PaliHouse Santa Monica
The old Embassy hotel in Santa Monica, which has housed travelers for nearly 100 years, has re-opened its doors as the PaliHouse Santa Monica, a boutique hotel rooted in its own vintage architecture. The Moorish and Mediterranean influences throughout the building’s design yield an old-world appeal in modern Los Angeles. To match the character of the building’s exterior, PaliHouse emphasized vintage charm in interior furnishings, color schemes and assorted iconography. This building has continuously housed guests since it first opened in 1927, and guests at the new PaliHouse can experience seaside Santa Monica with a strong sense of the city’s history.
Year Opened: 2013Details: 38 studios and suitesBookings: PaliHouseSantaMonica.comPrice: from $299/night
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Mariott Royal Palm Miami (formerly The James)
If South Beach is calling you, its newest hotel might be your next hotspot. Mariott Royal Palm Miami has revamped the historic Royal Palm hotel into one of the top resorts in Miami Beach. Located on Collins Avenue just off of the head of Ocean Drive, the James Royal Palm Miami overlooks the Atlantic Ocean, the palm-dotted beaches and the art deco landscape of South Beach. Guests are treated to a pair of hotel dining options, one led by Top Chef winner Hung Huynh, and a pair of swimming pools on the terrace facing the beach. It provides precisely what you come to South Beach to enjoy– the sand, the sun and a stroll down Ocean Drive and the shops and galleries around it.
Year Opened: 2012
Details: 393 guest rooms and suitesBookings: mariott.comPrice: from $350/night
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Saguaro Palm Springs
This colorful desert oasis has been a popular escape for many an Angeleno. Saguaro Palm Springs is a vibrant re-imagination of a mid-century hotel, one that attracts a young and energetic clientele from all over greater Los Angeles. This isn’t a peaceful retreat to the east, it’s a non-stop pool party with good music, strong drinks and friendly company. While many of the hotels on this list are offered to those who need a bit of relaxation, there’s plenty of room for cutting loose as well. Saguaro Palm Springs is certainly for the latter.
Year Opened: 2012Details: 245 guest roomsBookings: jdvhotels.comPrice: from $230/night
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Downtown Hotel Mexico City
Travelers with a passion for history (and warm climates) will be right at home at this new boutique hotel in Mexico City, the Downtown Mexico. Downtown Mexico comprises 17 rooms built into a lovingly-restored 17th century palace in Mexico City’s Centro Histórico neighborhood, a celebrated UNESCO world heritage site. The colonial architecture, indigenous influences and local cuisine are central to Downtown Mexico, which provides pure immersion into the dynamic spirit and history of Mexico. The boutique nature of Downtown Mexico provides guests a customized, attentive level of service that is hard to match at a typical resort. You don’t come here just to get pampered, though, you come here to explore the rich cultural lineage of a city with seven centuries of history.
Year Opened: 2013Details: 17 guest roomsBookings: designhotels.com
Price: from $195/night
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Inn at the Presidio – San Francisco
San Francisco’s Presidio, a National Historic Landmark and a national park site, now welcomes overnight guests at an elegant old world hotel. The Inn at the Presidio is a 22-room boutique hotel located in the heart of the Presidio, a short walk from Golden Gate Promenade to the North and a bike ride from Baker Beach to the West. The Inn at the Presidio occupies a restored building that once housed officers during active military use, but the interior has been updated for luxury accommodations. The hotel is finely appointed, but not stuffy– it provides a relaxing, book-on-the-porch kind of stay for those who want to see the best of San Francisco.
Year Opened: 2012Details: 22 guest roomsBookings: innatthepresidio.comPrice: from $215/night
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Heywood Hotel – Austin
If you book at a big box hotel in Austin, you’re missing out on an authentic Austin experience. Enter Heywood Hotel, a new 7-room boutique hotel that occupies a restored bungalow and an adjoined section with four additional guest rooms. It’s located smack dab in the middle of everything important in Austin– you can walk to downtown Austin, the convention center, Sixth Street and all the local restaurants and bars in between. Staying at the Heywood Hotel is like living in Austin as a local would. You can’t beat that elsewhere…
Year Opened: 2013Details: 7 guest roomsBookings: heywoodhotel.comPrice: from $189/night
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El Encanto Santa Barbara
One of the most picturesque reaches of California now boasts a restored luxury hotel, the El Encanto Santa Barbara. This Orient Express property is perched at the base of the mountains, overlooking the hills of Santa Barbara and the Pacific Ocean beyond. It is private, serene and quiet, a relaxing and romantic escape in the pearl of California’s central coast. Guests can relax on the hotel property, walk to the ocean or visit a vineyard for a vacation where relaxation is the only item on the agenda. It’s a great escape from a busy California life elsewhere.
Year Opened: 2013Details: 92 guest roomsBookings: elencanto.comPrice: from $525/night
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Olive Boutique Hotel – Puerto Rico
For the most part, the island of Puerto Rico is dominated by beachside resorts from big box travel companies. The Olive Boutique Hotel is a departure from the norm, a small-scale boutique hotel located in the Condado neighborhood of San Juan. It has connections with bold old Puerto Rico and new, with the retail and restaurant district of Condado on one side and colonial-era Old San Juan on the other. Like its location, Olive Boutique Hotel is the best of both worlds, a connection with the sensory pleasures of Condado’s beaches and the Taino and colonial influences of the island around them. We may still be partial to The Gallery Inn, but we’d venture to give the Olive a try on our next visit.
Year Opened: 2012Details: 15 guest roomsBookings: oliveboutiquehotel.comPrice: from $279/night
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Epicurean Hotel – Tampa
The newest addition to the Marriott Autograph Collection is so new it hasn’t even been captured in photographs. It’s also the only true “new” hotel with this signature title– the rest of Marriott’s collection features restored properties and renown hotels around the world. Why is the Epicurean Hotel in Tampa, Florida the first of its kind? It is a collaborative work between Marriott, Mainsail Lodging and Bern’s Steak House, the latter considered to be the greatest steak house in the United States. It features the largest private collection of wine in the world, with over 600,000 bottles of wine on location from new vintages to depression-era wines priced at $35,000 a pop. Upon the history and fame of Bern’s, this new hotel was built to be a food and wine lover’s paradise. It features several dining options, one of which is the trendy new Elevage, in a location just two blocks from the Tampa Bay in the historic neighorhood of Old Hyde Park. When it comes to good food and wine (and very friendly climates), this hotel has a passion for both right in its name.
Year Opened: 2014Details: 137 guest roomsBookings: epicureanhotel.comPrice: from $299/night
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Kura Costa Rica
A husband-wife couple, one an architect and the other a biologist, had a vision to open a boutique hotel on the ocean that is both architecturally progressive and ecologically sustainable. The result is Kura Costa Rica, a six-villa boutique hotel that is absolute candy to the eyes. This remarkable modern retreat features chic, stylish lodgings with elevated views of the Pacific Ocean in the distance. The hotel features common areas like the outdoor dining lounge and the infinity pool shown above, common areas that are shared between a handful of like-minded guests. The owners worked hard to emphasize the sustainable ends of this hotel, so guests can rest easily that their relaxation at Kura Costa Rica won’t leave much of a footprint. It may be the most remote hotel we’ve featured on this list, but sometimes you really and truly need a genuine getaway…
Year Opened: 2013Details: 6 villasBookings: kuracostarica.comPrice: from $460/night
Kura Costa Rica | Gallery View in gallery View in gallery View in gallery View in gallery View in gallery View in gallery – – – – – – – – – – – What’s your favorite escape for Spring 2014 and beyond? Share your tip in the comments or on facebook or twitter, and for more inspiration– be sure to check out our pin board on Epic Travel Destinations We Love.
