Search results for

Housed in side-by-side 19th-century townhouses amid the gas streetlights and cobblestoned streets of Boston‘s Beacon Hill, the high-end Beacon Hill Hotel retains a distinctly European feel. The original owners and neighborhood residents Peter and Cecilia Rait bought the properties with the intent of opening a hotel and bistro. Nowadays, the property is managed by Saunders Hotel Group, but the who’s-who clientele hasn’t changed. Since the hotel opened in 2000, the intimate property has hosted innumerable A-listers seeking a lower profile, including Todd English.

Each of the 13 rooms has plantation shutters, pedestal sinks, flat-panel TVs with DirecTV, and windows that actually open for fresh air. The second-floor common area invites guests to meet and mingle. Plus, the hotel has a private, residential-feeling roof terrace overlooking Charles Street, perfect for morning coffee or afternoon reading.

Santa Fe Spirits is a laid-back downtown tasting room showcasing their small distilleries production which includes a well-balanced portfolio of gin, vodka and silver whiskey to a barrel-aged apple brandy accompanied by a few bar snacks. Try a few pours of the gin infused with osha root and and sage and kick up your heels.

Modern, elegant, and focused on service, the Hotel 1000 is an excellent choice for travelers wanting luxury amenities in a smaller downtown property. Opened in 2006 two blocks from the Seattle Art Museum and the pier, this hotel puts an emphasis on technology—its rooms are equipped with individual Wi-Fi networks for guests’ Internet needs and heat sensors so the staff knows when not to interrupt. Some of the rooms are configured with open baths (with optional privacy screen) to allow for a view of the bay while soaking in the deep bathtub that fills up from a spout in the ceiling—a feature in even the standard rooms. The entire hotel underwent a major renovation in May 2017 after it became a part of the Loews Hotels family.

The 1926 brick building that houses Hotel Ändra has an interesting history: Originally built as efficiency apartments, it served as a transfer station for the Women’s Army Corp from 1945 to 1947. Although this downtown site has operated as a small hotel since the 1970s, it was fully redesigned in 2004 to become the Hotel Ändra, now a showcase of design using Pacific Northwest materials like wood and stone, combined with Scandinavian style—a nod to the city’s Nordic roots. Even though it’s at the nexus of the city, the hotel feels cozy. The fireplace in the living room–style lobby and the casual, inviting atmosphere make it a refuge from the buzz of the streets outside. The restaurant, Lola, is a partnership with one of Seattle’s best-loved celebrity chefs, Tom Douglas, making Hotel Ändra an excellent home base for those in town to experience Seattle’s abundant local restaurants.

Built in 2009, Vdara, a condo-style, all-suites hotel, is a tower of serenity in a neighborhood not known for it. Despite its location, at CityCenter, just off the Las Vegas Strip, Vdara has no casino, no celebrity-chef restaurants, no glittering stage productions, no over-the-top pool and nightclub scene, and—like its neighbor, the Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas (but rare for Las Vegas) no smoking permitted anywhere on the property. What it does have, worked into its minimalist, contemporary design, are spacious rooms, kitchenettes, washers and dryers, and a residence club–like feel that puts many guests in no hurry to leave. At 1,495 suites, the Vdara is too big to be called a boutique hotel, but with a high level of service (pool cabana reservations, anyone?), its size isn’t a liability.

A current trend in Las Vegas is toward smaller, hotel-within-a-hotel, luxury boutique properties, and the Hotel 32 Monte Carlo is a prime example. Only 50 rooms on the 32^nd floor of the much larger Monte Carlo, Hotel 32 is essentially a concierge-level block of rooms with its own identity. It offers its guests special perks, including VIP check-in, personal suite assistants, access to an exclusive lounge, and complimentary airport limo service. The Monte Carlo itself is an upper mid-range hotel, but with many amenities and services Hotel 32 guests can take advantage of: restaurants, spa, outdoor pool, casino. At 400 square feet, the Studios are small by Las Vegas luxury standards, but the other options are much bigger, up to 1,600 square feet. And there is no having to ask for a high-up floor.

Business travelers might help keep it quiet enough during the week, but when the weekend rolls around, the W Scottsdale earns its rep as a party hotel. By day, a young, trendy, and sometimes noisy crowd hangs at Wet, the rooftop pool, keeping well oiled with sunscreen and bar drinks. By night, the scene remains trendy, and noisy, at the lobby’s Living Room Lounge, or at Shade Lounge upstairs by the pool, often to a background of live music or a DJ, until the revelers are off to bed, or off to some of the many bars and clubs within walking distance. Rooms have all the tech gadgets, and the use of color and frosted glass makes them feel light and playful without going overboard.

Charleston’s French Quarter didn’t earn its title until the 1970s, when a group of preservationists started touting the area’s historic concentration of French Huguenots to protect buildings in danger of demolition. Opened in 2002, the French Quarter Inn took its neighborhood’s name and used it as inspiration for the hotel’s opulent decor and signature services. Guests arrive to an atrium with an elaborate wrought-iron staircase that rises in a spiral from the ground level and is topped with a large skylight. Champagne awaits guests upon check-in, and the rooms are decorated in vibrant shades of red, gold, and black, with toile bedspreads and damask upholstered furniture.

While it may not have the historic character of many Charleston properties, the French Quarter Inn provides all the amenities travelers could require: a continental breakfast each morning, bike rentals for cruising around town, and nightly wine-and-cheese receptions.

While many area hotels offer a subtle interpretation of Southwestern design (adobe walls, kiva fireplaces, local art), there’s nothing understated about the Inn at the Five Graces. The inn is a showcase for designers Ira and Sylvia Seret’s far-flung finds: Navajo bedspreads, Uzbek and Pakistani rugs and tapestries, iron and woodwork from Mexico, Peru, and India. It’s the epitome of East-meets-West. First opened in 1996 as Serets’ 1001 Nights, the hotel is located on one of the country’s oldest inhabited streets and is comprised of 17th- and 18th-century adobe buildings connected by a maze of courtyards. In 2002, the inn was renamed to reflect Afghan and Tibetan artifacts in its collection and the eastern idea of the five graces (sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste). In 2009, it became a Relais & Chateau property.

The outdoor cantina upstairs at the famed Coyote Cafe makes a perfect spot to perch and enjoy a bird’s-eye view of the bustle of the Santa Fe streets. Try the Lava Lamp cocktail, a more-delicious-than-it-sounds blend of draft beer and a frozen margarita. Other concoctions like the prickly pear margarita make excellent companions to the warm, thickly cut tortilla chips and fire-roasted salsa.

In 2001, hotelier Ian Schrager tapped French designer Philippe Starck to reconceptualize The Clift Royal Sonesta Hotel’s wildly modern interiors. A complete contrast to the building’s historic facade, the lobby is dark, edgy and filled with a quirky smattering of cool furniture—among them chairs by Ray and Charles Eames, a coffee table by Salvador Dali, and a surreal stool by Renee Marguerite. Upstairs, splashes of lavender brighten more neutral rooms, which feature wheelbarrow-shaped chairs and sleigh beds designed by Starck. Merino wool blankets are primed to battle foggy nights, while MALIN+GOETZ bath products soothe well-traveled skin with natural ingredients and science. Downstairs in the Redwood Room, a see-and-be-seen crowd nurses drinks. The swanky lounge sports sleek backlit shelves, its original redwood paneling, and a bar supposedly crafted from a single redwood tree. Though The Clift sits just up the street from Union Square, it feels far away from the tourists.

Immediately adjacent to Loews Regency, the Sant Ambroeus Coffee Bar is one of the latest outposts of this popular group of New York, by way of Milan, restaurants. The original Milan restaurant opened in 1936, and there are now three others in Manhattan, as well as one in Southampton. The Park Avenue coffee bar has an Italian art deco decor, bringing a little bit of Milan’s style to the neighborhood, and several outdoor tables. Choose from a panini or one of Sant Ambroeus’s famous pastries.

The Goldberg brothers gave Nashville acclaimed restaurants and bars such as the Catbird Seat and Patterson House, plus a kitschy honky-tonk on Lower Broad. In 2013, they did it again with Pinewood Social, a coffee shop, restaurant, bar, karaoke space, and, yes, bowling alley. There’s even an outdoor pool and bar for when the weather is nice. Amid all the fun, however, don’t forget about the food and drinks served morning, noon, and night, from pot roast and fried chicken to house-made tagliatelle with mushrooms, asparagus, and egg.

The colorful murals in Balmy Alley are the lower Mission’s own version of the better-known Clarion Alley murals. Stroll through the small, pedestrian-friendly alleyway to see public work by local artists, a tradition that began in the mid-1980s in response to human rights and political abuses in Central America. Today, you can see murals depicting scenes from human rights abuse to local gentrification to natural disasters. Want to learn more? Take a tour with Precita Eyes Muralists.

If someone described the Lone Palm bar as something out of Miami Vice, they wouldn’t be entirely wrong—the neon signs, dim lighting, and white tablecloths in an otherwise casual, somewhat dive-y bar give off a certain Vice-esque vibe. Stop by the Lone Palm for a drink at the very beginning or the very end of your night—it fills up quickly. Attentive bartenders and oft-refilled bar snacks like Goldfish also make it a good spot for a post-work Happy Hour. Lone Palm is open every day from 4 pm to 2 am.