Metropolitan by Como, Miami Beach
The Metropolitan Miami Beach overlooks America’s most iconic beach and the Atlantic Ocean. Combining its vintage 1930s roots with modern spirit, the Metropolitan is one of the finest examples of Art Deco luxury on Miami Beach. Designed by Paola Navone, the hotel’s interiors are playful tones of pastel pink and sea-foam green, combined cool marbles and shining chromes to accent the hotel’s rooms and suites. The building, which was sensitively restored to reflect its status as one of Miami’s historic properties, is protected by the city’s Historic Preservation Board. In keeping the period charm in place, Navone strikes the perfect balance between sophisticated modernity and playful nostalgia.
With a total of 74 rooms across 8 floors, guests can choose from the Metropolitan rooms, some with balconies, to the Ocean View suites, which have spectacular vistas. The elegant Como suite is the cherry of the guestroom cake at the Metropolitan. As a penthouse, it views are expansive, adding to a king-size bed, living room, dining room and kitchenette, with two additional guestrooms and the option of creating a private wing by securing the corridor.
Proudly holding fine dining at its heart, as with all other Como hotels around the world, the Metropolitan Miami Beach offers an array that can’t be missed. Whether dining at the vibrant Traymore restaurant or poolside, the cuisine boasts locally sourced, high-quality ingredients used by executive chef Jonathan Lane, who highlights Florida’s seasonal seafood and strives to complement traditionally refined service with elegant dishes.
The Traymore bar is open to visitors as well as guests, coming alive at night for Miami to enjoy its laidback soundtracks, bright and contemporary space, adorned with pink and pistachio Art Deco features, and drinks. As part of its dedicated Gin Club, the bar is stocked with over 30 artisanal gins, in addition to its signature cocktails, Champagne, wine and beers.
Countering the bustling Miami atmosphere, the COMO Shambhala Urban Escape at Metropolitan Miami Beach provides a highly personalised approach to wellbeing for both guests and Miami residents. The spa’s light and airy interior represents a clean-lined holistic sanctuary for those looking to escape the city’s partying. A full selection of massages, including a traditional Thai massage and the signature COMO Shambhala Massage, are available, as well as a number of purifying body detoxifications in the four treatment rooms.
Ace Hotel, Los Angeles
Ace Hotel is one of Downtown Los Angeles’ newest hotels with an artistic edge. Built in 1927, the building was originally a film studio, but was transformed for its re-launch as a hotel in early 2014. The hotel stands as a monument to a group of inspiring American artists that are paving their own way in the city, while anchoring the Broadway Theatre District’s modern renaissance.
The design of the Ace Hotel is inspired by Hollywood actress and founder of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Mary Pickford’s love of ornate décor and Spanish castles and cathedrals’ stone spires, while bowing down to contemporary design.
The Ace Hotel’s rooms are a continuation of their fantastic design and luxury hospitality, ranging from what they deem their (not very) Small rooms–which include a queen bed, a flat-screen tv and an acoustic Martin Guitar for those of musical-penchants–to the spectacular Ace Suite. The suite, which is 633 square foot includes a king size bed, a private kitchenette, a large private terrace, as well as an Ace x Rega RP1 turntable and acoustic Martin Guitar.
The hotel’s cocktail lounge, Upstairs peers over Downtown from the sun-gilded rooftop while Moon Juice and Coffee Counter offer what they say on their tins. L.A. Chapter brasserie serves European dishes with locally sourced and fresh ingredients, with the Mezzanine overlooking it, offering its menu from the communal dining table, which serves 8-16 guests. Inspired by Hollywood’s famous Les Deux Café, the décor is chic and glamorous, while the rooftop concrete pool is inspired by Donald Judd’s artistic property in Marfa, Texas. Also part of the Ace Hotel, the Segovia Hall is a function room with banquet spaces, holding parties, dinners, exhibitions, photoshoots and more.
Holding true to its artistic roots, the Ace Hotel sits on top of a delicately restored 1,600-seat movie palace from the 1920s. Refurbished, the theatre is grand and ornate with an open balcony and a vaulted ceiling made of thousands of tiny mirrors. Here, you can enjoy an array of events, from movie premiers, concerts, seminars, symposiums and performances.
Capella Washington D.C
In the heart of Washington D.C.’s vibrant Georgetown, along the historic C&O Canal, the Capella hotel is a luxury haven that brings guests closer to local culture and traditions, while celebrating individuality and creativity.
Designed to resemble a private residence, the hotel boasts a wonderful array of museum-quality artwork dotted around its 49 guest rooms and 12 hotel suites, with unique and hand-crafted features, such as its reclaimed antique parquet flooring from a European chateau, custom work-desks, glossy Austrian paneling and Hermes leather drawer pulls.
The rooms range from the light and plush Superior rooms to the Georgetown room, which looks over the city from its over-sized windows and white limestone bathtubs. Although the Capella and Executive suites are indulgent, the Presidential suite steals the luxury limelight. Anchored by a grand entrance foyer, the suite includes a large living room, dining area, pantry, powder room, walk-in closet and a second bedroom, as well as an extraordinary six and a half foot circular marble bathtub.
Although Washington’s Georgetown boasts an array of dining and tippling options–including Jose Andres’ Minibar and The Source by Wolfgang Puck–the Capella offers Italian cuisine by award-winning chef Frank Ruta at The Grill Room. The Rye bar, which specializes in American rye whiskies is a perfect place to put your feet up and indulge in a tipple, while the spectacular Rooftop bar offers a glamorous night out.
The Capella’s luxury living room space presents guests with the opportunity to sink into the plush room’s relaxed atmosphere and enjoy a moment of solace. Refined yet lavish, the living room has an over-sized fire place inside a wall of marbled Italian onyx at its heart, with soft armchairs and abstract expressionist paintings peppering the antique paneling.
Rounded off with its spa and rooftop infinity pool, the Capella really is the hotel to visit in the American capital.
The Liberty Hotel, Boston
Once a prison, The Liberty Hotel is a unique luxury lair in the vibrant city of Boston. The hotel, which is located in one of the city’s oldest and most affluent neighborhoods of Beacon Hill, overlooks the Charles river and sits within a quaint succession of antique shops, boutiques, bistros and pubs.
The Liberty’s design does not shy away from its former life as a jail and rather, it embraces it with a playful design. Completed in 1851 as a jail, it was made redundant in 1973 after housing some of Boston’s most notorious criminals for 120 years and, after briefly acting as a hospital, was transformed into the luxury hotel that it is today in 2001 by a team of historians, conservationists, designers and architects.
Aiming to infuse the hotel with a unique personality that honors the building’s history while remaining contemporary, the reception is a wink to embroidery work in the 1850s and made of ebonized wood with lacquered stenciled patterns; carpets showcase the old-fashioned crewel work of New England, and historic American colors–maroon, grey and purple–keep modern prints traditional. Old features, including the wrought-iron work on the windows and the former exercise yard, now a private, beautifully landscaped courtyard, have been preserved to add a wink to the hotel’s past.
Serene and elegant, the rooms are decorated in pale rose and taupe tones with rich mahogany woods and highlights of stainless steel, with floor-to-ceiling windows and contemporary artwork. Rooms range from Superior Kings to Grand Deluxe Corner Doubles. The superior suites, of which there are 10, peer over the Charles river with views of the cityscape. The Deluxe Ebersol Suite in particular gives wrap-around views of the city and trumps the other suites with a terrace butler pantry, library, dressing room and master bathroom, as well as beautiful living and dining areas.
Also home to five of Boston’s best restaurants, enjoy the daily changing menu and extensive wine list at CLINK.; cocktails at Alibi; Italian cuisine at chef Lydia Shire’s Scampo; the newest bar, Catwalk; and the chic outdoor private courtyard of The Yard.