MUST GO, MUST DO
TRAVEL Robb Report presents its favourite finds for discerning travellers.
After completing a US$123 million (S$ 167 million) transformation this May, The Peninsula Beijing is an entirely new hotel within the same shell. Its number of guestrooms has been slashed from 525 to just 230. Private pieds-a-terre atop the sprawling city, the new rooms are a minimum of 60sqm, most of them much larger. Each has a separate living area and bedroom and a sanctuary of a dressing room with a valet box and nail dryer. Chinese art plays a prominent role in the lobby, where a new three-storey white-marble staircase is flanked by abstract ink paintings by Qin Feng and a pair of bronze sculptures by Zhang Du. The tourist-friendly location is one thing that hasn’t changed at the property, and it remains a primary reason why the Peninsula is our base of choice in Beijing. beijing.peninsula.com
THE PENINSULA BEIJING
At 12 years old, Trisara was certainly not dated; its rooms were neither cramped nor run down. But that didn’t stop the exclusive Thai resort from embarking on an extensive renovation last year. Completed in December, the makeover was not a reinvention but rather an expansion and refinement that renovated the property’s 15 opulent villas with Thai silk furnishings, teak walls, and private decks and pools.
Two restaurants elevate the island cuisine, while the new Jara Spa puts wellness front and centre. Unchanged are the vistas — stretching beyond one of Phuket’s only private-access beaches and over the sparkling Andaman Sea — seen from virtually every gleaming corner of the resort. trisara.com
TRISARA, PHUKET
Reopened in July, this Rosewood Hotel is testament to the power of careful curation. A four-year renovation has seen the historic property jettison its dated furnishings and haughty froideur in favour of a sleek, yet unabashedly luxurious ode to the Parisian way of life, thanks to a dream team that included Karl Lagerfeld, artistic director Aline d’amman and architect Richard Martinet. The 124 rooms and suites are spacious and decorated in the manner of chic Parisian apartments, adorned with much of the hotel’s almost 1,000-strong collection of contemporary art. Unexpected delights await guests in every corner – from the bespoke Les Ambassadeurs cocktail in each
HOTEL DE CRILLON, PARIS
room’s bar to the boutique toiletries from Parisian brand Buly.
Eminent French interior designers such as Tristan Auer, Chahan Minassian and Cyril Vergniol each took charge of specific sections of the hotel.
Minassian, for example, oversaw the historic Les Ambassadeurs cocktail bar, an opulent fantasy of crushed velvet, soaring marble walls and ornate restored chandeliers which the designer draped with fine steel chains for an edgy, modern vibe. Lagerfeld designed the Grands Appartements, a set of two suites and a room overlooking Place de la Concorde: highlights include Baccarat chandeliers, Lagerfeld’s favourite books and the (perpetually booked) Choupette room, with its quirky wallpaper and carpeting that mimics cat scratches.
Choupette merchandise is also on offer in the Crillon’s gift shop, which features a bespoke selection of luxury products from niche brands such as Noor Fares. Every aspect of the French Neoclassical property – which dates back to its commissioning in 1754 by King Louis XV – is infused with the spirit of its illustrious past. We recommend experiencing this via the pearl-grey and pink clad Marie Antoinette suite and salon, where the hotel’s most famous fan took piano lessons and looks out onto the very square where she met her ignominious fate. www. rosewoodhotels.com/en/hotel- de- crillon
Small delights await guests in every corner.
The best hotels offer a distinct perspective on the cities they call home. Hoshinoya Tokyo ( hoshinoyatokyo. com) delivers the serenity of the country’s rural hot-springs retreats inside a 17-storey tower in the Otemachi financial district. Guests don yukata and dine on kaiseki cuisine, while staying in sleek guestrooms with washi screens, tatami floors and custom woodwork. But it’s a soak
CHANGING THE URBAN EXPERIENCE
in the hotel’s hot- spring baths that proves most transformative, offering travellers an unequivocally traditional experience in the world’s most modern city.
Known more for its natural beauty, Cape Town is home to hotels that rest gracefully on clifftops or in the shadows of Table Mountain. But the South African city’s newest hotel, Silo ( theroyalportfolio.com), is a decidedly cosmopolitan departure from the norm, located within the remains of an early-20th-century grain silo on the rapidly transforming Victoria & Alfred Waterfront. It is within this concrete structure that the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa is located. On the seven stories above the museum, the 28-suite hotel opened in March as a work of art unto itself, featuring Egyptian crystal chandeliers, Ardmore fabrics and massive prismatic windows (with the requisite Table Mountain views).
Meanwhile, in Manhattan the new Four Seasons Hotel New
Lower Manhattan had become the coolest neighbourhood in town.