Your favourite hotels

[IBM]

know there's a few globe trotters (not of the harlem variety though) frequent these worthy forums, so thought I'd ask for recommendations on hotels. Doesn't matter if they're pricey of budget, as long as they're truly spectacular, for whatever reason, location, service, architecture, decor, food. My top five, in no particular order....

1) Hotel Eden, Rome
2) Ritz Carlton Suites, Bali
3) Peninsula Hotel, Hong Kong
4) Sanderson, London
5) Clift Hotel, San Fransisco

[Taz]

1. Sheraton Grand and Spa, Edinburgh, Scotland (my absolute favourite worldwide)
2. Burj al Arab, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (the world's only 7-start hotel. One of those on the 'been there, done it' list)
3. Airport Hilton, Copenhagen, Denmark (the very best hotel in Denmark - proper 5 star luxury service)
4. Dusit, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (5-star luxury with the added bonus of some of the most beautiful airline cabin crew you'll ever see staying at this hotel as well!)
5. Fairmont, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (a favourite haunt of the rich and famous)
6. Amaryillis Beach Resort, Barbados (the best place to relax in Barbados, IMO)
7. Hyatt Regency, Bellevue, WA, USA (not far from Seattle and very, very upmarket but reasonably priced)
8. Glasgow Hilton, Glasgow, Scotland (Glasgow's only 5-star hotel - unless i'm mistaken - with great food and a great atmosphere in the huge lobby and bars)

[IBM]

Damn, forgot the Glasshouse in Edinburgh....the roof garden is amazing.

Taz, what's the Burj Al Arab like? My parents have been, but not me....I looked at the website, but couldn't tell what made it a 7 * hotel....do all the rooms have pools or something?

[RavenNight]

Le Petit Hotel, Zermatt. Small but fantastic.

There is some debate about whether this any such thing as a 7* hotel, but one of the things they brag about is the fact that there are no traffic lights between the airport and the hotel, they had a special motorway built.

[IBM]

No way! Okay, that's fair enough...although for 7 stars I'd think they'd have secret underground lev-trains zipping from airport to hotel....still think a pool in every room would be better....

[Taz]

The Burj al Arab is the hotel that's built out in the sea with an access road leading to it. Some of it is actually under the sea! The shape of the hotel is in the form of a sail. Most well-heeled guests arrive by helicopter (courtesy of the hotel).

I booked it just for one night a couple of years ago and stayed in one of the cheaper rooms with my girlfriend and that still cost £600 just for the room! There are a couple of entire floors that can be booked and you have you your own restaurants, swimming pools and hotel staff. I think the costs for those are something like 10-15K USD per night!

The hotel has more than a dozen restuarants (at least 15 when I stayed there) and they are all individually themed. For example, the one I ate in (which was the cheapest!) was called the 'Wild West'. The seating for guests was arranged in old wild, west styled wagons with a menu to suit - Meatballs and Mash was the cheapest thing I could find on the menu!

You can also dine in the underwater restaurants where you get a view of underwater ocean life as you're eating - it might make you feel a bit nauseous if you're not fond of fish!

It's a fascinating place but really only for very rich people. Occasionally you can get a holiday package through travel agents and travel websites which can be very good value for money. You won't even get let into reception unless you're a booked guest otherwise you may have to *pay* to have a look around (unless you go to the hotel to dine in one of the restaurants).

Hotels in the UAE tend to exaggerate their 'star' ratings by our (British) standards. I stay in hotels around the world on a weekly basis so have sampled everything from a 2-star hotel to 5-star hotels and I would class the Burj Al Arab as a 5-star hotel with exceptional service rather than a 7-star hotel. It's the kind of hotel where you can call up reception for *anything* and they'll send a bell-boy to go into Dubai city centre to buy it for you or send the helicopter out to another Emirate or arrange a private jet to get something for you! I guess that's what gives it the 7-star rating - everything is possible...at a price.

For me personally, I prefer the understated elegance of the Sheraton Grand and Spa in Edinburgh rather than the ostentatious flamboyance of the Burj al Arab.

[Howard]

I'm staying here http://www.athenaeumhousehotel.com/ as we speak. I love pretending I'm rich

[0iD]

Anywhere in uptown Vegas, go every year.
Seckford Hall hotel where i took the mrs on our anniversary.

[directhex]

No way! Okay, that's fair enough...although for 7 stars I'd think they'd have secret underground lev-trains zipping from airport to hotel....still think a pool in every room would be better....

hwo star ratings work vary from country to country - an official four star in one country might be better than an official five star in another country. some countries lack official rating schemes at all

hell, for one thing, the ritz in paris is only a four star hotel (as the french rating system doesn't go any higher)

[Funkstar]

i don't get to stay in very many nice hotels, it's mainly business or commuter type places.

THe two nice ones i've been in are the Skagen Brygge in Stavanger Norway and the Sofitel Cairo Maadi Towers in Cairo Egypt.

The Hyatt in Houston was ok, but pretty far out of town (next to the airport) and very business oriented.

[IBM]

Adding links

1) Hotel Eden, Rome
2) Ritz Carlton Suites, Bali
3) Peninsula Hotel, Hong Kong
4) Sanderson, London
5) Clift Hotel, San Fransisco
6) The Glasshouse Hotel, Edinburgh