Architect: Luciano Columbo
Designer: Current interior decoration by Fay Parker

Barbados is the perfect antidote for an executive lifestyle. It’s true what they say about it: perfect beaches, an idyllic lifestyle and perfectly laidback ambience. But I stayed in The House, so-called for its lack of hotel infrastructure - no concierge, reception, or formalities, so this turned out to be quite a different experience from the more conventional 5-star hotels, especially in the UK. Every guest is assigned an ‘ambassador service’. This is someone who is there just for you and is on call 24 hours a day to meet your every request. Another drink? Another towel? Another scallop? But is it intrusive? Well, no. They never crowd your space. It’s a bit like a very quiet restaurant with more waiters than guests, knowing that they are just waiting to jump into action… (continue reading…)

A room that’s five below zero brings a whole new meaning to five-star accommodation at this unique transitory hotel

Is there anyone on the planet who’s not heard of the Ice hotel? Although few people have actually visited, everyone knows about it. Sleeping on ice in sub-zero temperatures takes some marketing.

Well, this must be the greenest of hotels. The entire building is constructed from snow and ice from the Torne river and, when the spring comes, it melts back into the river from whence it came. (continue reading…)

Architect: Harrison Sutton partnership
Interior Design: Max Bentheim

Flagged as Cornwall’s first eco hotel, The Scarlet is a new-build destination in one of the most beautiful parts of the UK. Yes, it’s difficult to get to - a good eight-hour drive from London - but as I arrived weary and disheveled the hotel exceeded expectations. And that’s saying something for an editor! (continue reading…)

Interior design: Annemaria Jagdfeld, AMJ Design, Berlin
Restaurant: Tully Filmer
Roof Terrace Design: Philip Nixon

The newly refurbished St James Hotel is situated in a quiet cul de sac between the busiest and loudest hubs of London: Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus. The old aristocratic and genteel St James’ Gentleman’s Club is now one of the hippest places in London thanks to the skillful hands of Anne Maria Jagdfeld. Remember we’re talking one of the most exclusive of addresses here, where the name gentleman’s club is a term from yesteryear, and not to be mistaken with its current euphemism for strip clubs. (continue reading…)

The idea of healing ‘energies’ informs the interior design of this picturesque 18th century Palladian mansion set in the Cotswolds

Interior designer: Marchella de Angelis

Approaching through the traditional but beautiful countryside in Gloucestershire, there is nothing remarkable about the outside of the hotel. In fact it lulls you into anticipating paneled walls, chintz and Georgian armchairs. Its elegant Grade II facade suggests a country manor house that blends in with the rest of the quaint village of Painswick. But as soon as you walk in, the place makes you giggle. (continue reading…)

The Opposite House is named after a Chinese tradition of hospitality, yet its style is seductively modern, from its minimalist décor to its maximalist levels of service

Interior designer: Di Leonardo International
Architect: Kengo Kuma

In The Opposite House, Beijing, Swire Hotels and Japanese architect Kengo Kuma have created a hotel set around an atrium just waiting to be featured in the next Jackie Chan movie. Swaths of metallic mesh sweep down from the ceilings into the opening hall, pretty much asking Jackie to make an acrobatic escape down one of them. It wouldn’t be too much of problem either, as not much goes on in the Opposite House reception area; there’s no actual reception desk - the ‘paperless’ check-in is done by the staff (who must be borrowed from China’s Next Top Model) either in the Living Room or in the pick-up car on the way over.

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