Best Urban Hotels 2018 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 ban The NoMad, Los Angeles Ur Ho st t e e Hotel Monville, Montreal ls B 2 Roomers, Munich 0 1 8 Freehand, New York Winner 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 Tribe Hotel, Perth Dream world Fera Palace Hotel, Salvador This year’s Best Urban Hotel, a fantastically furnished Sicilian palazzo, The Middle House, Shanghai plus three runners-up, as voted for by our jet-setting judging panel The Sukhothai, Shanghai Andaz, Singapore Six Senses Duxton, Singapore Asmundo di Gisira Paramount House Hotel, Sydney Catania The Vera, Tel Aviv The Broadview, Toronto Like many palazzi, Asmundo di Gisira, the public space celebrates the myth of FROM ABOVE LEFT, Hotel Indigo, Warsaw a converted 18th-century pile in Sicily’s Billonia, with a painting of the goddess by CEMENT TILES IN THE COVERED COURTYARD; second largest city, hides its true beauty Sergio Fiorentino; an enormous flamingo A CERAMIC CROCODILE within. The hotel interiors take their sculpture by Domenico Pellegrino references AND GAETANO PEsce’S inspiration from Sicilian legends, referenced the birds that used to inhabit the fountain 1969 UP-7 FOOT with a contemporary design language by at Catania’s Giardino Vincenzo Bellini; and SCULPTURE IN THE UZETA ROOM; THE GUM, a local studio that spent seven years the Proserpina suite, one of six generously SPRING-themed restoring the 400 sq m compound located sized guest rooms, features a granary-shaped PROSERPINA ROOM, FEATURING A GRANARy- just steps away from Catania’s landmark bed, and hand-painted tiles by local ceramist amberghi/Photofoyer INSPIRED BED AND B Fontana dell’Elefante. Original elements Alessandro Iudici. With handpicked Italian A CEILING FRESCO such as decorative ceilings and mouldings furnishings from the 1930s to the 1960s DEPICTING THE MYTH ilippo F were retained, while a new skylight turns rounding off the design, the palazzo offers OF PERSEPHONE a courtyard into an atrium, and ensuite suite dreams indeed. Yoko Choy bathrooms focus on comfort. Unique Via Gisira 40, tel: 39.09 5097 8894, touches come courtesy of Sicilian artists: asmundodigisira.com. Rates: from €120 Photography: 080 ∑ Best Urban Hotels 2018 rban H U ot st e e ls B 2 0 1 Hôtel de Crillon Runner-Up 8 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 ABOVE, DUTCH DESIGNER Les Ambassadeurs Bar. Revive in the pool LES AMBASSADEURS BAR, SEBASTIAN BRAJKOvic’S and at the sensational spa with products REVAMPED BY CHAHAN 2015 ’VANISHING POINT III’ that pamper, Parisian style. Mary Lussiana MINASSIAN WITH VELVET BENCH DRAWS THE ARMCHAIRS AND TABLES EYE AT THE TOP OF 10 Place de la Concorde, tel: 33.1 44 71 15 00, INLAID WITH PRECIOUS THE HOTEL’S RESTORED rosewoodhotels.com. Rates: from €1,110 METALS AND CRYSTALS GRAND STAIRCASE ∑ 083 Best Urban Hotels 2018 rban H U ot st e e ls B 2 0 1 Highly 8 Commended 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 soundtrack. But it is the ten teahouse- TOP, A COUPÉ ROOM packed ‘X’ crossings of Shibuya, Hotel Koé themed, super-minimal guest rooms that AT HOTEL SANDERS, ITS DESIGN INSPIRED BY is no conventional property. Managed really turn heads, with their serene expanses LUXURY TRAIN CABINS by Japanese fashion retailer Stripe of charcoal grey walls and night-sky blue ABOVE, HOTEL Koé’S International (the building’s first floor is carpets. Other highlights include a lounge XL Room, a 100 sq m home to the company’s flagship store) and with a sleek bar stretching the length of SPACE THAT NODS TO designed by local studio Suppose Design the space, and a small VIP area dominated JAPANESE TEAHOUSES Office, it is accessed through a light-filled by two paintings by Yoshitomo Nara and 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. egg and ramen noodles to a DJ-curated Rates: from £240 084 ∑.