Award season is here. Our editors have selected their favorite designs from hotels added to the Tablet selection in the past year. Here are the winners for the U.S. and Canada.
We cannot tell a lie. Our annual design awards have gotten harder and harder to determine. These days, there are so many impeccably designed hotels opening so often that it’s tough to whittle the honor roll down to a deserving few.
We used to list out all of our criteria for this award. But again, we can’t tell a lie: it always just came down to the preferences of our editorial team — and the preferences of our editorial team tend to favor more intimate properties where an individual voice has a greater chance of shining through. Apologies to all those massive, modern skyscrapers with a million rooms and dubious financial backing. They can fend for themselves. For us, it’s all about unique personality and seeing something we don’t often see.
That could mean the novel repurposing of an aging structure, a style from one part of the world transported to another, a non-traditional layout that allows for deeper exploration and engagement, a design that’s content to let nature take the wheel, or the unmistakable hand of a single, eccentric visionary. You’ll see all of that and more in the hotels below.
Congrats to the winners. Stay tuned for more winners from around the world.
kodō hotel
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Tranquility underpins kodō hotel, a 100-year-old former fire house-turned-boutique hotel in the heart of the Los Angeles Arts District. Rooms and suites take design cues from Japan with a neutral palette of white, beige and gray complemented by high wood beamed ceilings and nature-inspired furnishings, such as the rock-like bathroom sinks.
Le Petit Pali St Helena
St Helena, CA, USA
The quirky European-accented charm of Le Petit Pali St. Helena is a perfect fit for the California wine country — and this setting affords the Petit Pali concept some space to expand to a more resort-like experience. Rooms and suites look out over the surrounding vineyards, as do the freestanding cottages, which come with fireplaces and private patios.
Quercus
Gay, GA, USA
What started as a return to regenerative farming soon evolved into a project that unites land, food, and hospitality. The result is Quercus, four cottage-style suites furnished with botanical tones and heirlooms from the Visconti collection, while wide porches and fireplaces turn the outdoors into living space. Dining, guided by a biodynamic garden, shapes every stay.
Inn of The Five Graces
Santa Fe, NM, USA
Inn of the Five Graces has a one-of-a-kind setting: a series of restored adobe houses in Santa Fe’s Barrio de Analco, considered the oldest neighborhood in the United States. Rooms feature rustic exposed beams, wood-burning fireplaces, and colorful mosaic. Suites, for their part, are arranged around a cluster of quiet courtyards. Decorations also include the owner-designer’s museum-worthy art collection.
The Nickel Hotel
Charleston, SC, USA
The façade of the Nickel Hotel pays tribute to the melting pot of historical styles that is Charleston. The central courtyard, though, ringed by three stories of wrought-iron balconies, presents a Victorian atmosphere. The public spaces are similarly dramatic. In the rooms and suites you’ll find residential comforts like full kitchens, and many open onto courtyard-facing balconies.
Palm House
Palm Beach, FL, USA
A long-vacant, landmark oceanfront hotel in Palm Beach underwent extensive renovations and reopened as Palm House. Many of this Mediterranean-style property’s best features were preserved, from the coral-hued facade to the palm-framed pool deck. Rooms are bright and cheerful with sixties-inspired decor — mirrored wall panels, mod table lamps, upholstered headboards, and huge marble bathrooms.
Belvedere Hotel
Kingston, ON, Canada
Built as a private residence in 1880, the hotel originally known as Chateau Belvedere was the most glamorous lodging in town. Today, after a thorough restoration, its decades-spanning historical charms are on full display. Hotel Belvedere is a first-rate luxury boutique hotel on a modest, local scale, with 19 unique rooms and suites that follow the building’s historical floor plans.
The Twenty Two New York
New York, NY, USA
The Twenty Two New York is a London import, named for its sister’s address on Grosvenor Square. The design is one part Manhattan history, thanks to its home in the restored Margaret Louisa Vanderbilt house, and one part international modern luxury. Expect interiors that are full of character, with homages to classic American design movements as well as subtle but substantial modern luxuries.
ViewPoint Hotel
York, ME, USA
Built right into the rocky hillside, the Shoreside rooms at the ViewPoint are the kind of modern accommodations you expect to see on the coast of Portugal, not necessarily the coast of Maine. Floor-to-ceiling windows frame the Atlantic, and most importantly, the iconic Nubble Lighthouse. Further up the hill, a chateau-style beach cottage building features large suites with kitchens and multiple bedrooms.
The Maker Hotel
Hudson, NY, USA
To make the Maker, a trio of historic buildings were divided into eleven rooms, each one individually designed and outfitted with a mix of Art Deco and mid-century modern décor, and lit by unique vintage pieces. Those in the main Georgian mansion-style building have living areas with fireplaces, while Parisian-inspired loft rooms feature dormer windows and private terraces.
The Hotel Chalet
Chattanooga, TN, USA
In its latest iteration as the Hotel Chalet, Chattanooga’s Beaux Arts–style Terminal Station has been fully restored to its golden age grandeur. Most interesting are the rooms housed in renovated Pullman carriages. Some are Victorian, with original Tiffany Glass pendants and bentwood dining chairs, and others are midcentury modern, with custom wall coverings and plush sleeper sofas.
Pendry Natirar
Peapack, NJ, USA
An hour from Manhattan, Pendry Natirar reimagines a 500-acre Somerset County estate once owned by Moroccan royalty. At its core is a 1912 Tudor-style mansion, now joined by sleek guest wings, a spa, tennis courts, and an organic farm that supplies the property’s restaurants, including the acclaimed Ninety Acres. It’s a rare mix of scale, setting, and substance in the Northeast.
Merrill House
Picton, ON, Canada
The owners of Merrill House live part-time in London, and the décor wouldn’t look a whisker out of place there. Each of the 14 rooms and suites feature an eclectic and individual blend of the antique and the modern, including plenty of playful art. A few go to extremes — the Future Room is furnished on both floor and ceiling. It’s the kind of bold and brave boutique hotel that’s always welcome.
1 Hotel Seattle
Seattle, WA, USA
Upon its advent the 1 Hotels brand quickly established what feels like a whole new category: the sustainable luxury hotel. In typical 1 Hotels style, their Seattle outpost has as much nature inside as out, with a two-story green wall in the lobby and living plants in the rooms and suites. The rooms feel modern but warm, full of organic materials and textures and first-rate comforts.
The Lodge at Blue Sky
Wanship, UT, USA
Situated on 4,000 acres just outside Park City, The Lodge at Blue Sky offers a remote, design-driven take on the mountain getaway. Accommodations range from creekside cabins to grass-roofed hillside suites and cliffside rooms with wide views of Alexander Canyon. The vibe is peaceful but active, and every detail: stone, glass, wood, is placed to keep the landscape front and center.
Hastings House
Salt Spring Island, BC, Canada
The artistic community of Ganges is a charming small town, and just a short walk from the town center is Hastings House Country House Hotel, which feels for all the world like an English country-house luxury hotel transported to British Columbia’s Gulf Islands. It stands on 22 acres of land with views over Ganges Harbour, and contains a mere 18 rooms and suites, which makes for a tranquil atmosphere.
Mark Fedeli is the hotel marketing and editorial director for Tablet and Michelin Guide. He’s been with Tablet since 2006, and he thinks you should subscribe to our newsletter.