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» Learn more about RSSTo get to the Capella Pedregal, you must pass through a tunnel blasted through the mountains that abut the beach — an unconventional approach, and the first of many reminders that this isn’t your crazy younger cousin’s spring-break Cabo. Here, you’ll get foot rubs and cool treats by the pool, rather than thumping bass and body shots — or, for privacy, you can hang out in your very own plunge pool, with its views of the Pacific Ocean. The villas and casitas come with even more goodies, including fire pits and private breakfasts, prepared by your own majordomo. For those of you keeping track, the majordomo is in addition to the personal assistant.
All guests at the Capella Pedregal are immediately assigned a Capella Personal Assistant, whose sole function is to assist you, both before and during your stay. Want to hang out with dolphins? Visit an organic farm to help select produce for that night’s dinner? Renew your vows? Not a problem. In fact, your PA would probably relish the chance to set you up to do all three in one day. That’s the level of service we’re talking about — it’s personally tailored and it’s what puts this place into the upper echelons of opulence.
During the day, the kitchen at the hacienda-style Don Manuel’s restaurant invites guests in for a cooking demonstration of traditional Mexican specialties. At night it becomes a gathering space, serving tapas and apéritifs. The more casual El Farallón lets you select your fish from that day’s haul. Choice reigns at the spa, where you can try one of its four signature services, based on the lunar cycle, or opt to meet with a curandera, who specializes in Baja folk healing using plants grown in the nearby garden.
Our Tablet Spy program offers the chance to get early looks at the most promising new hotels. If you’re willing to take the risks associated with staying in a hotel that’s newly opened, then you’ll be rewarded with the chance to help decide whether the finished hotel will earn a place on Tablet Hotels.
Rarely is the Colombian city of Cartagena mentioned without reference to its rich Spanish colonial history. Most of the hotels in town make as much as they can of this heritage, and the architecture it left behind. And so, in its way, does the Tcherassi Hotel + Spa — but anyone expecting a pure nostalgia trip is likely to be surprised by what they find. Not disappointed, mind — the house’s old colonial bones are still very much in place, but the owner, fashion designer Silvia Tcherassi, has made some pretty unmissable additions.
It’s rare to find a hotel whose period detailing and contemporary finishes manage to coexist in such harmony. Perhaps the key is that it’s not exactly subtle — the unfinished brick and stone walls are unapologetically rough, while the fabrics and finishes are flamboyantly luxe. And it probably helps to work with such a small canvas; with just seven rooms and suites there’s no space for Ms. Tcherassi to repeat herself.
The fact that the restaurant seats more guests than the hotel sleeps ought to give you an idea of what sort of place this is — the upper floor, where the guest rooms are, may be quiet and intimate, but the Tcherassi isn’t shy of a bit of attention. And it’ll get plenty of it — there’s nothing like it anywhere else in Cartagena, that’s for sure.
How to Get There
The hotel is 3km from Cartagena's Rafael Nunez International airport (CTG) and 109 km from Barranquilla International Airport (BAQ).
If your idea of a Costa Rican getaway involves a zip line and bottomless mojitos by the poolside, this might be a bit of a curveball. This isn’t the typical beach resort, where overindulgence is a rule: Asclepios is a green refuge, situated almost in the shadow of Alajuela’s Poás volcano, a wellness and healing retreat featuring medical spa treatments, organic lunches, and eco-friendly construction. More Deepak Chopra than Tara Reid.
But really it’s more Asklēpiós than Chopra anyway, named as it is for the Greek god of healing. The star attraction is the Wellness Center, a solar-powered structure constructed with sustainable materials, and its immediate surroundings, which include a yoga and meditation pavilion, ionized swimming pool, treatment lodges, a striking hammam and Vichy shower, a relaxation room, and an organic eatery supported by the on-site farm.
Visitors aren’t encouraged to spend much time in their rooms (or online, for that matter, though there are two computers for guest use), but guest rooms are nonetheless wonderfully inviting. Peaceful, all white, and filled with natural light, they look out over rolling hills and lush foliage. Despite their simple appearance, the rooms offer a pleasantly quirky mix of décor: a funky engraved silver mirror in the bathroom, a claw-foot bathtub, a single potted orchid on a bedside table.
Asclepios isn’t about style, at the end of the day, but spiritual rejuvenation; it’s a place to try out Capoeira, or acupuncture, or lesser-known treatments like the Kneipp baths, a hydrotherapy technique invented by a Bavarian priest. A few days of that — and a few dinners of ginger-glazed tofu and mango slices — and you’re practically guaranteed to leave Costa Rica with a healthy glow.
How to get there:
Asclepios is located 20 min from the International Juan Santamaria Airport. Transfers to/from Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) are approximately $15 each way, per person and can be arranged through the property. Please contact CustomerService@TabletHotels.com for assistance with airport transfers.
Whether it’s an advantage or a disadvantage is somewhat in the eye of the guest, but one thing’s for sure: the most notable feature of Thompson Hotels’ new Gild Hall is its location. Just a few hundred yards from Wall Street, this is deep in the heart of the financial district, a place that not too many years ago used to turn into a ghost town by about seven in the evening.
It turns out bankers and brokers have plenty of taste. Forget about tired Nineties minimalism — this place is full of character, right down to the split-level library and champagne bar, complete with fully-functioning books (pages and all) and clubby leather sofas. This, one imagines, is where the masters of the financial universe come to unwind after the closing bell.
There’s a whiff of nostalgia upstairs as well, the typically stylish guest rooms done up in dark masculine colors, with leather headboards behind the beds. Gild Hall carefully walks the line between fashionable boutique and out-and-out luxury hotel, a line you may have noticed all the Thompson hotels stick close to. Another reward for those who aren’t shy about exploring the lowest of Lower Manhattan is the Libertine, the new restaurant, designed in a Seventies tavern style — again, as far from glossy stockbroker minimalism as it gets.
About Gild Hall Hotel: Gild Hall Hotel is a luxury boutique hotel in New York City from Thompson Hotels. It is located in Lower Manhattan just steps from Wall Street in the heart of the financial district. The hotel features Libertine Restaurant and a split-level library and champagne bar.
It says something good about the robustness of Phuket’s tourist economy that even now, new hotels are continuing to open there. Sala Phuket, at Mai Khao in the island’s northwest, is a Thai beach resort in the modern mold: some seventy-nine airy loft-style modernist units strung along the coast, most of them with private swimming pools.
The exceptions are a handful of second-story balcony rooms — obviously not the way to go if a private pool is a must, but it’s clever that a few rooms are set aside for travelers on a bit of a budget. Anyway all of them, from the balcony rooms to the presidential villa, are in the same smart contemporary style, and all have open-air bathrooms and full-size outdoor daybeds for maximally efficient lounging.
Swim some laps or just lounge semi-socially at Sala’s swimming pools, or hole up in the canopied daybeds on the lawn by the beach. There’s a five-room spa and a fitness center, and activities from snorkeling to temple tours can be arranged. And at night guests dine in the poolside restaurant — get the rooftop table for the ocean view and the extra measure of privacy.
How to get there:
Sala Phuket is approximately a 20 minute drive from Phuket International Airport.
Over the last few decades the center of gravity of hipness in New York has tracked steadily to the south and east. And given how long these things take to make, it’s natural that only just now are we beginning to see high-end boutique hotels on the Lower East Side — among the first wave, the Thompson LES, on Allen just south of Houston.
This being Manhattan, space is at a premium. Everything’s modestely sized but impeccably designed, and packed with all the necessities — very much in keeping with the Thompson aesthetic. It’s an approach that works particularly well here; this is still the Lower East Side, and anything more upmarket would simply be overkill, in a neighborhood where most of the hotels are residential ones.
It’s uncharted territory for hotels, perhaps, but familiar ground for nightlife. The Thompson doesn’t just take advantage of the local buzz, it aims to contribute its own: there’s a new signature restaurant opening in the spring (order from the all-day menu in the meantime on the seventh-floor terrace), and Above Allen, the open-air bar with the retractable roof, is bound to become a downtown fixture for members and hotel guests. And when the weather agrees, an outdoor pool bears the visage of none other than Andy Warhol — not many other downtown hotels can say something like that.
Jia is Hong Kong’s first boutique hotel, and, surprisingly, the first in Asia for celebrity designer Philippe Starck—who, one presumes, was too busy opening hotels on three other continents to have got round to Asia any sooner. And though it’s a boutique, it’s anything but fluff; when the competition consists of prim old colonial hotels, an upstart, however flashy, must offer something of substance.
In fact to measure this hotel against other boutiques would be apples and oranges; these are serviced apartments, with reasonably equipped kitchens, complete with sexy (though unfortunately named) Smeg appliances, and the thoughtful convenience of dining-room tables. Of course the prevailing tone is white, but teak floors and golden yellow overtones make the decor more livable, long-term, than the average theatrical Starck hotel room.
Laundry service is available, but if you want to really feel like it’s your apartment, you can do it yourself, in what must be one of the world’s only outdoor terrace laundromats. The location is a bit of a departure for Hong Kong hotels; Causeway Bay is the shopping and entertainment district on Hong Kong Island, and though filled with shoppers and revelers, it’s got an authentic edge as well. Sure, the Bentley and Ferrari dealers are around the corner, but the neighborhood is densely populated, and you’re as likely to see locals hanging up laundry as tourists clutching shopping bags. There’s no in-house gym, but you’ll have a complimentary pass to the California Fitness Club a few blocks away, or you can get your exercise by shopping vigorously—and relax in the jacuzzi on the sundeck when you return.
Traditionally Portugal hasn’t needed much more than a sunny climate (and maybe a bit of golf) to woo tourists by the tens of thousands. There are places, though, that go above and beyond the basic formula: Aquapura, in the Douro Valley, the wine-making region in the north, is one of these.
This is the modern winery spa par excellence — an old manor house surrounded by modern villas, featuring cutting-edge interiors and a spa offering treatments based on the antioxidant properties of the Douro Valley grapes. The twenty-one villas are the latest in modernist resort-luxe, each with plunge pools, and even the fifty standard rooms are sleek and state-of-the-art, equipped with the sort of bathrooms that almost render the spa redundant.
Almost. With ten treatment rooms and a facility spanning over twenty thousand square feet, it’s undoubtedly impressive, quite aside from any vine-derived health benefits. Two restaurants serve upscale Portuguese specialties, and the wine room boasts a massive list of vintages from near and far. A fine first step for the Aquapuro empire, it’s ideal as the anchor of a Douro wine tour, or a self-contained escape, located just two hours from the Porto airport.
How to get there:
Aquapura is approximately 1.5 hours from Porto-Aeroporto Internacional Dr. Francisco de Sá Carneiro by rental car. Please contact customerservice@tablethotels.com to arrange airport transfers.
The Metropolitan Bangkok is the sister hotel to London's Metropolitan — a sleek and contemporary boutique hotel, with staff outfitted in black designer uniforms, and lots of white paint and dark wood. One might be tempted to think that the sort of minimal, vaguely Oriental design that is all the rage in Western boutiques would fall flat when transplanted to the part of the world formerly known as the Orient. But one would be wrong.
The effect is no less soothing and enveloping here than it is in London — just ask the film and fashion types lounging in the lobby, as they have probably been to both. One difference is the state of the hotel industry in the respective cities; in London it seems impossible to walk a block without passing an achingly hip boutique hotel, but in Bangkok, the Metropolitan is a welcome and not at all commonplace alternative to the grand old colonial palaces and the five-star luxury chain megahotels.
Of course when the Peninsula and the Oriental are your competition, you need to have some top-notch facilities. Delightfully, the Metropolitan goes far beyond what one might expect from a chic little boutique, with two restaurants, an outdoor pool, 24-hour room service, and an absurdly decadent Shambhala spa. The Met Bar is the equal of the London Met, and is, ingeniously, for hotel guests and members only. And while many Eastern hotel restaurants offer an all too familiar blend of Asian and French cuisine, Nahm (by Michelin-starred chef David Thompson) focuses on local produce and authentic Thai cuisine.
The location is central, on South Sathorn Road in the city's main business district, quieter than one might expect, yet equally convenient for daytime shopping and nighttime clubbing. The noise and chaos of Bangkok stand in sharp relief to the peace and quiet within the Metropolitan's walls — an impressive feat indeed.
Whether it’s an advantage or a disadvantage is somewhat in the eye of the guest, but one thing’s for sure: the most notable feature of Thompson Hotels’ new Gild Hall is its location. Just a few hundred yards from Wall Street, this is deep in the heart of the financial district, a place that not too many years ago used to turn into a ghost town by about seven in the evening.
It turns out bankers and brokers have plenty of taste. Forget about tired Nineties minimalism — this place is full of character, right down to the split-level library and champagne bar, complete with fully-functioning books (pages and all) and clubby leather sofas. This, one imagines, is where the masters of the financial universe come to unwind after the closing bell.
There’s a whiff of nostalgia upstairs as well, the typically stylish guest rooms done up in dark masculine colors, with leather headboards behind the beds. Gild Hall carefully walks the line between fashionable boutique and out-and-out luxury hotel, a line you may have noticed all the Thompson hotels stick close to. Another reward for those who aren’t shy about exploring the lowest of Lower Manhattan is the Libertine, the new restaurant, designed in a Seventies tavern style — again, as far from glossy stockbroker minimalism as it gets.
About Gild Hall Hotel: Gild Hall Hotel is a luxury boutique hotel in New York City from Thompson Hotels. It is located in Lower Manhattan just steps from Wall Street in the heart of the financial district. The hotel features Libertine Restaurant and a split-level library and champagne bar.
It’s a hotel, but only just — El Palauet Living’s six suites are all two-bedrooms, and they do enough long-stay business to quote their rates by the week. That’s about how long it takes to exhaustively shop the Passeig de Gràcia, and that’s got to be more than just a coincidence. Anyway it’s hard to imagine having your first look around this place and not wanting to inquire about extending your stay.
The look is arresting, a bold combination of baroque and modern architecture, resulting in spaces that feel at once theatrical and inviting — the lobby alone is worth the price of admission, and shames many a larger hotel. In some flashy boutiques the décor is an inch deep, but here the high-end furnishings and solid construction ensure that these interiors are as functional as they are well-formed. High-tech wizardry works effortlessly behind the scenes; it’s a close call whether the ornately figured period ceilings or the rooms’ near-magical central control panels are more impressive.
Each suite has two bedrooms, and can sleep four with ease. The waking hours aren’t all that hard either, with a personal assistant assigned to each unit, fully capable of throwing together a cocktail party en suite, should you despair of having all that space to yourself. Fully furnished kitchens, dining and living rooms and either balconies or terraces don’t hurt either, with views either over the Passeig de Gràcia or up towards the mountains.
There’s even a generously sized spa, with a Finnish sauna and facilities for massage. You could complain that there’s no restaurant, but it’d be churlish indeed, especially when your suite has the space and the equipment for a decent-sized dinner party. Then again you might need some of that space for your shopping bags.
The green glow through translucent glass is the only clue that there’s anything out of the ordinary going on behind the discreet (and unsigned) facade of this seaside hotel. Inside, though, it’s something else entirely — the Viceroy is one of Santa Monica’s hottest spots, and the interiors are as chic as can be, a contemporary update of a century-old British country style, where clean-lined modern monochrome meets bright kelly-green antique-style furnishings, with printed wallpaper in vivid colors and ornate china where you least expect it — hanging on the walls.
Too often visual sophistication comes at the expense of real quality, but the Viceroy holds up this end as well: guest rooms come complete with fine Italian linens and down duvets on the beds, body and hair care products by Neil George, and 27-inch flat-screen televisions. Rooms come with balconies, and though only half are oriented toward the Pacific, the view more than justifies the added expense.
Downstairs the Cameo Bar connects the lobby to the pool deck, and guests in search of some privacy sip cocktails in the poolside cabanas. Whist, the restaurant, serves a fine California-French cuisine. The beach is a short walk away but most visitors will likely find themselves headed toward the shops, bars and restaurants on the Third Street Promenade.
How to get there:
Viceroy Santa Monica is a 20-minute drive from Los Angeles International Airport. Valet parking is available for $30 USD per night.
The Sofitel Los Angeles is back, after the sort of renovation that makes most hotel facelifts look like little more than a good spring cleaning. Gone is the faded South-of-France style that looked almost defiantly out-of-place at the edge of Beverly Hills; this 295-room hotel is now decidedly a city hotel, a bit Parisian even, from the mansard roof to the little French balconies to the crisp, urbane post-minimalist look of the interiors.
Rooms are simple, elegant, in creams and restrained colors, with plenty of space and plenty of comforts, from feather-top, duvet-covered beds to flat-panel HD televisions. Both bed and TV are visible from the bathroom, as is the current style, through a window — finally, though, one that goes from transparent to opaque at the flip of a switch, eliminating in one stroke the Middle American guest’s most common objection to exhibitionistic boutique hotel design.
Frankly, that’s the key, in an American hotel of any size; how to make it palatable to designophiles and designophobes at once, without making compromises that alienate both. The Sofitel Los Angeles is no stranger to cutting-edge urban chic — there’s a Rande Gerber bar and a Kerry Simon restaurant — but it goes easy on the beautiful-people velvet-rope pretentiousness. And certain matters — the spa, the fitness center, the pool — transcend considerations of style entirely.
How to get there:
Sofitel Los Angeles is a 25-minute drive from Los Angeles International Airport but the trip can take up to 1-hour depending on traffic. Valet parking is available for $32 USD per night.
The Spa
With established products such as Carita, this luxury spa targets inner and outer beauty among the 5,000 square foot space, including rainfall showers, an outdoor cabana, VIP suites, a Serenity lounge and much more. LeSpa’s extensive selection of face, body, and bath treatments can easily justify an entire day of rejuvenation. With facials such as ‘Balanced Beauty,’ ‘Progressive Beauty,’ ‘Ageless Beauty,’ and much more, it’s no wonder LeSpa proudly states that ‘if you can dream it, we can do it.'
Just off the Piazza del Popolo is the Via del Babuino, named for a statue of Silenus that somehow found itself informally christened “the baboon.” This was an artists’ quarter which has since gentrified — a common setting for a stylish little boutique hotel, no less so for the fact that the gentrification took place a century ago. Today it’s home to Babuino 181, a stylish little pied-à-terre–style boutique hotel, yards from the Spanish Steps and surrounded by some of the best upscale shopping that Rome has to offer.
Historic Italy outside, contemporary Italy inside — this is the contrast that drives Babuino 181, and to look out over this ancient city from within a suite that’s furnished in the latest in modern Italian design. The suites are cozy, given the period floor plan, but here that’s made into a virtue: the accommodations feel more like swanky little city apartments than like typical rectangular hotel rooms.
As for services, they’re minimal — there’s probably a euphemism, something like Parisian-plan, for a hotel without a restaurant or a bar. Take a cue from the throngs of pedestrians on the streets outside, and get out and stretch your legs — Rome isn’t a place to lock yourself in your suite anyway.
Rome offers up so much history that it’s sometimes hard for the traveler to remember that, antiquity aside, Rome is a completely current and connected city too. It’s a cosmopolitan town fueled more by academia and the film business than by industry, and top-rate hotels usually aim for grandiloquent historical immersion or a hyper-hip design-house theme. The St. George doesn’t really fit into either camp. Instead, it offers up a polished atmosphere that, despite many Scandinavian design touches, almost feels as if one has just checked into a giant Prada handbag. Everything is stitched just so; no garish colors scream at your senses, just calm precision. The contents are selected more for hushed, buttoned-up professionalism than frivolity — the St. George marries boutique scale and business-travel efficiency extraordinarily well.
The 64 guestrooms are simultaneously modern and classical, with contemporary art hung below elaborate moldings, all united in a somewhat serious color palate and an abundance of travertine. Located on the Via Giulia (an incomplete urban design endeavor of the Renaissance, now a famed antique district) the St. George is in the heart of all things classical, steps from the Vatican and the Tiber with its strollable quays. The hotel offers a full service spa, the decadent I Sofà di Via Giulia restaurant, a wine bar, a library, and a chic, eye-popping rooftop bar, for taking in the sights from a comfortable vantage point. The St. George makes for a seriously sophisticated visit to a seriously sophisticated city, but takes great care to keep pace with the modern world.
Rooftop lounge bar is open from June to September (according to weather conditions).
It doesn’t get much heavier than the Hotel de Rome, a converted 19th-century bank building off the Bebelplatz in old East Berlin — its stone walls and neoclassical architecture are a perfect match for the high seriousness of the Rocco Forte house style. This hotel is set to become the lodging of choice for business-class visitors, and may well see more deals done as a hotel than it did during its tenure as the GDR’s central bank.
Serious though it may be, the Hotel de Rome doesn’t lack for style; magisterial reds and blues liven a palette of stone neutrals, and the pool and spa down in the vault, fittingly, are decked out in green and gold. In-room appointments are first-class, and for this audience nothing less would suffice: flat-panel HDTV televisions, sound systems (even in the vast mosaic marble bathrooms) and wired internet access, this last just the price you pay for those heavy old stone walls.
This is a hotel that clearly knows its market; with many guests traveling on the company dime, no expense is spared, and as a result the services (and the service) are impeccable. What’s rare is that the Hotel de Rome manages all this without feeling stuffy — it’s a fine line between serious and uptight, but it’s a line that, here, doesn’t get crossed.
In general it’s true that we’re skeptical about the idea of hotel chains. But we tend to forget our principles when we’re talking about the Firmdale group. Their six London hotels are six of the best hotels anywhere, and they can’t help but be similar; aside from the obvious fact that they all share the same city, they all just as obviously share the same general philosophy of what a hotel ought to be — which they owe to their owners, Tim and Kit Kemp. And a part of that is visual, a natural family resemblance based on their all having been decorated by the very recognizable Kit.
Now if we didn’t greatly admire the (smallish, intimate, service-oriented) Firmdale philosophy, and consider ourselves huge fans of Ms. Kemp’s design style, we might be less excited about a London-based mini-chain expanding into New York. But a hotel like Crosby Street is exactly what this city needs. The contrast between the downtown grit of the cobblestone street outside and the plush sophistication of the hotel’s lobby is immediate, and striking. Say what you will about the bright colors and the decidedly un-minimal décor — it’s a rare New York boutique these days that presents so opinionated a face to the world.
This year, more than most, hotels are clambering over one another to slash costs and look adequately humble. What’s so appealing about Crosby Street, and the Firmdale approach in general, is that they are unapologetic about the fact that theirs is a decidedly high-end offering. There’s something inherently a little bit decadent in the very idea of paying money for a place to sleep, and while Crosby Street isn’t exactly conspicuous consumption of the champagne-in-the-bathtub variety, it’s by no means a hard time either — and the confidence shows, right down to the smallest detail.
Hard to believe, but there was a time in London's recent past when there was practically nowhere worth staying this far east — unfortunate indeed when one considers that there is in fact a world outside the West End. It's a situation that's since been remedied, and these days City financial types and the Clerkenwell/Hoxton art and design crowd alike have more than a few worthy options for putting up visitors in style.
One of the likeliest candidates is the Rookery, a sort of sequel to the literary-themed Hazlitt's, in Soho. This one is an homage to the days when all manner of villains congregated here in the lawless zone (itself called the Rookery) just outside the old city limits. Today this part of Clerkenwell is more a dining-and-drinking sort of place, not all that unlike Soho really, though it's still the place to catch sight of the occasional bit of villainy: Pete Doherty was famously arrested here, in an unintentional echo of the Rookery's romantic, sordid history.
It's a history that the Rookery (the hotel) trades on quite explicitly. Each one of its bedrooms is unique, and named for characters from the Rookery's lawless days, not just professionals but criminals and prostitutes as well. Inside they're beautifully old-fashioned, a Victorian fantasy, some wood-paneled, all antique-furnished, with bathrooms featuring restored Victorian-era plumbing and fittings — a difficult sell to some guests, probably, but not at all lacking for personality.
The only modern intrusions are the absolute necessities, which in London hotels include LCD televisions and wireless internet access. There's no restaurant, and only limited room service, which is hardly an imposition given that some of the city's top restaurants are within walking distance. And so are some of Clerkenwell's best clubs and pubs, in case you're in the mood for a Doherty-esque night on the town — if you play your cards right there could someday be a room at the Rookery bearing your name.
How to get there:
The Rookery hotel is approximately a 2 minute walk from the Farringdon tube station. If you're arriving from Heathrow Airport the most convenient transfer option to central London is The Heathrow Express Train which leaves Heathrow Airport every 15 minutes and takes 15 minutes to arrive at Paddington Station. One way fares are available from £18 and roundtrip fares from £32. By black cab, The Rookery is approximately a 45 minute ride from Heathrow Airport (depending on traffic) and can cost upwards of £50.
About The Rookery: The Rookery Hotel is a luxury boutique hotel in London's fashionable Clerkenwell area, located between the West End and London’s central business district. A short distance from the Barbican, St Paul’s Cathedral, Holborn and The Tate Modern, The Rookery Hotel's management has transformed a row of early houses on St. Peter's Lane into an elegant boutique hotel with efficient service and period charm.
Old-fashioned ranches called estancias dot Argentina’s vast countryside. Though some remain private homesteads, many have opened their doors to guests while continuing the day-to-day operations of a working ranch — particularly in the province of Buenos Aires, within easy driving distance of the capital city. For visitors, it’s a chance to taste the old-world refinement and rural charm born out of the country’s prosperous agricultural tradition. Estancia Villa Maria is one of these; what sets it apart from the pack is an almost over-the-top elegance that stands in contrast to some of the area’s more rustic ranches.
At the heart of the 1500-acre estate is a surprisingly authentic Tudor-style mansion that looks straight out of a fairy tale; it seems fitting that a horse and carriage ride is one of many activities available to guests. The eleven suites are grand and glamorous, but refreshingly contemporary. You’ll find four-poster beds, floral arrangements and windows with their original shutters, but the antique look has been streamlined: the color palette is made up of sophisticated earth tones, the sheets are Egyptian cotton, in-room amenities include a Nespresso machine, complimentary wi-fi, a pillow menu and LCD flat-screen TVs.
When you do manage to venture out of your room, an impressive array of communal spaces await. Unsurprisingly, they all evoke old wealth and the pleasures of days gone by — there’s a cigar and billiards room, a classy library, a wine cellar where guests can taste excellent Malbecs, and several stylish but cozy living areas where fireplaces blaze in the evening. Outside, you can play tennis, splash around in the swimming pool, hike or cycle around the sprawling grounds. But to really get into the spirit of things, we recommend watching the chiseled hunks on horseback participate in the favorite pastime of Argentina’s elite — polo, of course.
How to get there:
Estancia Villa Maria is located about 15 minutes from Ezeiza International Airport. Transfers can be arranged for ARS 310 from Ezeiza for up to 4 guests, one way and ARS 375 from Aeroparque Jorge Newbery, for up to 4 guests, one way. Please contact CustomerService@TabletHotels.com for assistance with airport transfers.
Haymarket Hotel is Firmdale group's most recent London creation. You may be wondering why we mention the group - or shall we call it a family? We’re disposed to think of Number Sixteen, the Knightsbridge, Soho Hotel and all the rest of the group's other London hotels as instant classics: luxury-hotel values on a boutique-hotel scale, with a unique design personality courtesy of Kit Kemp. What’s not to love?
What’s special about Haymarket Hotel comes down largely to its location. Not far south of the Soho Hotel, and just off Piccadilly Circus, the Haymarket finds itself even more in the thick of Theatreland, surrounded by about as much culture as one could reasonably be expected to take. The National Gallery awaits, as do the low-culture pleasures of Mayfair’s famous shopping districts.
As expected, the Haymarket comes with its share of public and semi-private places — a conservatory, a drawing room, a private dining room — as well as a fine restaurant serving Modern English Cuisine, Brasserie Style and a full-service spa. Where it steps out ahead of its sisters, however, is downstairs, where you’ll find an 18-meter swimming pool, complete with a poolside bar and a booming sound system. Takes the formula one better — which, given the already high quality of the formula, is just about all you could want.
How to get there:
Haymarket Hotel is a 6 minute walk from both the Piccadilly Circus and Charing Cross tube stations. If you're arriving from Heathrow Airport the most convenient transfer option to central London is The Heathrow Express Train which leaves Heathrow Airport every 15 minutes and takes 15 minutes to arrive at Paddington Station. One way fares are available from £18 and roundtrip fares from £32. By black cab, The Haymarket Hotel is approximately a 45 minute ride from Heathrow Airport (depending on traffic) and can cost upwards of £50.
About Haymarket Hotel: The Haymarket Hotel is located in the heart of London's theatre district. Adjacent to the Haymarket Theatre Royal and opposite Her Majesty's Theatre, The Haymarket Hotel is surrounded by some of London’s best restaurants and bars and is ideal for Mayfair, Regent Street and Jermyn Street shopping. The hotel's restaurant Brumus, is open daily and serves Anglo-Italian brasserie-style fare.
The sequel to the wildly successful São Paulo establishment, the Fasano in Rio De Janeiro sets its sights no less high. Like its sister, it’s as dignified and serious as a cutting-edge modern-design boutique hotel can get, all supremely confident understatement — which is all the more surprising given that its designer is none other than Philippe Starck, a man who’s not widely known for understating much of anything at all.
Here, though, he’s in a very serious mode, with sexy Fifties and Sixties furniture and dark, richly figured hardwoods. It’s a high-rise, like all the classic Rio hotels, and the rooftop is home to an infinity pool, a fitness center, sauna and massage, even a coffee shop — not to mention a view over Ipanema Beach and the city’s skyline that’s nothing short of transcendent.
The restaurant at the original Fasano is one of Brazil’s finest, and again, the Rio franchise aims to be its equal. The Fasano al Mare restaurant serves upscale Italian seafood, and if that’s not your taste, the hotel’s limousines await to whisk you off to Gero, the Fasano family’s other Rio eatery — to go underfed here would require an act of willful intransigence.
Chambers bills itself as a Soho hotel with a Midtown address, and truth be told, that’s not far off the mark — up here in the Fifties, off the main shopping drag of Fifth Avenue, the last thing one expects to see is a small boutique hotel with loft-style guest rooms and fashion-forward, subtly Eastern interiors. Yet that’s precisely what Chambers is, and its uniqueness has made it something of a hit, miles from both the stuffy high seriousness of the midtown luxury hotels and the relentless whimsy of the youth-market boutiques.
Oversized wooden doors and a towering fireplace open up a surprisingly spacious lobby, remarkable given the limitations of the compact space the hotel has to work with. Upstairs each floor’s landing and corridors are individually designed by a different artist — some are upbeat and sunny, others darker and moodier.
Not at all dark or moody, however, are the guest rooms, fashioned after downtown artists’ lofts, all open space and rough-finished concrete walls, hung with contemporary artworks and fitted with stylish modern furnishings. Platform beds are piled with fine linens, flat-screen televisions and DVD players are standard, and the sleek modern bathrooms are stocked with Bumble and Bumble bath products.
Some of the pricier suites come with private terraces, offering sublime city views — these are perfect for entertaining, and sizeable enough for bigger functions if need be. The mezzanine and lobby lounges are a modern midtown meeting point, and outside? If you can’t find what you’re looking for within five blocks of 56th and 5th, it probably doesn’t exist.
About the Chambers Hotel:
Chambers is an intimate luxury boutique hotel conveniently located just steps off 5th Avenue on 56th Street in New York City.
In general it’s true that we’re skeptical about the idea of hotel chains. But we tend to forget our principles when we’re talking about the Firmdale group. Their six London hotels are six of the best hotels anywhere, and they can’t help but be similar; aside from the obvious fact that they all share the same city, they all just as obviously share the same general philosophy of what a hotel ought to be — which they owe to their owners, Tim and Kit Kemp. And a part of that is visual, a natural family resemblance based on their all having been decorated by the very recognizable Kit.
Now if we didn’t greatly admire the (smallish, intimate, service-oriented) Firmdale philosophy, and consider ourselves huge fans of Ms. Kemp’s design style, we might be less excited about a London-based mini-chain expanding into New York. But a hotel like Crosby Street is exactly what this city needs. The contrast between the downtown grit of the cobblestone street outside and the plush sophistication of the hotel’s lobby is immediate, and striking. Say what you will about the bright colors and the decidedly un-minimal décor — it’s a rare New York boutique these days that presents so opinionated a face to the world.
This year, more than most, hotels are clambering over one another to slash costs and look adequately humble. What’s so appealing about Crosby Street, and the Firmdale approach in general, is that they are unapologetic about the fact that theirs is a decidedly high-end offering. There’s something inherently a little bit decadent in the very idea of paying money for a place to sleep, and while Crosby Street isn’t exactly conspicuous consumption of the champagne-in-the-bathtub variety, it’s by no means a hard time either — and the confidence shows, right down to the smallest detail.
Chambers bills itself as a Soho hotel with a Midtown address, and truth be told, that’s not far off the mark — up here in the Fifties, off the main shopping drag of Fifth Avenue, the last thing one expects to see is a small boutique hotel with loft-style guest rooms and fashion-forward, subtly Eastern interiors. Yet that’s precisely what Chambers is, and its uniqueness has made it something of a hit, miles from both the stuffy high seriousness of the midtown luxury hotels and the relentless whimsy of the youth-market boutiques.
Oversized wooden doors and a towering fireplace open up a surprisingly spacious lobby, remarkable given the limitations of the compact space the hotel has to work with. Upstairs each floor’s landing and corridors are individually designed by a different artist — some are upbeat and sunny, others darker and moodier.
Not at all dark or moody, however, are the guest rooms, fashioned after downtown artists’ lofts, all open space and rough-finished concrete walls, hung with contemporary artworks and fitted with stylish modern furnishings. Platform beds are piled with fine linens, flat-screen televisions and DVD players are standard, and the sleek modern bathrooms are stocked with Bumble and Bumble bath products.
Some of the pricier suites come with private terraces, offering sublime city views — these are perfect for entertaining, and sizeable enough for bigger functions if need be. The mezzanine and lobby lounges are a modern midtown meeting point, and outside? If you can’t find what you’re looking for within five blocks of 56th and 5th, it probably doesn’t exist.
About the Chambers Hotel:
Chambers is an intimate luxury boutique hotel conveniently located just steps off 5th Avenue on 56th Street in New York City.
Whether it’s an advantage or a disadvantage is somewhat in the eye of the guest, but one thing’s for sure: the most notable feature of Thompson Hotels’ new Gild Hall is its location. Just a few hundred yards from Wall Street, this is deep in the heart of the financial district, a place that not too many years ago used to turn into a ghost town by about seven in the evening.
It turns out bankers and brokers have plenty of taste. Forget about tired Nineties minimalism — this place is full of character, right down to the split-level library and champagne bar, complete with fully-functioning books (pages and all) and clubby leather sofas. This, one imagines, is where the masters of the financial universe come to unwind after the closing bell.
There’s a whiff of nostalgia upstairs as well, the typically stylish guest rooms done up in dark masculine colors, with leather headboards behind the beds. Gild Hall carefully walks the line between fashionable boutique and out-and-out luxury hotel, a line you may have noticed all the Thompson hotels stick close to. Another reward for those who aren’t shy about exploring the lowest of Lower Manhattan is the Libertine, the new restaurant, designed in a Seventies tavern style — again, as far from glossy stockbroker minimalism as it gets.
About Gild Hall Hotel: Gild Hall Hotel is a luxury boutique hotel in New York City from Thompson Hotels. It is located in Lower Manhattan just steps from Wall Street in the heart of the financial district. The hotel features Libertine Restaurant and a split-level library and champagne bar.
Seen from the Red Sea at night, the Kempinski Hotel in Aqaba rises up like a retro monument to 1970s-style modernism. Furthering the effect, a rotating array of neon lights up the concrete, semi-concave shape. Jordan isn’t Nevada, of course, and still less is Aqaba Vegas, but you’ll be forgiven if you see something of a resemblance.
In daylight you’ll see that the sea abuts a beach, which in turn abuts an infinity pool ringed with chaise longues. As the country’s only port, Aqaba works hard, but it’s also becoming the diving, fishing, and all-around seaside resort center for the area. With an eye toward the water it’s easy enough to ignore the tourists, and the Kempinski does its best impression of a secluded oasis. That sea view is easy enough to come by here, whether from your room’s bathtub or balcony or from a table at AM/PM, the enormously fashionable fine-dining restaurant.
Sociable souls will spend time at the hotel’s three bars, including the swim-up one and another that holds a nightly dance party. Aqaba is situated such that you can experience the desert during the day, with hikes in Wadi Rum or tours of Petra, and sleep to the sound of cresting waves at night.
From April 2nd to the 27th, Hazlitt's is carrying out restoration on the rear of building. During this time scaffolding will be in place. Whilst the hotel hopes this work will not affect guests the work may take away from the Hazlitt’s experience. To reflect this they are offering special rates during this period.
Tucked away off Soho Square lies a discreet little townhouse hotel called Hazlitt’s. Named for William Hazlitt, the essayist and Napoleon biographer who lived and died here in the early 19th century, the hotel has held on to its literary theme, and is today a favorite among writers and publishers, as well as artistic types, theatre patrons and West End antique hunters.
It’s not quite on the same luxe level as some of the new high-end boutiques, but neither are its rates — you’re not getting (but also not paying for) a spa, a big-name chef, plasma-screen TVs, or any of the rest. It may sound a bit grown-up to devotees of the modern nightclub hotel, but for those of us who fancy a late-night browse through the sitting room’s literary collection (many signed copies left behind by visiting authors) rather than another cocktail in a hip hotel bar, this is the place.
And it’s got quiet charms all its own—this place is packed with character, bursting with antiques and period furnishings to match the hotel’s Georgian pedigree, and each of the twenty-three rooms is named after a famous literary guest, from Wordsworth to Jonathan Swift. The floor plans of the listed townhouses hew to the original, meaning still no lifts, and smallish rooms, cozy and expertly decorated. Old-fashioned they may be, but meticulously maintained, with gleaming brass fittings in the Victorian bathrooms (modern plumbing, too) and mahogany furnishings of museum quality.
There’s not much at all in the way of room service, and no restaurant, though Soho’s got a few decent midmarket options (including a really rather good hamburger joint on Dean Street). And with the money you’re saving on the room rate, you can afford to head west, and throw some serious cash around Mayfair.
How to get there:
Hazlitt's hotel is a 5 minute walk from the Tottenham Court Road tube station. If you're arriving from Heathrow Airport the most convenient transfer option to central London is The Heathrow Express Train which leaves Heathrow Airport every 15 minutes and takes 15 minutes to arrive at Paddington Station. One way fares are available from £18 and roundtrip fares from £32. By black cab, Hazlitt's is approximately a 45 minute ride from Heathrow Airport (depending on traffic) and can cost upwards of £50.
About Hazlitt's: Hazlitt's hotel in London is a character boutique hotel for literary lovers. Located in SoHo, this Georgian hotel with Victorian vibes is close to Theatreland, Oxford Street, and Leicester Square, and has a big fan in celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain.
Here’s a hotel that comes with some expectations. The London NYC hotel is fresh off a thorough re-imagining at the hands of the Irish interior designer David Collins, as well as the addition of a marquee name to New York’s culinary scene, in the form of the first Gordon Ramsay restaurant on American soil.
Despite the name, the London NYC hotel steers mercifully clear of any kind of heavy-handed British-themed kitsch. Suites range from quite spacious all the way up to downright sprawling, a luxury indeed in a city where, as in London, hotel room square footage is at a premium. The look is muted but not minimalist, a sort of understated modernist luxury, with extra attention paid to the tangible comforts, like iPod docking stations and multi-headed showers.
There’s a fitness center, which is stylish, for a fitness center, and meeting space, as well as an award-winning concierge service. So far so good. The most eagerly awaited facet of The London NYC, however, has got to be the Gordon Ramsay angle. As with anything Mr. Ramsay does, the headlines threatened to distract from the cooking — but in the end the important point is that London NYC’s restaurant is far enough beyond most hotels' offerings as to be playing in a different league entirely.
Frankly it’s astonishing that there aren’t more hotels like the Devi Garh Fort Palace. Not because 18th-century palace hotels are a dime a dozen in India, certainly they aren’t, but because the contrast between the faded majesty of the exterior and the sparkling modernity of the interiors is so striking. Of course a part of the impact depends upon the novelty of looking out from your all-white marble-floored minimalist fantasy of a suite through traditional jharoka windows over the rugged Rajasthani countryside.
To be fair, “minimalist” is only accurate if you’re squinting very hard. The color palette is as simple as can be, but marble is a damn sight more expensive than the white-painted gypsum board the average boutique hotel room is made of — to say nothing of malachite, lapis lazuli, mother of pearl. At bottom it’s still a palace, just a contemporary one.
As such it comes with all the extravagant trappings of the contemporary luxury hotel. There’s an Ayurvedic spa, offering everything from massages to beauty treatments to yoga, as well as a fully-equipped gym and a heated swimming pool. The restaurant blends Indian traditions with European cuisines and an extensive wine cellar. And the location places you a comfortable distance from Udaipur, well situated for trips to the scenic ancient city and for tours of the Jain temples in the surrounding countryside.
How to Get There
Devi Garh Fort Palace is approximately a 30 minute drive from Udaipur Airport (UDR). Please contact customerservice@tablethotels.com to arrange airport transfers.After some years making a name for itself on the West Coast, the Ace brand arrives in the East, with a New York outpost on Broadway at 29th Street. And, as you’d expect, this one is a little bit different from other New York hotels. Start with the location: while you’re in the middle of Manhattan, and about three seconds from basically anywhere, this particular section of Broadway in the upper 20s is off most tourists’ radar, and most property developers’ as well. This is one way the Ace Hotel NYC manages to stick to its budget-friendly price point, and makes for a bit of colorful street life as well.
Pains have been taken to ensure that the Ace retains a bit of atmosphere from its SRO-hotel past. This is a grittier and less polished take on the boutique hotel, something quite a bit less glossy and aspirational than the Schrager version of decades past. Here you’ll find surplus and salvage furnishings along with vintage turntables (complete with vinyl library) and, in some rooms, a few well-chosen high-end items — Smeg refrigerators stocked with a decent selection of food and drinks certainly come in handy, as do the iPod hookups for those of us who have gone digital.
The funky, minimal décor underlines the point that the Ace has more in common with apartment life than with the traditional hotel experience. The lobby bar is a hot ticket every night of the week, as is the Breslin restaurant, something of a sequel to the West Village’s very fine Spotted Pig — meanwhile Stumptown is a genuine contender for the title of New York’s top coffee shop, and the John Dory is the oyster bar with the corner view onto Broadway.
Who’s it for? The prices certainly aren’t off-putting, and the audience is thus a bit broader than you’ll find in New York’s pricier boutiques. It's fair to say the Ace caters to real live creative types — anyone from freelancers paying their own way to rock bands accustomed to North Jersey motels.
Ace Hotel New York is featured in the Tablet10 Vol.9 Magazine.
About Ace Hotel New York: Ace Hotel NYC is a cutting-edge boutique hotel located in Midtown, Manhattan. The hotel is walking distance from the Empire State Building and other key New York City attractions and features Breslin Bar and Dining Room, a restaurant from the creators of the Spotted Pig, and Stumptown Coffee, one of New York's top coffee shops.
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