hotel Sans Souci Wien. Expect oversize Starck and Arne Jacobsen furnishings, four-poster beds, parquet floors, pillows made with Fornasetti fabrics, and pieces from the owner’s art collection (Picassos among them) that contrast with a soft color scheme. Downstairs in the spa, you’ll find a true Viennese rarity: a 65-foot indoor pool.

Why we love it: A stylish but mellow alternative to the glitz of Los Cabos

The Highlights:
- Chic rooms, some with soaking tubs, outdoor lounges, or ocean views
- On-site restaurant Benno and its creative Mexican-Mediterranean fare
- Proximity to Todos Santos and the chance to connect with the local community

The Review:
Liz Lambert has made a name for herself converting quirky motels into cool-kid haunts in Texas and beyond. With Hotel San Cristóbal, she brings her magic to a transcendent Pueblo Mágico in the Baja Peninsula. Now she’s bringing her magic to a transcendent Pueblo Mágico in the Baja Peninsula. Just outside of Todos Santos proper, on the small fishing beach of Punta Lobos, the whitewashed, cubist property houses 32 serenely chic rooms, complete with crisp Sferra linens and serape-inspired duvets, vibrant ceramic-tiled bathrooms, and windows that overlook sunny Pacific waves (keep your eyes peeled for migrating gray and humpback whales).

Resist the urge to confine yourself to your Coco-Mat mattress, however. Adventure awaits in the form of surfing off nearby Playa Cerritos, learning to make pottery in an off-site class, or accompanying chef Edgar Palau on a trip to source fresh fish from local anglers. There’s also a beautiful central pool and lounge, a library, a seaside mirador, and a small retail shop on property. When hunger strikes, head to Benno, where biodynamic meals that fuse Mexican and Mediterranean flavors pair perfectly with small-batch mezcals and sustainably harvested regional wines.

The Coronado Bridge links San Diego to Coronado Island—and the present to the past. In the span of just 2.12 miles, you’ll travel from the digital age to a century when “electrified” hotels were practically unheard of. When the Hotel Del Coronado debuted in 1888, its electric lights and telephones made a sensation—as did its resplendence. In 1892, a young guest named Noel proclaimed in a letter to her family back east that “the red and the white between the bluest sky and the bluest water is like a beautiful dream in a fairy story.” Legions of A-listers have checked in ever since, as a who’s who of vintage portraits attests. But while a stay here is delightfully nostalgic—featuring bike rentals, beachside cabanas, and evening clambakes—the 757-room hotel doesn’t live entirely in the past. Take advantage of its upscale spa, spin classes on the beach, and restaurants serving updated takes on coastal cuisine along with creative cocktails. In the historic Victorian Building Suites, you’ll find modern coastal-chic interiors, streaming TVs, and, of course, Wi-Fi. The Beach Village Suites include additional modern luxuries—like a Sub-Zero fridge and dedicated concierge to help you fill it.

After falling in love with Salvador Dali at his museum in Figueres, we caught one of three buses out to the cliffside town of Cadaques where you can get to know Dali a bit more intimately by touring his house. Full of odds and ends, including mini cages where he kept crickets and a polar bear draped in jewels, his house also includes spectacular views (including this one) of the serene Port Lligat. Tips: You must book tickets in advance to tour his house, and double-check the bus schedules because there are only three buses per day that go from Figueres - Cadaques and back.

With soaking tubs and smart TVs in every room, Hotel Ivy is sleek and sophisticated. In addition to the stylish rooms, the subterranean cocktail bar (Constantine) and coastal Italian restaurant (Monello) are hip destinations in themselves, with renowned local chefs and bartenders from Borough and Parlour at the helm.

Set back in a leafy area behind Casino Square and facing the sea, the sprawling, elegant Hotel Hermitage is a slightly less ornate alternative to the glittery fussiness of Hôtel de Paris, though it’s equally steeped in neoclassic grandeur. Many of the rooms and suites feel more contemporary than the hotel’s hand-painted Belle Epoque frescoes and stained-glass winter garden lobby dome designed by Gustave Eiffel. Accommodations range from rooms with clean lines, soft colors, and walnut furnishings to the most sought-after suites, with private terraces and lovely sea views. Because of the hotel’s spaciousness, it’s particularly well suited to families who want a touch of nostalgic glamour along with high-tech plasma screens and other modern amenities. The hotel’s V.I.K. (very important kid) program offers everything from a game room with activities to access to the private beach and pool for children.

After a 2017 renovation, Rome’s historic Hotel Eden re-emerged with an extensive face-lift. The 128-year-old hotel’s marble and gold lobby hints at the 98 opulent guest rooms that have been refreshed with gold detailing and original artwork. The new spa uses products from the Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella, founded in 1612. The top-floor restaurant, La Terrazza, serves Italian cuisine with views of St. Peter’s Basilica.

Overall, if you’re looking for a luxurious stay in a beautiful, 5-star hotel, this Roman hotel is hard to beat.