August: The World is Your Hotel

It’s true, I’ve been in and out of hotel rooms this year, and while it’s fun to be a hotel name-dropper from time to time - “oh, I’ve stayed there…” – there is still a long list of hotels I’d love to stay in someday, somehow… Maybe I read too much Vanity Fair or watch too many movies, but these hotels seem to come up again and again as some of the chic-est places to lay one’s head.

The Hotel du Cap Eden Roc has got to be the topper. I’ve loved it ever since I saw the opening sequence of Paris When It Sizzles, and every year I imagine myself beating Dominick Dunne at a game of gin on its broad terrace during the Cannes Film Festival. Meanwhile, the whole place conjures frolicking summers of the jazz age with Scott, Zelda, the Murphys, Picasso, and the Cole Porters. Who could resist staying at the Roc?

Hôtel du Cap Eden Roc, Antibes, France

If the Hotel du Cap were full, I suppose I’d have to stay at the Hotel Carlton in Cannes with everyone else who’s there during the film festival. Not that I’m complaining about this, but if I were to stay here I’d want Grace Kelly’s little roadster waiting at the door for afternoon drives – just like in To Catch a Thief.

Hôtel Carlton Cannes, Cannes, France

I love Quebec. It’s quiet old-worldliness, it’s understated European chic. I think I’ve been in love with the Fairmont Chateau Frontenac ever since I saw it on the pages of my French textbook in sixth grade. I’d love to go up there for a long autumn weekend, watch the leaves change colors, and maybe even catch a dusting of early snow, and then get cozy in a sumptuous room that overlooks the whole city.

Fairmont Le Château Frontenac, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada

There’s another Chateau that revs my glamour motor: Chateau Marmont. Of course everyone stays here, or has at least partied their ass off here. I would just love to stay for a weekend and see what all the fuss is about, Entourage episodes aside. I guess it’s that secret rock-star side of me that wants to go cut it up in the castle on Sunset.

Chateau Marmont, Los Angeles, California

One of the best hotels I’ve ever stayed in was the Casa Del Mar in Santa Monica, but it’s next-door neighbor seems to be the place that gets all the buzz. I’ve heard nothing but good things about the Shutters – how romantic and quiet it is, and how it’s the discreet choice of the classy celebutantes that don’t care for paparazzi.

Shutters Hotel on the Beach, Santa Monica, California

Two hours south of LA there’s another hotel that’s haunted me for ages: Hotel Del Coronado on Coronado Island in San Diego. Maybe because I love ghosts and this place is supposedly haunted Kate Morgan – a young woman who checked in in 1892 and never checked out. To be honest though, I think it’s because of Some Like It Hot.

Hotel Del Coronado, Coronado Island, San Diego, California

I can think of nothing more romantic than visiting Venice, Italy. Nothing, unless it’s the prospect of waking up in the morning, tumbling out of 1000-thread count Frette sheets, opening the shutters and finding a front-row view of the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. Apparently this can be yours at the Hotel Europa & Regina. Now, when does my morning coffee get here? (To be fair, I did want to mention the Hotel des Bains on the Lido as another spot that I’d like to stay in, but I decided that I wanted my canal-view more than the beach…)

Hotel Europa & Regina, Venice, Italy

Ah, Paris. My home away from home. I love it there, but it isn’t much of a hotel town the way New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles are these days. It’s true the Hotel Costes is unabashedly “trendy” (so quoted from their own website copy,) thereby cornering the market in boutique hotels in Paris, but who needs to put up with their snotty velvet-rope service? No. For my money I’d much rather go all-out and stay where Madonna stays: Hôtel de Crillon. Right on the Place de la Concorde and just down the street from the Buddha Bar, this place is still the best place to stay in Paris. Some say it’s the Ritz, but again, let’s stay away from the cameras, and who needs the temptation of all those jewelry stores on the Place Vendôme?

Hôtel de Crillon, Paris, France

I hear the shopping is wonderful in Hong Kong, as is the food. While I’ve never been, I do know where to stay once I make it there: The Peninsula. Another hotel that’s been consistently glamorous ever since it opened in 1928, the whole prospect of visiting makes me think of the chicness of China pre-World War II. I suppose I just want to sip martinis among the potted palms in the lobby and wait for James Bond to check in and take me to dinner…not that I’d wait around for him, but you know what I mean.

The Peninsula Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong, SAR

I’m not really one for the desert, but once again I would like to see the why and the what of the buzz surrounding Dubai. As everyone knows, when in Dubai the only place to stay is the Burj Al Arab – the hotel that was designed to look like a sailboat on the water. The whole place seems to be like a real-life Absurdistan with over-the-top accommodations, plasma screen TVs, mirrors on the ceiling, helipads, and a skybar. Part of me thinks it sounds luxurious, while the other part of me thinks it sounds like a weird alternate universe with so many amenities meant to distract you from the fact that you’re in a hellish prison. After all, when it’s this hot who really wants to go outside? But who knows – I may end up liking it!

Burj Al Arab Jumeirah, Dubai, United Arab Emirates