In the heart of downtown, very close to the Chicago River and Lake Michigan, is the modern boutique Kinzie Hotel. It’s a small hotel that’s on a quieter street downtown.
At Kinzie, they put a focus on good design and simple elegance, from the hotel art, to the beautiful silver and white downtown Chicago maps on the room walls, to the postcards left in every room, the wallpaper, and the furnishings throughout the hotel. If you want a clean, contemporary hotel in downtown Chicago this is it. Everything is simple, yet super comfortable.
Breakfast is served on each floor instead of only in the lobby, which I think is a treat. You only have to walk a few steps out your door with your breakfast tray. If you’re like me and you enjoy delicious food, you’ll also love the Chicago food scene that starts right outside the hotel front door. The even better news is that you have a mini fridge where you can store your leftovers. When you’re feeling a bit guilty from all that delicious food you’ve consumed and you aren’t tired from wandering the streets, there is a 24-hour fitness center in the hotel.
Kinzie’s customer service philosophy is “we get it” and it shows. They are extremely polite and accommodating to requests. They are on stand-by to open doors, heat up your leftovers, answer your questions and help you with whatever you need, including restaurant suggestions or calling a ride.
From US$112, includes continental breakfast and evening reception.
– Evening reception with drinks and appetizers from 5-8.
– Blackout blinds for a good night’s rest.
– In-room spa service and dog-friendly rooms.
– It’s in the city so you do get some traffic noise but it’s located on a smaller, less traveled street.
– Rooms on the lower floors don’t have the skyline views.
Melissa D. Jones
Review Team
South Kensington is one of the most luxurious neighbourhoods in London, and the Ampersand Hotel definitely fits. The hotel has been privately owned since its creation in the 1800s as the Norfolk Hotel and is one of London’s original boutique hotels. The stylish and quirky design is inspired by the culture of the neighbourhood – music, ornithology, botany, geometry and astronomy. These themes are cleverly incorporated into the overall design and décor, with clever maps of London cut into hummingbirds outside the lift, bird designs on the chairs in the café, and each of the 111 rooms cleverly integrated into the themes.
Your room has a complimentary mini-bar (soft drinks only) and tea and coffee facilities. The digital touches really bring the luxury hotel experience into the 21st century. This includes your ‘do not disturb’ notice and a button for calling service to your room. It’s the small touches that impressed me – an international adapter in the desk, sophisticated electronics panel in the desk, breakfast served in your room if you request before 3am, dressing gowns, Miller Harris toiletries (including make-up remover, vanity kit and other easily forgotten items), slippers and your own rubber duck. You can choose from a range of rooms, from the smaller simpler double and single rooms through to the suites situated on the fourth and fifth floors of the hotel.
Breakfast is served either in your room or downstairs in Apero restaurant, yet again with slick contemporary design. You can choose from the continental buffet which includes treats such as spinach and ricotta pastries, brioche, homemade bread, eggs, fruit, cereals, there is something for everyone.
South Kensington is perfect for lots of classic London experiences. You’re only a short stroll from the Victoria and Albert Museum, Science Museum, Natural History Museum and Royal Albert Hall, as well as only a couple of hundred metres from South Kensington tube station if you want to explore further. Alternatively, the hotel can arrange for a taxi to shuttle you to your desired destination.
From US$260 for a single and US$330 for a double per night (not including breakfast)
– Beautiful contemporary design
– Choice of breakfasts (continental or à la carte)
– Complimentary mini bar (soft drinks)
– London rooms will almost always be smaller than other locations
Shona
Review Team
If you’re looking for some respite from the hustle and bustle of Marrakech then you won’t find anywhere better that Hotel Les Cinq Djellabas. Set in the palmeries about 15 minutes to the east of Marrakech itself, Hotel Les Cinq Djellabas is a complete oasis of calm, luxury and relaxation.
Each of the 10 ‘rooms’ are in fact traditional eco-lodges designed by Thierry Isnardon to highlight contemporary design as well as traditional Moroccan craft. The lodges have a seating area, fireplace, luxurious bath and walk-in shower, king-size four poster bed, private outdoor seating area, TV, fridge, safe and Moroccan toiletries, with the choice of a suite or a deluxe suite. With clever planting of olive trees, banana trees and palm trees, you have complete privacy within the hotel grounds.
The service is seamless with breakfast arriving wherever you deign to sit in the morning, be it outside your lodge, outside the restaurant or in the restaurant. Lunch and evening menus are brought to you so that you can pre-order, meaning that your meal arrives at the time that you have ordered it for in the place that you have requested. Even though we arrived late in the evening, we were able to order food to our room, and every meal we ate at Hotel Les Cinq Djellabas was delicious and presented beautifully. The staff are incredibly friendly, efficient and helpful and assisted us with everything we needed during our stay.
Alternatively, if you book 3 nights or more, you are gifted with a return trip to Marrakech each night of your stay if you want to experience the Marrakech medina and buzz as well as return airport transfers. There are plenty of other activities on offer if you want a break from relaxing, and in an instant one of the members of staff can have you booked on a camel ride, quad biking adventure, buggy ride or other excursion that suits your adrenaline levels (we can personally recommend the quad biking). Alternatively, alongside the beautiful swimming pool, you can relax with a range of spa treatments available at the hotel.
This is one of the most relaxing hotels we have ever stayed at and with the most seamless service.
From US$255 per room per night
– You feel completely alone because of the clever planting
– Complete relaxation, you won’t feel the need to do anything if you don’t want to
– You can eat where you like – outside your lodge, inside your lodge, in the restaurant, in the pool bar, by the pool…
– A little cut off, you won’t be able to do much independently
– Wifi isn’t particularly speedy
Shona
Review Team
Camping and luxury don’t often go hand in hand, in your head or in reality. Well, let Desert Luxury Camp change your mind about that!
Set at Erg Chebbi in the Moroccan Sahara desert, this is far from traditional camping. Each ‘suite’ is a large tent with king size bed and a single bed, dressing table area, seating area and ensuite shower and toilet with hot water and toiletries. You also have power sockets in your tent to ensure that everything is charged and ready for the hundreds of pictures you’ll be taking.
Within the main camp there is a dining tent (you can also eat outside under the stars), chill-out area, camp fire, hammock area and plenty of seating. The tents are luxuriously decorated with beautifully crafted furniture and textiles, as is the whole camp with sumptuous Moroccan carpets and cushions throughout. At night, the patterned lanterns provide a stunning backdrop to the endless Moroccan stars.
The camp is set by itself in what feels like the middle of nowhere, with a huge sunset-orange sand dune as a backdrop. As you drive towards it, you’ll see many signs for other camps, which are often very close together and busy, unlike the complete peace that Desert Luxury Camp offers you.
Set further back, about a 20 minute drive off-road in a 4×4 from the nearest road, the silence and darkness that the Desert Luxury Camp offers is indescribable, you really need to experience it to believe it. Relaxing on the sunloungers in camp and watching the Milky Way with its shooting stars and the odd visible planet is an incredibly special experience. The dune behind the camp is also the perfect spot for sunrise and sunset-watching.
All food is provided for you in camp if you are staying for at least 2 nights (recommended) and you’ll be treated to traditional Moroccan breakfasts with pancakes, cakes, bread, yogurt, fruit, hot drinks and fruit juice. Lunches will be a selection of Moroccan dishes including couscous, meat, salad and breads. And dinners will be a taste sensation with succulent tagines filled with lamb, chicken, couscous, traditional kefta and soups. Make sure you make the most of the unlimited Moroccan mint tea and soft drinks to keep you hydrated in the desert heat, your host Houssaine will ensure that you are refreshed and very well looked after.
Included within your stay are activities such as camel rides, sandboarding, board games in camp, visits to local villages, traditional Berber music and, of course, relaxing. The camp has a brilliant driver, Mustapha, who will be able to organise transport for all of this, will expertly guide your 4×4 through the sandy desert, and can also arrange transfers to the camp from other parts of Morocco.
From US$220 per person per night
– Incredible views of the desert landscape
– Complete peace – no sounds or lights mean you sleep well and the stars are the brightest you’ll ever see
– Flushing toilets and heated showers
– Flies! (we travelled in September, it may be different at other times in the year)
– The tent gets incredibly hot during the day
Shona
Review Team