Our 10 Favorite Hotels (2019-2026)

Sixty-six trips. Hotels on four continents. Some were forgettable. Some I couldn't tell you the name of if you paid me. These ten are the ones where I'd book again tomorrow without looking at another option. Not because they were the most expensive or the most Instagrammable. Because something about being there worked in a way that's hard to explain until you've experienced it.

I stayed here for ten days in late 2025 on a work trip that kept extending, and by day four it stopped feeling like a hotel. The Beekman sits on Nassau Street in the Financial District, inside a building from 1883 that used to be a publishing house. The atrium is the thing that gets you first: nine stories tall, a pyramidal skylight at the top, iron balconies wrapping each floor. You walk in and you look up. Everyone looks up. Then you watch other people walk in and look up. It's one of those spaces.

The rooms aren't massive, but they're thoughtfully designed in a way that matters more than square footage. The lighting is right. The bed is excellent. The bathroom has hooks where hooks should be and a shower that actually has water pressure, which in New York hotels is rarer than it should be. The Fulton Street subway is a two-minute walk, which puts you anywhere in the city in 20 minutes. I had a morning coffee spot on Nassau Street by day three. The lobby bar filled up with interesting people by 5 PM every night. By day seven I was talking to the front desk staff by name and they were holding packages for me. When you stay somewhere long enough that leaving feels like moving out of an apartment, that's a good hotel.

Best for: Long stays in Manhattan, solo work trips, anyone who wants to feel like a temporary New Yorker Price range: $$$ Read more: 2025: Ten Days in New York

Four weeks here in 2020, which is long enough to know a hotel in a way that most people don't. The Sunset Tower is an Art Deco building from 1929 on the Sunset Strip, and it carries that history without performing it. The hallways have the proportions of a building from another era: wider, taller, quieter than anything built in the last 30 years.

The Tower Bar is what puts this hotel over the top. Dark lighting, leather crescent booths, a pianist playing standards, and a crowd that ranges from industry people to tourists who stumbled in and realized they'd found something. The McCarthy salad is the house move. The Dover sole is old-school and done correctly. The Tower burger is the one I ordered when I was tired and didn't want to think, and it was right every time. By the end of four weeks, the bartender knew G's wine order and my usual seat. We ate there our first night and then probably six more times. When the staff starts treating you like furniture instead of a guest, you've found your place.

The pool is small. The rooms are well-maintained but not huge. The vibe is Old Hollywood in the sense that it actually feels like it, not in the sense that someone decorated it to look like it on TikTok. Howard Hughes lived here. Bugsy Siegel lived here. You feel that.

Best for: Extended LA stays, couples, solo travelers who want a hotel with a soul Price range: $$$ Read more: 2020: Four Weeks at the Sunset Tower

This is where I proposed to G, so it's impossible to be objective. But I'd been carrying the ring for three days through Phoenix and airports and the Madonna Inn before we got here, and the moment we pulled into the Allegretto I understood why the internet had led me to this place.

The property is modeled after a Mediterranean estate. Stone archways, a central courtyard with a fountain, vineyards visible from the terrace, and a silence that settles over everything the moment you step out of the car. We were there in January, which is off season on the Central Coast, so we had the courtyard, the restaurant, the entire property practically to ourselves. The room had a fireplace, a balcony overlooking the vines, and the kind of quiet that makes you realize how loud your normal life is. We had dinner in a private dining room. I asked the question in the courtyard with the fountain running and the January light doing something golden to everything it touched.

Even without the personal history, this would make the list. The Allegretto is the kind of place that slows your breathing down within an hour of arrival, and I don't say that about hotels often.

Best for: Romantic getaways, wine country trips, proposals apparently Price range: $$$ Read more: 2026: San Luis Obispo: The Question

Twenty-three acres in Pasadena. That's the first thing to understand. In a city where a parking spot qualifies as real estate, the Langham has 23 acres of Spanish Colonial architecture, rose gardens, manicured lawns, and a pool surrounded by landscaping so dense you forget you're in suburban LA. The hotel has been operating since 1907 and it carries that weight lightly. Nothing feels old. Everything feels established, which is different.

We stayed here in 2019 with G's sister Lola, and the three of us fell into the rhythm of the place almost immediately. G and Lola did the Huntington Spa, which is consistently rated among the best hotel spas in Southern California. I sat by the pool and read and occasionally felt guilty about not doing the spa and then didn't do the spa. G rated the afternoon tea service a 10 out of 10. I tolerated it. I also ordered the scones twice, which undermines my position. The tea room is full of women in hats drinking from tiny cups and you either commit to the experience or you sit there feeling like a large man in a small chair. I committed. The scones helped.

The Langham set the bar early in our travel years for what a hotel can be when the grounds matter as much as the room. Most hotels are a building you sleep in. The Langham is a place you inhabit.

Best for: Families, spa weekends, anyone who wants 23 acres of calm in the middle of LA Price range: $$$ Read more: 2019: Los Angeles: Visiting G's Sister

G stayed here solo in 2021 and hasn't shut up about it since, which is the strongest endorsement I can give a hotel I wasn't at. The Ned is a converted former bank near the Bank of England. The main hall has the kind of scale that London does better than anywhere: marble floors, massive columns, a ceiling that makes you feel like you're inside a cathedral that happens to serve cocktails.

There are multiple restaurants inside the building. Cecconi's does Italian. Kaia does Mediterranean seafood. There's a rooftop pool with views across the City of London. G sent me photos from the rooftop at sunset and I considered booking a flight to join her, which is not something I normally do when she's on a solo trip. She goes to London regularly to see family. Every time she stays somewhere else, she compares it to The Ned. Every time, the other hotel loses.

Best for: Solo trips, London stays, people who appreciate buildings that used to be something else Price range: $$$$ Read more: 2021: G at The Ned

Small boutique hotel on the Grand Canal. That description sounds like every hotel in Venice, but most of them are either enormous and impersonal or charming and falling apart. Eight Venezia is neither. It's compact, well-designed, and positioned so that you step outside and you're immediately in the city. No resort buffer. No lobby where you lose 15 minutes checking out. Just the door, the street, the water.

The morning view from our room over the Grand Canal is still the most visually stunning thing I've woken up to in any hotel. The water was catching the early light, a vaporetto was gliding past, and Venice was doing that thing it does at 7 AM where it looks like a painting that hasn't been discovered yet. We stayed here during our 2023 Italy trip and I still think about that view. The hotel is small enough that the staff remembers you by name within a day. The location puts you within walking distance of everything without being on top of San Marco, which is where the tourist crush is worst.

Best for: Venice trips, couples, anyone who wants to wake up over the Grand Canal Price range: $$$ Read more: 2023: Venice and Lake Garda

The first time we went to Palm Beach was 2022 and we stayed at the Eau, which set the standard that every subsequent Palm Beach trip has been measured against. It's a full resort on the beach. The spa is excellent. The pools are well-maintained. Angle does fine dining that holds up against standalone restaurants. The beach is clean and quiet in a way that Miami Beach hasn't been in a decade.

But the thing about the Eau that sticks with me is the service. Palm Beach service is its own category. Things appear before you ask for them. The towel shows up at the pool before you've finished putting sunscreen on. The water refill happens while you're mid-sentence. It's not aggressive. It's just present. You notice it because you stop noticing it, and then you go to a normal hotel and wonder why nobody's anticipating anything. We've been back to Palm Beach twice since, once at the Palm House Hotel (which is great for the price), but the Eau remains the benchmark. Worth Avenue shopping is a short drive. Pizza Al Fresco in the courtyards is where we always end up for lunch.

Best for: Beach weekends from Miami, couples, spa trips, anyone who wants to be taken care of Price range: $$$$ Read more: 2022: Palm Beach for the Weekend

Mid-century modern from 1956 that's been restored the right way: they kept the bones and updated the guts. The pool is the centerpiece, massive and kidney-shaped, surrounded by cabanas and lounge chairs that fill up by mid-morning on weekends. The rooms lean retro-modern with clean lines and pops of color that feel intentional rather than themed. Natalie Wood stayed here. Tony Curtis too. The place carries that history without treating itself like a museum. People are there to use the pool, eat well, and not overthink it.

G stayed here for her birthday trip in 2023 with a friend, and she came back talking about it the way she talks about places she wants to return to, which is to say she was already planning the next visit before she'd unpacked from this one. Old Town Scottsdale is walkable from the hotel. Barrio Queen is close for Mexican. Herb Box is close for brunch. The Joya Spa at the Omni Scottsdale is nearby if the Valley Ho spa isn't enough. For a hotel under $300 a night in a city this good, the Valley Ho punches way above its rate.

Best for: Scottsdale trips, pool days, anyone who appreciates mid-century design without the markup Price range: $$ Read more: 2023: G's Birthday in Scottsdale

A luxury hotel on a working cacao estate with direct views of the Pitons. That sentence is doing a lot of work but it's all true. The hotel is owned and operated by Hotel Chocolat, the British chocolate company, and the whole property sits on a hillside in Soufriere surrounded by cacao trees and jungle. The rooms have louvered walls instead of glass windows, which means the outside comes in: birds calling, insects humming, rain hitting leaves. It sounds like it would be annoying. It's the opposite. You sleep better than you have in months.

The restaurant uses cacao in nearly everything, including savory dishes. The cacao-rubbed steak was one of the more interesting things I've eaten. Breakfast is included and involves fresh tropical fruit, eggs, and cacao nibs in various forms. We stayed one night after the Caribbean cruise in 2026 and both sat on the terrace at sunset staring at the Pitons, two volcanic peaks rising straight out of the Caribbean, and G said "I could stay here for a month." She says this about a lot of places. She was right about this one.

Best for: Caribbean trips, food lovers, people who want something unlike any hotel they've stayed at Price range: $$$ Read more: 2026: The Cruise and the Keynote

The Bowery sits at the intersection of the Lower East Side and NoHo, which is one of the best locations in downtown Manhattan if you care about walking to interesting things. The lobby has a fireplace, velvet furniture, heavy curtains, and the energy of a place that doesn't need to prove anything. The rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Bowery, and at night the downtown skyline fills the glass and you understand why people pay Manhattan rates for Manhattan views.

We stayed here in February 2023 and it was the hotel that made me understand the difference between a chain and a place. Every chain hotel is trying to be consistent. The Bowery is trying to be itself, and what it is turns out to be a hotel that feels like someone's very well-appointed downtown apartment. Walking distance to Katz's Delicatessen for late-night pastrami. Dhamaka for Indian food that rewires your expectations. The New Museum for contemporary art. McNally Jackson for books. The neighborhood is dense with things worth doing, and the hotel puts you in the middle of it without asking you to fight through Times Square to get there.

Best for: Downtown NYC stays, couples, people who'd rather be in a neighborhood than near a conference center Price range: $$$ Read more: 2023: New York in February

Casa de Palmas (McAllen, TX) - A 1918 Renaissance property with a courtyard bar and Spanish Colonial tile work that has no business being this good in a mid-size border town. We stayed four nights for Social Fest in 2025 and the hotel was as memorable as the conference.

The Ludlow (NYC) - Record players in the rooms with a curated vinyl collection. Exposed brick. Dirty French on the ground floor for steak frites and an old fashioned at the bar. One night in November 2025 and I'd book it again without checking alternatives.

Madonna Inn (San Luis Obispo) - 110 rooms, every one different, all of them completely committed to their theme. Pink everywhere. A waterfall shower. Camp and earnest and entirely itself. We ate pink champagne cake in the lobby at 10 PM the night before I proposed to G at the Allegretto.

Hodges Bay Resort & Spa (Antigua) - Modern resort, 10 minutes from the airport, excellent pool. We stayed one night before the Caribbean cruise and briefly considered canceling the boat.

The Halliburton (Halifax, NS) - A row of connected heritage houses from the 1800s turned into a boutique hotel on Morris Street. Hardwood floors that creak in a charming way. Stories restaurant does lobster risotto that made me stop talking mid-sentence, which G says is the only reliable measure of food quality I have.