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■■ Here’s even more of a reason to head to Madrid – to check in to the city’s newest sophisticated, contemporary lodgings.

The BLESS Hotel Madrid sits in the fashionable Salamanca area. With just over 100 rooms, a rooftop pool, bowling alley, spa and gym, and a gourmet restaurant, it’s sure to be the hottest spot in town.

Decor is suitably dramatic with many original features retained, such as Murano glass panels and marble floors. Bedrooms come with parquet floors, squishy sofas and nods to their 19th century roots, such as headboards featuring hunting scenes and country landscapes juxtaposing beautifully with modern artwork.

Doubles from €269, room only. blesscollectionhotels.com ■■Warner Leisure Hotels has just revamped Studley Castle, its first new opening in 19 years. Rooms are elegant with pale decor and pops of colour in soft furnishings.

A glassed-in spa and indoor pool will offer treatments galore, and by evening there’ll be live music and cocktails. Stratford-upon-avon and the pretty honey-hued villages of the Cotswolds are nearby.

Doubles from €204 for two nights. warnerleisurehotels.co.uk

■■The Calilo Hotel and Spa on the Greek island of Ios will raise the luxury bar this summer. It has just 27 suites with private pools costing from €340 a night, scattered throughout a valley overlooking a long sandy beach.

You can recline in a cabana or whizz out on one of Calilo’s private boats to a deserted beach.

The resort has a sandy-bottomed pool with sloping beach edges, with beach-side restaurants where you can wiggle your toes in the sand while dining. Get there by ferry or helicopter. calilo.com