Hotel Koe, Tokyo

Best Urban Hotels 2018

Our Judges Our Judges

Jasmi Bonnén

Beauty entrepreneur, Copenhagen

Aric Chen

Design curator, Shanghai

Natasha Jen

Designer, New York

Cherine Magrabi

Creative director, Beirut

Fernanda Marques

Architect, São Paulo

Makgati Molebatsi

Art consultant, Johannesburg

Best Of the rest

Almanac, Barcelona

Ace Hotel, Chicago

Nobis, Copenhagen

Mondrian Doha, Doha

Bulgari Resort, Dubai

Eden Locke, Edinburgh

Puro, Gdańsk

The Fontenay, Hamburg

Macq 01, Hobart

The Murray, Hong Kong

Room Mate Emir, Istanbul

Hallmark House Hotel, Johannesburg

Verride Palácio Santa Catarina, Lisbon

The Mandrake, London

The Principal, London

The NoMad, Los Angeles

Hotel Monville, Montreal

Roomers, Munich

Freehand, New York

Made, New York

Moxy Times Square, New York

Moxy Osaka Honmachi, Osaka

Hôtel National des Arts et Métiers, Paris

W Panama, Panama City

The Hoxton, Paris

Dream world

Tribe Hotel, Perth

Fera Palace Hotel, Salvador

The Middle House, Shanghai

The Sukhothai, Shanghai

Andaz, Singapore

Six Senses Duxton, Singapore

Paramount House Hotel, Sydney

The Vera, Tel Aviv

this year’s best urban hotel, a fantastically furnished sicilian palazzo, plus three runners-up, as voted for by our jet-setting judging panel

Asmundo di Gisira

Catania

The Broadview, Toronto

Hotel Indigo, Warsaw

Like many palazzi, Asmundo di Gisira, a converted 18th-century pile in Sicily’s second largest city, hides its true beauty within. The hotel interiors take their the public space celebrates the myth of Billonia, with a painting of the goddess by Sergio Fiorentino; an enormous ﬂamingo sculpture by Domenico Pellegrino references

from above left, cement tiles in the covered courtyard; a ceramic crocodile and Gaetano Pesce’s

1969 UP-7 foot

sculPture in the uzeta room; the sPrinG-themed

inspiration from Sicilian legends, referenced the birds that used to inhabit the fountain with a contemporary design language by GUM, a local studio that spent seven years restoring the 400 sq m compound located just steps away from Catania’s landmark Fontana dell’Elefante. Original elements such as decorative ceilings and mouldings were retained, while a new skylight turns a courtyard into an atrium, and ensuite bathrooms focus on comfort. Unique touches come courtesy of Sicilian artists: at Catania’s Giardino Vincenzo Bellini; and the Proserpina suite, one of six generously sized guest rooms, features a granary-shaped bed, and hand-painted tiles by local ceramist Alessandro Iudici. With handpicked Italian furnishings from the 1930s to the 1960s rounding oﬀ the design, the palazzo oﬀers

suite dreams indeed. Yoko Choy

ProserPina room, featurinG a GranaryinsPired bed and a ceilinG fresco dePictinG the myth of PersePhone

Via Gisira 40, tel: 39.09 5097 8894, asmundodigisira.com. Rates: from €120

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Hôtel de Crillon

Paris

Four years, 17,600 gold scales, 40 different types of marble, minerals, feathers, mirrors, glass and gilding are just some of what went into creating the newly buffed and polished Hôtel de Crillon on Paris’ Place de la Concorde. For all its impressive history, which dates back to 1758, the property, from Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, wears its heritage lightly, layered with 21st-century Parisian chic and a real sense of place. Ten Signature Suites, including two by Karl Lagerfeld, offer individual takes on opulence, while the remaining 114 rooms and suites feature muted tones and grey marble bathrooms. Nespresso machines are clad in leather, beds in the softest linens, and desks are stacked with books on Paris. Fine dining restaurant L’Ecrin is not to be missed, for its Champignon de Paris dish alone, but try too the Ile Callot oysters in the Brasserie d’Aumont, and the Paris Mule cocktails in the glitzy yet cool

toP, the hotel’s Gilded les ambassadeurs bar, revamPed by chahan minassian with velvet armchairs and tables inlaid with Precious metals and crystals above, dutch desiGner sebastian brajkovic’s 2015 ’vanishinG Point iii’ bench draws the eye at the toP of the hotel’s restored Grand staircase

Les Ambassadeurs Bar. Revive in the pool and at the sensational spa with products

that pamper, Parisian style. Mary Lussiana

10 Place de la Concorde, tel: 33.1 44 71 15 00, rosewoodhotels.com. Rates: from €1,110

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Hotel Sanders

Copenhagen

Former Danish Royal Ballet dancer and third-generation hotelier Alexander Kølpin has transformed an art nouveau building across the road from his former workplace, the Royal Danish Theatre, into a supremely elegant 54-room hotel. His attention to detail his apparent throughout the property, from the staﬀ uniforms, made by Parisian label Older using a sustainable technical fabric, to the surprisingly un-Scandinavian, eclectic interiors by London-based studio Lind + Almond. With its restaurant serving up casual fare in a relaxed setting, cosy vintage bar and rooftop conservatory, Hotel Sanders has become a new social hub

for Copenhagen. Micha van Dinther

Tordenskjoldsgade 15, hotelsanders.com. Rates: from DKK2,895 (€390)

Hotel Koé

Tokyo

Located among the blaring neons and packed ‘X’ crossings of Shibuya, Hotel Koé is no conventional property. Managed by Japanese fashion retailer Stripe soundtrack. But it is the ten teahousethemed, super-minimal guest rooms that really turn heads, with their serene expanses of charcoal grey walls and night-sky blue carpets. Other highlights include a lounge with a sleek bar stretching the length of the space, and a small VIP area dominated by two paintings by Yoshitomo Nara and

toP, a couPé room at hotel sanders, its desiGn insPired by luxury train cabins above, hotel koé’s xl room, a 100 sq m sPace that nods to jaPanese teahouses

International (the building’s first floor is home to the company’s flagship store) and designed by local studio Suppose Design Office, it is accessed through a light-filled ground floor, where an open-plan restaurant Hiroshi Sugita. Danielle Demetriou and bakery serves up dishes such as pink

3-7 Udagawacho, Shibuya-ku, hotelkoe.com. Rates: from £240

eg and ramen noodles to a DJ-curated

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