Book a date with Delia – or the butlers in camo gear!
...and six stylish trends that your hosts will offer next year
Libraries
All of the coolest new hotels have shelves of books to leaf through, including The Heathman (heathmanhotel. com) in Portland and The Wayfarer (wayfarerdtla.com) in Los Angeles.
And this trend is at its most fun at the hip Standard Hotel in London’s Kings Cross. Thousands of books from the 1970s and 1980s have been sourced to fill the shelves of the Library Lounge, allowing you to curl up with a cocktail while thumbing through Delia Smith’s One Is Fun (you’ll find it in the Romance section).
Philanthropy
The first hotels in the Western world were run in the Middle Ages by nuns and monks. Today Bill Bensley, who has designed some of the most famous hotels in Asia, is just as charitable.
His Shinta Mani Wild hotel in Cambodia exists to protect endangered animals from poachers. Guests get a good deal too – there’s a lot of fun to be had from the zip line that you arrive by to the 15 extravagant tents, staffed by camo-wearing butlers (Ed Sheeran liked his butler so much when he stayed that he hired him for his latest tour). bensleycollection.com/ shintamani-wild
Back to the 1950s
A collection of eyesore buildings are being turned into trendy hotels. The Dewberry in Charleston, South Carolina, was once a government admin building. Now it’s been spruced up and is the trendiest hotel in the city. The UK is also getting in on the act – the former HQ of the Coventry Evening Telegraph newspaper swaps ink stains for cocktails when it becomes the very groovy Telegraph Hotel this autumn. telegraph-hotel.com
Banning plastic
The new Club Med Miches (clubmed.com) in the Dominican Republic has banned single-use plastic. Back in London, so has the Inhabit (inhabithotels.com) group. And that’s just the start. Other hotels are cutting down on waste too – the gorgeous new Treehouse in Oxford Circus is abolishing little bottles of shampoos. treehousehotels.com
Scent
Sniff around any posh hotel group these days and you’ll find that it has its own scent to seduce guests. Check in to the Ritz-Carlton Central Park in New York and you’ll be reminded of elderflower, mint and ripe strawberries, a scent designed to evoke the greenery outside. At Cliveden in Berkshire, top London candle-maker Rachel Vosper has designed a scent that evokes the kitchen garden. clivedenhouse.co.uk
Posh farm stays
Forget muddy walks and the odd sheep to pet – these days farm stays come with a luxury touch. In South Africa, Babylonstoren (babylonstoren. com) has picture-perfect pasturelands, alongside a garden with 300 varieties of vegetables. In the UK, The Newt in Somerset is leading the way – the estate mixes Victorian-style hothouses to grow tropical fruit with a modish mushroom farm. thenewtinsomerset.com