More than 1,000 works of art give Majestic Hotel & Spa Barcelona a reason to linger in its corridors, with pieces by Antoni Tàpies, Eduardo Chillida, Jaume Plensa, and Anish Kapoor displayed throughout the hotel. The owners’ interest in art gives this Passeig de Gràcia address a cultural identity that extends well beyond the architecture nearby. Rooms look onto Eixample courtyards or the boulevard, while La Dolce Vitae, the rooftop restaurant and bar, opens up views of Casa Batlló and the Sagrada Família. At SOLC, the connection to Catalonia takes a more practical form: vegetables come from the hotel’s own Maresme farm, alongside fish from Barcelona’s fish market and meats from local producers.
A vintage coffee truck in the lobby and a vinyl collection in the VIP Lounge give The Cumberland a playful streak that suits its musical identity. With 900 bedrooms at Marble Arch, this is a London hotel on a substantial scale, with plenty happening under one roof: Spanish tapas at Lírica, cocktails at SOUND Bar, and Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen. Hyde Park is on the doorstep, and the Park View rooms make the most of that setting with views across the park. For guests in Executive King rooms and suites, the lounge adds a more personal diversion: records to play, an ice cream machine, and refreshments throughout the day.
Edwardian rooms in gray and tangerine and Art Deco rooms in gold and caramel give The Savoy two distinct visual identities, reflecting the eras that shaped it. The theatrical connection runs deeper than the decor: the hotel was built to accommodate travelers coming to see Gilbert and Sullivan at the Savoy Theatre. Today, its private approach off the Strand puts Covent Garden and the West End within a short walk, while river-facing rooms look across the Thames. Inside, floral sculptures rise above the lobby’s black-and-white marble floor, afternoon tea unfolds beneath Gallery’s glass dome with live piano, and the American Bar makes cocktails part of the hotel’s enduring social life.
A 7,000-square-foot rooftop bar overlooking Gramercy Park is central to the planned revival of Gramercy Park Hotel. Closed since 2020, the 18-story hotel at 2 Lexington Avenue is slated for an extensive renovation by MCR and MORSE Development, encompassing its lobby, first-floor restaurants and bars, and 197 guestrooms and suites. The building dates to 1924 and occupies the former site of architect Stanford White’s estate, giving the project a substantial piece of New York history to work with. For now, it remains a hotel in waiting, with the rooftop’s full restoration among the plans for its next chapter.
El Quijote, the Hotel Chelsea’s century-old Spanish restaurant, gives this West 23rd Street address a living connection to its past, with a menu drawing on the Basque Country. Dining remains central to the hotel’s character: Café Chelsea serves French-American bistro fare, while Teruko brings a sushi bar and seasonal Japanese cooking to the subterranean level. Upstairs, accommodations range from compact, 200-square-foot queen rooms to suites with full kitchens and dining areas. Marble bathrooms recur throughout, with high ceilings, soaking tubs, and Manhattan views in selected categories. The Lobby Bar welcomes neighbors as well as overnight guests, making the Chelsea a place to spend an evening even without checking in.
Guernsey’s will be auctioning off ... hotel room doors from the Chelsea Hotel, where artists and musicians such as ... Bob Dylan frequently stayed in its heyday
Versailles provides the architectural cue for Le Meurice’s Alain Ducasse restaurant, where Philippe Starck reinterpreted the château’s Salon de la Paix. That interplay of classical grandeur and artistic invention gives this Paris hotel its character: Starck also designed Le Dalí, drawing on the surrealist’s playful imagination. Facing the Tuileries Garden on rue de Rivoli, with the Louvre a five-minute walk away, Le Meurice puts art within easy reach both indoors and out. Food is an equally compelling reason to linger, from the two-Michelin-starred restaurant to Cédric Grolet’s pastries sculpted to resemble fruit. In the evening, Bar 228 offers deep leather armchairs and live jazz—a more intimate setting within the hotel’s ornate world.
