SUITE LIFE ON THE ROAD

Suite Life on the Road - Luxury Travel Magazine

Suite Life on the Road

By: Ben Crawford, Issue 48 – Spring 2011

HOTEL SUITES IN FOUR CORNERS OF THE EARTH PROVIDE FOUR DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO COMFORT AND STYLE WRITES BEN CRAWFORD.

CROSBY STREET HOTEL, NEW YORK

The suites in the Crosby Street Hotel in New York’s Soho combine all the benefits of a new purpose-built property (spacious, well appointed bathrooms, for example) with the BoBo (bourgeois bohemian) converted loft character befitting the area. The first American foray of British hoteliers Tim and Kit Kemp (whose Firmdale Group owns half a dozen hip hotels in London), the Crosby Street Hotel is furnished with Kit’s inimitable eclectic style that recently resulted in her winning the Andrew Martin International Interior Designer of the Year award and British House & Garden Hotel Designer of the Year. Over the past 20 years she has triumphed with one new interior after another. The interior of each hotel has been completely designed from scratch. The Crosby Street Hotel was once a vacant lot occupied by a car park.

Her penchant for the “exotic rustic” starts with vintage timber furnishings shipped out from India and extends to a vibrant art collection that ranges from modest works on paper through an array of textile-based work to significant-sized scultpures – all hand-selected, and on occasion commissioned or swapped for accommodation.

Bedrooms and suites are spacious and light with high ceilings and oversized warehouse-style metal framed windows many with spectacular views of the downtown skyline. They are individually designed with various interior design schemes - some with bold colour and pattern, others more tailored and neutral.

The Crosby Suites on the hotel’s top three floors offer a wonderful view over the rooftops of the local buildings. The Meadow Suite on the second floor looks out onto its own urban “woodland meadow” with unstructured plantings of native plants that flower at different times of year, including butterfly weed, false indigo, blueberry, aster, sumac and echinacea.

The hotel has two other gardens – the popular guests-only sculpture garden on the ground floor and the restaurant’s vegetable patch on the roof – which provided the inspiration for its own bespoke fragrance, “Le Jardin 10012,” by Miller Harris, used for the bathroom amenities and scented candles. The hotel’s screening room is equipped with 99 Poltrona Frau leather seats and walls lined in wool and can be hired for private events.

The rack rates for suites range from US$875 (about A$857) for a Luxury Junior Suite, through to US$2,945 (about A$2,884) for a Two-Bedroom Suite and US$4,625 (about A$4,529) for an individually designed, 144-square metre Crosby suite. Rates are per room, per night and exclude VAT.

firmdale.com/new-york/crosby-street-hotel

RITZ-CARLTON, MOSCOW

Minimalist, it is not. Although it’s only a few years old, The Ritz-Carlton Moscow is a classic grand hotel in an opulent amalgam of Empire and Moscow Art Nouveau styles, underpinned with contemporary high tech luxuries.

The Ritz-Carlton Suite is the largest presidential suite in Moscow, measuring 237 square meters and featuring floor-to-ceiling windows facing the Kremlin, Red Square, St Basil’s Cathedral and the Christ the Savior Cathedral. The Suite is a reminder that the Russian oligarchs and their global brethren have demands far beyond the reaches of the average High Net Worth Individual. It boasts Russian Imperial-style furnishings including a grand piano, dining suite, two fireplaces, library, office room and boardroom. At a rack rate of RUB430,000 per night (about A$13,750, plus 18 per cent VAT) it is not exclusively a billionaire-only zone. Victoria Beckham and her entourage were occupying it while I was there. However I was reliably told that it’s the smaller Carlton suites which “most celebrities prefer” – as they also enjoy the spectacular views and amenities, but cost only RUB125,000 (about A$4,000) per night.

All suite occupants receive free access to the club lounge on the 11th floor, where there are five meal services per day at no charge.

A great tip for travellers to Moscow is to come in the low seasons – the first two weeks of May and the month of August. The cost of accommodation drops, the weather is beautiful, the traffic is less gruelling as local working folk are away on vacation, and the nights are so short that if you go out to one of Moscow’s famous nightclubs at 11 and kick on at four to the unavoidable Café Pushkin (only ten minutes from the hotel), then you never see the dark.

Moscow’s nightclubs famously deploy “face control,” a door policy with extreme prejudice designed to favour only the wealthiest men and most beautiful women in the former Soviet Union. The Ritz-Carlton is the only hotel in Moscow to offer the solution of a Nightlife Butler to handle your arrangements for you – part of a whole team of specialists including the Technology Butler and the Bath Butler.

ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/Moscow

MANDARIN ORIENTAL, SINGAPORE

Guests arriving at one of the 59 suites of the Mandarin Oriental, Singapore will find a pot of hot jasmine tea to greet them, together with views through the floorto- ceiling windows of the sparkling architecture around Marina Bay, of the ocean or of the city skyline. Against such spectacular vistas, the décor of the suites bring natural elements such as timbers, granite and wood paneling into harmony with a Pan-Asian style reflecting the city of Singapore itself.

The hotel’s 19th floor houses its exclusive Oriental Club Lounge where they offer club suite customers complimentary champagne breakfast and afternoon teas, as well as meeting facilities and complimentary garment pressing. The flawless service extended well beyond greeting me by name, to staying open and serving me coffee till after 1am for an intertime zone conference call.

Facilities for recuperation after a hard night on the town range from eating in one of the six on-site venues to the chic rooftop gym and pool area, through to the new and luxurious Spa at Mandarin Oriental, which features treatment rooms equipped with vitality pools and steam showers, a separate manicure-pedicure section, a reflexology area and a tea lounge for relaxation.

The rack rates for suites range from S$890 (about A$700) per night for an Ocean Grand through to S$3900 (about A$3,050) for the Oriental Suite and $5,500 (about A$4,300) for the 242-square metre Presidential Suite, which has two double bedrooms, dining for eight guests, private kitchen, guest powder room, an office and balconies off the lounge room and master bedroom. mandarinoriental.com/Singapore

THE OBSERVATORY, SYDNEY

Sydney’s The Observatory Hotel is positioned at a discrete distance from the throngs of tourists in The Rocks district, as well as being close enough to slip into the places favoured by savvy locals, like Sailor’s Thai.

Although the many temptations of Sydney, including Sydney Harbour and Darling Harbour are close by, it’s tempting not to leave The Observatory. Its restaurant Galileo, is now run by Masahiiko Yomoda, famed for his coveted Michelin star awarded whilst heading the kitchen at Restaurant Arbace in Tokyo. His creations are available for just A$60 for a three-course a la carte dinner (midweek only). You can be feasting on dishes such as mirrin infused egg yolk with truffle polenta, Serrano ham and parmesan foam, slow roasted spatchcock, chestnut, truffle crust and sauce boudin noir through to tear drop marscapone, dark chocolate ganache and peach oolong ice cream. Also included are the must have trimmings which go with all fine restaurants, an amuse bouche, sorbet plate cleansers and freshly baked bread rolls.

The delights of Masahiiko Yomoda’s kitchen are reason enough to choose to stay at The Observatory but the hotel’s top suite, The Observatory Suite, is a fabulous setting for romance. There’s a magnificent four-poster bed in the bedroom with mahogany hand-carved posts, a spacious ensuite bathroom lined with wall-to-wall marble, custom-made furniture throughout, with the sofa and armchairs in the living area facing a magnificent white marble, antique fireplace. Rich tasseled curtains frame
charming views of heritage listed Observatory Hill.

Suite rates start at A$835 for a Junior Suite, whilst the luxurious
Observatory Suite will cost you A$2,400. observatoryhotel.com.au

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