Hotel Review Encyclopedia
The world's five-star hotels — essential profiles, the celebrity history behind each address, and independent reviews from our editors.
17 hotels · first entries — more added regularly
Europe
ReviewRitz Paris
Paris · France · ★★★★★
César Ritz's 1898 original — Coco Chanel lived here for more than three decades, and the word "ritzy" was coined for it.
ReviewHôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc
Antibes · France · ★★★★★
The white palace at the tip of Cap d'Antibes where Hollywood decamps every May — Fitzgerald set "Tender Is the Night" here.
Carlton Cannes
Cannes · France · ★★★★★
The twin-domed grande dame of the Croisette — Grace Kelly met Prince Rainier here, and Hitchcock filmed "To Catch a Thief" in its suites.
Claridge's
London · United Kingdom · ★★★★★
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".
The Savoy
London · United Kingdom · ★★★★★
Britain's first luxury hotel — Monet painted the Thames from its windows and the American Bar is the oldest cocktail bar in London.
Belmond Hotel Cipriani
Venice · Italy · ★★★★★
Giuseppe Cipriani's island retreat across the lagoon — the Venice Film Festival's unofficial green room, five minutes from San Marco by private launch.
Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo
Monte Carlo · Monaco · ★★★★★
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 Americas
ReviewChateau Marmont
West Hollywood · United States · ★★★★★
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 Beverly Hills Hotel
Beverly Hills · United States · ★★★★★
The Pink Palace predates Beverly Hills itself — Elizabeth Taylor honeymooned in its bungalows six times, with six different husbands.
The Plaza
New York · United States · ★★★★★
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.
The Carlyle
New York · United States · ★★★★★
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.
Amangiri
Canyon Point, Utah · United States · ★★★★★
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.
Copacabana Palace
Rio de Janeiro · Brazil · ★★★★★
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.
Middle East & Africa
ReviewBurj Al Arab
Dubai · United Arab Emirates · ★★★★★
The sail on the Gulf that branded modern Dubai — Federer and Agassi played tennis on its helipad, 210 metres above the sea.
La Mamounia
Marrakech · Morocco · ★★★★★
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.
Asia-Pacific
ReviewPark Hyatt Tokyo
Tokyo · Japan · ★★★★★
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.
Raffles Singapore
Singapore · Singapore · ★★★★★
The 1887 grande dame where the Singapore Sling was invented and where Maugham, Kipling and Chaplin wrote the myth of the East.
Photography: Wikimedia Commons contributors, used under their respective free licenses — full credit on each hotel page.