
06.26.24
Travel
To Kick Off Summer, We Rounded Up Three of Our Favorite New Design-Forward Destinations
Sometimes it seems that if you want a hotel with unusual and unexpected design, the tradeoff may be a lack of comfort and ease. No compromise is needed, though, at three recently opened destinations — one in the heart of Paris, one by the Mediterranean, and one in the Catskills — where style takes precedence, but not at the expense of a leisurely and welcoming stay.
Hotel Hana
Opulent, Belle Epoque maximalism meets Japanese minimalism at the new Hotel Hana in Paris, from Adresses Hotels — a style mix we never quite knew we needed until now. Located in a Haussmannian building in the 2nd arrondissement, near the Little Tokyo neighborhood, the 26-room space was created by architect and interior designer Laura Gonzalez and creative director Olivier Leone, both based in Paris. Hana, which means flower in Japanese, is a fitting name – the interiors here almost bloom before your eyes in a sumptuous, immersive environment: a combination of rich patterns, furnishings of lacquered iroko wood, straw coverings on paneled walls, and carpets by Marguerite Le Maire and Pierre Frey. Not to mention a spa swimming pool that seems conjured out of a dreamscape. Photos © Stephan Julliard
Hotel Lilou
At Lilou in Hyères-les-Palmiers, France, a sunny, warm, and airy atmosphere reverberates throughout the four floors. A three-year renovation of a hotel from 1890 has not only brought the location back to its former glory — recalling the era of grand hotels and Hyeres as a storied destination along the Mediterranean coast — but modernized it in the best ways. Hotelier David Pirone worked with Jean-Pierre Blanc, director of Villa Noailles, to enlist architects Kim Haddou and Florent Dufourcq to reimagine the space, which features 37 rooms. Details include checkered carpets in the halls, cork parquet flooring in the rooms, creamy walls, and poplar burr furniture. While the lounge and bar nod to the winter gardens of the area’s 19th-century hotels, time is also a bit of a loose concept here, with echoes of the 1920s and the 1970s — like reeditions of Italian designer Gabriela Crespi’s rattan sofas.
Blanc also commissioned pieces from fourteen artists, around the theme of holiday travel. The entrance hall showcases painter Antoine Carbonne, graphic artist and painter Florent Groc, sculptor Marion de Raucourt, and designer and goldsmith Emma Bruschi. The corridors are graced by two frescoes from textile artist Manon Daviet and illustrator Antoine Duruflé, along with mosaics by Marc Turlan. Works by Olivier Amsellem, Darius Dolatyiari, Damien Moulierac, Damien Poulain, Antoine Grulier and Thomas Defour are also on view, as well as wall murals by Jacques Merle out by the white tiled pool. Photos © Ludovic Balay
The Rounds at Scribner’s Lodge
In 2016, Post Company and Escape Hospitality set about rehabbing a 1960s motor lodge in the Catskills and reopened it as Scribner’s Lodge. With The Rounds at Scribner’s Lodge, just up the hill from the main property in Hunter, New York, they’ve teamed up again to completely reinterpret the idea of a rustic getaway, maintaining a cozy-cabin-in-the-woods feeling while outfitting a dozen 12-sided, shingle-clad structures with understated but elegant furnishings and an all-in use of light knotty pine that evokes a Scandinavian mood. Dramatic touches like a circular sunken sofa in the larger suites call to mind the mid-century life of the original hotel, and beams on the slanted, vaulted ceilings converge in an “oculus” or skylight, perfect for indoor stargazing. Outdoors, you can relax in your own soaking tub of Japanese cedar. While each of the cabins offers privacy and seclusion within a gorgeous natural setting in the mountains, if you find yourself missing people, the dodecagons are centered around the equally well-designed Apex Lodge, a communal building for dining and socializing. Photos © Chris Mottalini, Moriah Wolfe