Can cool and conglomerate coexist — let alone thrive — when it comes to edgy lifestyle brands and multibillion-dollar hotel parent companies?
28.08.2024 - 22:00 / nytimes.com / Winston Churchill / Ian Fleming
London is in its global hotel brand era: In the last year, it’s added a Raffles, a Peninsula and a second Mandarin Oriental; a Waldorf Astoria, a St. Regis and a Six Senses are on their way. This new guard is taking over historical icons and throwing up gleaming towers, and it’s upping the ante on amenities, too. A posh afternoon tea is no longer enough, it seems; now, five-stars come with signature scents, subterranean spas, museum-worthy art and long-stay residences. Rooftop bars, a rarity here a decade ago, are now seemingly obligatory (Bar 33 at the Emory wins for views, with everything from Big Ben to Battersea Power Station in its sights). But there’s still room for the occasional independent hotel, like the Broadwick, a maximalist love letter to the owner Noel Hayden’s hotelier parents and the creative Soho of the ’90s in which he came of age. “It’s a bit of a sensory overload,” Hayden says. Naturally, there’s a rooftop bar there, too.
Paddington, an area short on upscale hotels, is a smart choice for French brand Lignée Hotels’ first property outside France. A decades-long regeneration, the new Elizabeth Line, linking Paddington to Heathrow and East London, and nearby attractions like Kensington Gardens and Little Venice make it a good base for exploring the capital. Grand Hotel Bellevue, whose sister hotels include the soignée La Maison Favart and Le Narcisse Blanc Hotel & Spa in Paris, occupies a five-story Victorian townhouse on elegant Norfolk Square. The Paris-based, Milanese architect Fabrizio Casiraghi has combined a bold, earthy color palette with bespoke furniture and antiques for the interiors, and collaborated with the American fashion designer Emily Adams Bode Aujla to design the hotel’s reception and Pondicherry Bar. A tribute to the duo’s love of India, the bar has bold yellow walls hung with tapestries featuring elephants and tigers; its cocktail list includes Masala Chai Iced Tea, with spiced rum and crème de pêche. The smallest, single rooms are designed to feel like boat cabins, with dark wood walls and brass light fixtures, while the 375-square-foot Grand Norfolk Suite has a free-standing tub, high ceilings and views of Norfolk Square. Bathrooms are stocked with products by perfumer-to-the-royals, Floris, and there’s a fitness studio with Nohrd equipment.
The 120-room Raffles London, which opened in fall 2023, is a spectacular revival of the Old War Offices, a turreted, Edwardian Baroque icon in the middle of the city’s royal and political landmarks. The 760,000-square-foot stone-clad building served as the offices for leading politicians, including Winston Churchill, and was the birthplace for the British intelligence services MI5 and MI6 — it inspired Ian Fleming’s James
Can cool and conglomerate coexist — let alone thrive — when it comes to edgy lifestyle brands and multibillion-dollar hotel parent companies?
Nothing quite says late summer or early fall like a delicious hand-crafted doughnut straight out of the fryer.
I never feel smaller than when I'm sitting on the edge of the Grand Canyon, a natural world wonder visible from outer space.
Remember when the hottest spot in town was a club with a line wrapped around the street corner or a swanky bar frequented by Hollywood celebrities or Wall Street bigwigs?
Arguably Greece’s most iconic island group, the Cyclades got their name because, if you squint, the 30-odd main islands form a circle, or , around the sacred island of Delos, birthplace of the twin gods Artemis and Apollo. In the southwestern curve of that circle sit Milos, Sifnos and Serifos, three Aegean islands that share a stark, wild beauty owing in part to the minerals that made them mining hubs well into the last century. (Mining continues on Milos, where it vies with tourism as one of the island’s main industries.)
“I tell my friends that I'm now midcentury modern,” the New York–based fashion designer Phillip Lim quips about turning 50. “And like the furniture, hopefully better with age.” Joking aside, Lim, who launched his 3.1 Phillip Lim label in 2005 and now sells his signature clean-lined clothing in shops around the world, saw the landmark birthday as a chance to take stock. “I heard somewhere that, with 50, you get a second dawn. I took that to heart.”
Aug 23, 2024 • 0 min read
Aug 23, 2024 • 7 min read
Thursdays are the busiest days to fly, but travelers taking to the skies on Mondays could save about 15 percent off the cost of their domestic trip. When it comes to international flights, travelers can save by departing on a Saturday.
Aug 22, 2024 • 0 min read
Aug 21, 2024 • 0 min read
Surprisingly, since the pandemic, Delta Air Lines hasn’t always been the most profitable U.S. airline.