Winter travel plans typically skew one of two ways: You can embrace the cold, throw on a cute overcoat, and take in the festive magic of a ski resort, historic European city, or staycation. Alternately, you can reject the chilly vibes entirely and haul your vitamin D–deprived self to somewhere warm and sunny. Whichever you choose is fine by us, as long as the accommodation is chic, and each of the design-forward hotels we’ve chosen for our latest round-up is more than up to the task, including a mural-bedecked Soho escape, a Paris hotel with Portugal energy, and an historic property overlooking Southern California’s Laguna Beach. If you’re planning on ringing in the New Year in NYC, spending Valentine’s Day in Paris, or snowbirding on the Pacific, here are the latest design hotels we recommend.

The Manner

A new concept from Standard International hospitality group, The Manner has become one of the hottest spots in New York since it opened a couple of months ago. The 97-room Soho hotel is awash with rich materials, high-gloss surfaces, warm metals, and fun little design details — the result of a collaboration between Standard International’s chief design officer, Verena Haller, and Milanese architect Hannes Peer. In the lobby, a monumental concrete fireplace with a faceted bronze flue suspended above forms a focal point, while columns are wrapped in relief tiles, and walls are textured with small teal and cream semi-spheres. The Otter, the hotel’s all-day restaurant, serves a seafood-heavy menu within a skylit space wrapped with a mural by architect Elvira Solana, complemented by orange and blue decor. Chic, second-floor cocktail bar Sloane’s is also open to the public, while guest-only spaces will include the Apartment and a rooftop with views of the Financial District skyscrapers, both opening in Spring 2025. Guest rooms feature egg-yolk walls, midnight-blue vestibules, red-lacquered furniture, and rich green velvet upholstery, together creating a sophisticated yet playful ambiance.

Casa Loma

Fans of The OC and its reality counterpart, this one’s for you! The Inn at Laguna Beach, a 1920s hotel occupying a prominent clifftop spot above the town’s Main Beach, has been fully overhauled and reborn as Casa Loma. The 70-room oceanfront building’s $15 million renovation by California firm Electric Bowery combines “a laidback Mallorcan mindset and the vivacity of California’s coastal spirit.” Laguna’s bohemian energy informed the selections of handcrafted wooden furniture, fired clay tiles, and textured plaster used through the public areas. In the lobby bar, a huge relief mural depicting a sun-worshipping goddess creates an eye-catching focal point. A beach club that spills onto a terrace overlooking the Pacific Ocean offers Mexican-Mediterranean tapas and cocktails, and the pool area abuts the cliff walk for easy beach access. In the guest rooms, the majority of the furniture is custom-designed with curvaceous forms to evoke the ocean waves outside, and the decor is neutral-toned with hints of seaside blues and greens. The hotel’s on-site radio station, and new branding by LAND also help to set the tone. Photos © Chris Mottalini

Hotel Elysée Montmartre

Set to open early 2025, the Hotel Elysée Montmartre sits on the Boulevard Rochechouart, at the foot of the imposing Sacré-Coeur. The 16-room boutique property is also tucked between two of Paris’s legendary music venues: Le Trianon avant-garde theater, and its namesake, the Elysée Montmartre concert hall. Devised by producer Abel Nahmias and architect and entrepreneur Julien Labrousse, and designed by Policronica, the hotel is designed as an oasis of calm. All of its furniture is custom-built from eucalyptus wood – complemented by a pale, neutral palette that matches perfectly with a winter-white wardrobe. At street level, the airy lobby is furnished with lounge seating and dual-purpose work and dining tables, which are visible to passersby through large windows. Concentric wood ceiling coffers preside over the public area, while elements of the original brick walls are visible through distressed layers of plaster – adding a Wabi-Sabi effect to the space. Meanwhile, the bedrooms feature the same tonal decor but with injections of darker tan hues, and the bathrooms are lined in pink Portuguese marble. What’s more, hotel guests can receive priority passes to events and concerts taking place at the adjacent venues. Photos © Julien Labrousse