Hotel Review Encyclopedia

César Ritz's 1898 original — Coco Chanel lived here for more than three decades, and the word "ritzy" was coined for it.

The white palace at the tip of Cap d'Antibes where Hollywood decamps every May — Fitzgerald set "Tender Is the Night" here.

The twin-domed grande dame of the Croisette — Grace Kelly met Prince Rainier here, and Hitchcock filmed "To Catch a Thief" in its suites.

The Mayfair institution royals treat as a second palace — during WWII a suite was ceded to Yugoslavia for a day so a crown prince could be born on "home soil".

Britain's first luxury hotel — Monet painted the Thames from its windows and the American Bar is the oldest cocktail bar in London.

Giuseppe Cipriani's island retreat across the lagoon — the Venice Film Festival's unofficial green room, five minutes from San Marco by private launch.

Casino Square's 1864 palace — Grace Kelly's Monaco, the Grand Prix's front row, and a wine cellar carved into the rock beneath the principality.

The Loire-style castle above Sunset Strip that Hollywood treats as a safe house — "If you must get in trouble, do it at the Chateau Marmont."

The Pink Palace predates Beverly Hills itself — Elizabeth Taylor honeymooned in its bungalows six times, with six different husbands.

New York's only hotel that is a National Historic Landmark — home to Eloise, the Beatles' first US stay, and Truman Capote's Black and White Ball.

New York's temple of discretion — JFK kept an apartment for a decade, Princess Diana stayed on her New York visits, and Met Gala prep starts in its suites.

Aman's concrete monolith hidden in 600 acres of Utah desert — the celebrity off-grid escape, with a pool wrapped around a Jurassic-era rock.

The 1923 palace that made Copacabana famous — Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers danced "together" for the first time in its honour, on a Hollywood copy of the hotel.

The sail on the Gulf that branded modern Dubai — Federer and Agassi played tennis on its helipad, 210 metres above the sea.

Churchill wintered and painted here for twenty years and told Roosevelt it was "the most lovely spot in the whole world" — Hitchcock repaid it with a starring role.

The top fourteen floors of a Shinjuku tower — Sofia Coppola's "Lost in Translation" turned its New York Bar into cinema's most famous hotel room view.

The 1887 grande dame where the Singapore Sling was invented and where Maugham, Kipling and Chaplin wrote the myth of the East.