Poland Hotels Booking

DC’s brand-new Mandarin Oriental occupies an unusual location, in the Portals complex, a multi-use site on a concrete promontory near the 14th Street Bridge, at the confluence of the Washington Channel and the Potomac Tidal Basin. This may mean it’s a less convenient location than some of the older hotels, but the payoff lies in the spectacular views—rooms overlook the Mall and the Washington Monument on one side, and the Basin and the Jefferson Memorial on the other.

Of course, if you’re a tourist, you’ll find the easy access to the Mall’s memorials and museums to be anything but inconvenient; and if you’re on business, you’re a short cab or Metro ride from your destination.

The relative merits of the location, however, are likely to be forgotten upon entering the hotel itself. The building blends classic Federalist architecture with Asian influences, and the rounded edges are apparently Feng Shui-mandated. Interiors are impressive, from the sprawling lobby, beneath a rotunda, to the curvaceous and expansive guest rooms, decorated in earth tones and pale greens, recalling the brick faces and oxidized copper accents of Washington’s historic buildings.

Facilities, of course, are first-class, and the service is extraordinary in typical Mandarin style, even if an American bellman in the nation’s capital wearing a mandarin-collared side-buttoned jacket is an odd and incongruous sight. The spa is one of the main attractions, itself as large as some hotels we’ve seen, offering every therapy yet devised in a surprisingly chic environment. All in all, a breath of fresh air for America’s most buttoned-up city.

If you accept the premise that this is China’s century (and we’re all just living in it) then logically one inescapable conclusion follows: they’re going to need a lot more boutique hotels. This, obviously, is what the Hotel G is for: a new 110-room boutique in the hip-yet-luxurious mode, located in the nightlife and entertainment district of Sanlitun, with three restaurants and a lobby café of its own — just the sort of hotel-as-social-center that every cosmopolitan city needs.

This being Beijing, it’s a new build, albeit one with a groovy Sixties-luxe theme in its interiors, alongside some contemporary loft style and some pronounced Chinese details. Forget clichéd red silk though; here the colors are cool and muted, in greys, blues and browns. Plasma TVs are standard, as are iPod docks, both more or less necessities in the increasingly tech-driven boutique hotel world.

Restaurants include the American 25 Degrees and the North-African/Mediterranean Gilt, both worthy culinary options and lively nightspots to boot. And for winding down there’s a sixth-floor “urban retreat” — not quite a spa, but a lounge at least, with a garden, Jacuzzis, and a gym. Expect to see more like this in Beijing in the coming years.

It’s the rare traditional-style hotel that really gets us going, but the Santa Caterina is an absolute classic. Family-owned for the better part of a century, it sits high on a hillside facing the sea and the town of Amalfi — guests ride an elevator down to the hotel’s private beach, for the ultimate storybook Italian-coast experience.

Santa Caterina is the real deal: the grounds are all terraces, olive groves and lemon orchards, with the kind of jaw-dropping views that make the Amalfi — if we may be painfully earnest — one of the world’s most special places. The look of the building, and of the interiors, is charmingly old-fashioned; there’s no attempted design-boutique guff here, and it comes off timeless rather than dated.

The signature restaurant takes in the spectacular view from a terrace on the cliff, while a second serves wood-fired pizza beside the salt-water swimming pool, on the lower deck by the seaside. It’s up there with the best hotels on the Amalfi Coast: elegant yet fairly unpretentious, for what it is, with a bit of the air of a private residence about it, something many lesser hotels try in vain to cultivate.

It’s a testament to the power of a coat of paint and a bit of new furniture. Actually it took slightly more than that — but finally at the Parkcity there’s a hotel that’s worthy of its splendid Victorian-era building. The update leaves the Parkcity looking contemporary, while remaining true to its heritage — the country-house fussiness and the hard-striving hipness that make up the two extremes of the London hotel world are both studiously avoided, in favor of a grown-up neutral palette, with a passing nod in the direction of minimalism.

Rooms aren’t overly large, but are more than comfortable enough, decked out in the same soothing neutrals. Not quite a honeymoon fantasy, it’s nevertheless quite suitable for leisure travelers and business guests alike. This is a niche that needed to be filled: something less than a luxury hotel but much more than a hostel or a bed and breakfast, not far from upscale Knightsbridge and South Kensington, yet not so close as to be beyond the reach of those who don’t already own mansions there. It’s close, but not too close, to Earl’s Court, and Hyde Park is just a few minutes’ walk to the north.

Our new 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 not officially open yet — unfinished spaces, noisy construction, inexperienced service — then you’ll be rewarded with deep Tablet-only pre-opening discounts, and the chance to help decide whether the finished hotel will earn a place on Tablet Hotels.

For some time now the East Village has suffered from a certain imbalance — plenty of places to dine and drink, but nowhere to stay. It’s a situation that’s found some resolution in recent years, as a building boom in Manhattan’s south-eastern quadrant has made space for a new wave of modern boutique hotels, some of them, like the Cooper Square Hotel, situated in gleaming new modern high-rises.

It’s hard to miss the towering curves and angles of the Cooper Square, surrounded as it is by a relatively low-rise district. And from inside the rooms it makes for unique perspectives on the East Village rooftops as well as the downtown bridges and classic uptown skyscrapers. Windows are floor-to-ceiling, and the in-room amenities are pure luxury-boutique: iPod stereos, Blu-ray DVD players, mosaic-tile bathrooms and three different bathrobes to choose from. All this and warmth too — the modern furnishings are set off against charmingly retro wood paneling and bookshelves stocked with handsome leather volumes.

The other half of a New York boutique-hotel package is the nightlife. At the moment Table 8 is still a work in progress, as are the Cooper Square’s bars — though one of them is opening at this very moment, and should be up and running by the time you’ve dropped your bags at your room. By way of compensation, however, the service promises to exceed boutique expectations; the general manager, among others, is a high-end hospitality veteran.

There’s a case to be made that the popular image of LA has it all wrong. It’s a vast, sprawling, crowded city, in most places hardly the oasis of mellowness it’s commonly suspected of being. Santa Monica, however, is exactly that oasis of mellowness — it’s got the beach, the pier, the promenade, and it’s got hotels like the newly-refurbished all-suite Oceana.

Here, unlike a lot of urban boutique hotels, you’ll find nothing edgy at all. Colors are sunny and soft, the interiors homey and contemporary, and small comforts are plentiful: huge plasma televisions, plush robes, classic marble bathrooms. Some suites come with balconies facing the Pacific and jacuzzi tubs, and some include work areas and/or well-stocked kitchens; all are spacious bordering upon palatial.

There’s a pool in the courtyard, and the beach is just across the road, something that’s not true of all that many LA-area hotels. On site is the Ocean Lounge restaurant, as well as a fitness center and spa — and nearby is Main Street Santa Monica, as well as the Third Street Promenade, where you’ll find more shops and restaurants than you know what to do with. If it’s edgy and urban you’re after, we know a rooftop hotel bar in downtown LA that’s got your name on it. But if it’s chilled-out Southern California relaxation you’re looking for, you need look no further.

Some hotels are remarkable for the ease with which they represent the essence of their location; others are remarkable for the contrast between the hotel’s environment and that of the city at large. Guadalajara is one of Mexico’s biggest cities, a bustling and chaotic metropolis, but you’d be hard pressed to notice this from within the walls of the Quinta Real.

Like the other hotels in the Quinta Real group, this one avoids the familiar pitfalls of the big-city business hotel, instead opting for a colonial-influenced residential style. The hotel is tucked into a leafy residential area about four kilometers from downtown, making it a favorite for business travelers who need access to the city center, yet can afford a bit of peace and quiet.

The Quinta Real is an all-suite property, and all the suites are spacious, with classic furnishings and expansive marble bathrooms outfitted with Hermès bath products as well as plush robes and slippers. A pillow menu helps ensure quality sleep, and the service is top-notch. The slightly higher-end suites feature Jacuzzi baths, and the Presidential suite shames many private residences, with three bedrooms across its two floors and even a piano, for the musically inclined.

Hotel services include a swimming pool and passes to a nearby gym, as well as a restaurant serving upscale Mexican and international fare.

How to get there:

Quinta Real is approximately a 30 minute drive from Guadalajara International Airport and a 5 hour drive from Mexico City.

This is the old-world, old-money face of Manhattan, the Upper East Side, where the wealthy (including the occasional head of state) pass their time, leaving downtown to the trend-chasers and aspirants. For many of us a trip to The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel, is as close as we can ever come to the storybook New York of days gone by, when Marilyn may have been whisked through the side entrance for an appointment with JFK.

Recent renovations have added almost nothing new, merely heightening the time-travel feel of the place, returning the original shine to the distinctly British Empire interiors. The Carlyle can’t be bothered to notice recent ‘developments’ in the hospitality industry; this is a place that clearly operates under the assumption that last century’s hoteliers got it right, and that discreet and old-fashioned service goes a long way—sadly almost a novel idea at this point.

The location is unparalleled, a stone’s throw from Central Park and just a block north of the Whitney Museum on Madison Avenue, with what may be the world’s best shopping within walking distance. Any designer worth a mention has a boutique within a few blocks from here, not to mention Barneys, and the upscale residential neighborhoods make for first-class people-watching.

Executive travelers take note: The Carlyle is not exactly the most modern of business hotels, and the staff, though supremely professional, are unlikely to be able to sync your laptop to your PDA. They are handy with a phone message, however, and discreet in a way the fashion students and aspiring actors who staff the downtown hotels will never be. If your happiness depends on late-night debauchery and being photographed in the city’s hottest nightspots, then there are downtown locations that would be better suited (consult Time Out for the hip neighborhood of the season), but for a taste of old-school Upper Manhattan, The Carlyle is ideal.

For centuries Switzerland was the playground of Europe, and to this day it’s practically bursting with classic grand hotels — when it comes to old-fashioned luxury, these people know what they’re doing. In Interlaken, the grande dame is the Victoria-Jungfrau, a 19th-century hotel which, like its counterparts in Switzerland’s other , has played host to a list of luminaries a mile long.

Of course these places can’t get by on reputation alone. The Victoria-Jungfrau has gamely kept pace with the times, updating its slightly rustic Alpine-style pomp with some extremely restrained modern touches. What this means to you is that your room is neither a faded antique nor an alienating modern experiment, just elegant, somewhat timeless, and about as comfortable as it’s possible for a hotel room to be.

Just as much comfort is to be found outside the rooms. The spa is a partnership with ESPA and Clarins, two of the biggest names in that world, and they’re joined by a dermatology clinic, several varieties of massage therapy, even a hair salon. The health club is perhaps even more impressive, with several pools, a massive and well-equipped fitness center, and an indoor tennis facility. Add a large handful of restaurants and lounges, and natural proximity to Interlaken’s lakefront and Alpine mountains, and you’ve got yourself a very complete destination.

The Thompson group continues its westward expansion with this Beverly Hills outpost, built from the bones of a Sixties-era chain motel on Wilshire Boulevard. Not that you’d notice — if the Thompson is retro, it’s retro of the Seventies chocolate-leather variety, rather than another revival of the mid-century motel.

It’s a sexy, dark-toned and masculine look, one that works well for a hotel like the Thompson, where the emphasis is less on tucking in for a night’s sleep (any old budget chain can manage that) and more on dining, drinking and entertaining, not to mention shopping — you’re just a few blocks from the famed shopping district around Rodeo Drive.

The nightlife begins at Bond Street, which serves an East Coast take on the California institution of sushi. The rooftop is home to an open-air poolside lounge and bar called ABH, for Above Beverly Hills, a nightspot whose guests-only policy means no scene and no velvet rope.

Of course the rooms are no afterthought — they’re swanky and comfortable, if not quite scaling the heights of luxury, and the top-shelf details don’t hurt either, including Kiehl’s bath products, Sferra linens, and minibar snacks by Dean and DeLuca.