When you live in Vancouver one of the best escapes entails driving south to Seattle to go see a show, and, inevitably, spending the night at the first Ace Hotel in the heart of Belltown. When the Ace in Portland opened three years ago it gave us a great excuse to push the trips by a few hours, rediscover Oregon, and smuggle Stumptown coffee beans back across the border. Rather recently, Alex Calderwood (along with Wade Weigle, Jack Baron and Doug Herrick) opened the Ace Hotel & Swim Club in Palm Springs and the Ace Hotel in New York at 29th and Broadway. Each place is different, and, come to think of it, quite evocative of their environments. This Ace was designed by the New York firm Roman and Williams and includes The Breslin Restaurant (the name of the original SRO hotel) which is owned by Ken Friedman and chef April Bloomfield of Greenwich Village’s treasured Spotted Pig. I love the Ace because it’s simple and comfortable. There’s an Ivy League reading room table, deep couches, Stumptown coffee in the morning, Hendrick’s Gin in the morning, and terrine boards… Feels like home and anyone from the Pacific Northwest might feel esoterically proud when drinking or staying here.

Acehotel.com

I’m not sure what it is that makes a great hotel. I’m often put off by the insincerity of the archetypal design hotel, all stamped out of the same late 20th century design mold, and have instead been looking for something that is more escapist, more withdrawn. I seek individuality, effort and discretion. Hoteliers Eric Goode and Sean MacPherson provide all three in their most recent project, the Lafayette House. The antithesis of the modern boutique hotel, it is maximal design, classical fixtures, and a certain familiarity that harkens back to your grandmother’s house with the living room that you weren’t allowed to sit in. But there is something different here, and it is that same intangible quality that exists in all the projects Eric and Sean complete (the Bowery Hotel, the Maritime Hotel, the Jane, part of the Waverly), a sense of aloof comfort and inclusivity, without a hint of pretension. The fact that downtown art hero Dash Snow could, very sadly, overdose there, while two doors over, Margiela-clad heirs could set up a satellite home base during society season is perfectly thinkable. In fact, storied Saville Row tailor Norton and Sons decamps three times a year from London to take the measurements of New York’s more particular gentlemen in the top floor suite. It is this mix of clientele, this authenticity of experience, and most importantly, this assuring comfort, that makes the Lafayette House the most intriguing hotel in Manhattan, a discreet place to escape to and regain one’s bearings.  

Lafayettenyc.com

The Hotel Amour is located in a small street between metro St Georges and metro Pigalle - although I prefer la station St Georges, with its discrete petite place, the statue of Gavarni, and the beautiful buildings around. It’s on my favourite metro line, Mairie d’Issy - Porte de la Chapelle, that crosses Paris from south to north, going through Montparnasse, St Germain, Pigalle, Barbès and Montmartre, and back again. The Hotel Amour is adjacent to the Honda motorbike dealer. My friend the photographer Henry Roy brought me there once for lunch a couple of years ago. On my list ever since. Used to be a brothel and has since been reconverted into an affordable boutique hotel by the artist André Saraiva of Le Baron fame. You can still rent for half-day though. I like the bistro ambiance at the Amour, good food, good crowd, good mix of ‘gens du quartier’, guests, and the fashion set. The bay window opens to a back garden. Rocks, pond and red fishes. The smoke lingers and dogs rest under the tables. Glossy black walls in the corridors, glossy red lacquer in some rooms, naked light bulbs, SAS novel collections, old bathtubs, Playboy magazines, robots, whimsical flea market decorations and comfortable beds. No phones or TVs in the rooms, who cares, there’s wireless downstairs. We played foosball in the basement and wrote our names on the toilet walls. 

Hotelamourparis.fr