Five Hotels We Want To Check Out.

By Karen and Erica

There are a lot of new hotel openings, post-pandemic, and we want to see them. Prices are very high, though—look what is going on in Napa Valley—so we may be constrained to visit just a few. Or just their bars.

On our bucket list:

• St Regis Chicago. A tall, undulating building in a fabulous city. We will have to wait a bit, as It opens in August. When we do go, we will visit the Art Institute, go on a boat tour, and check out the Bean.

• We love Toronto, and are curious about a new nearby hotel, The Pearle Hotel and Spa. It is in Burlington, at the northwestern end of Lake Ontario. Seems near enough to the bustle of the big city, yet a gorgeous and peaceful waterside retreat. There’s a beautiful pier nearby. In Toronto, we would spend time in the Art Gallery of Toronto—we saw one of the best shows ever there—Matthew Wong: Blue View. The Aga Kahn Museum is different, set in a handsome park and with a lovely outdoor restaurant, Dewan. We have never ascended the CN Tower, and of course we have barely scratched the surface of Toronto’s amazing eateries.

• Oh, to go to Paris, and stay in the renovated Lutetia. An amazing building, in an amazing part of town, just emerging from an amazing renovation. We probably could only afford a glass of wine, though, so this hotel caught our eye as an actual place to stay—Hotel Les Deux Gares. Seems extremely stylish. We hope when we go to Paris that we can see Notre Dame—but that means not going for a couple of years. Whenever we go, we want to eat many baguettes, and at least one jambon-buerre, with a glass of red, while sitting in a cafe watching the world go by. And we want to see the Pompidou—even though it is coming to Jersey City. Of course. Walking is the way to go, and maybe we will be educated this time, by a walking tour.

• We have always wanted to go to Morocco, and we have always wanted to stay at La Mamounia when we got there—following in the footsteps of so many famous and infamous people. It is certainly not a new hotel—except to us—but we hear the recent renovations are spectacular. We’ve seen it in film, but we want to see it in person. Photos from the films adorn the walls of some of the corridors of the hotel. According to our hosts at La Mamounia, Hitchcock got his idea for the movie "The Birds" while staying at the hotel, when he opened his balcony door and was startled by pigeons. In Morocco we want to see the souks and the mosques and the beach and the medina in Fez and so many other places we have read about in novels and travel guides.

• Right in our home town there are some grand new hotels. Of course we don’t usually stay in New York City hotels, but we recommend to friends the ones we think will be good, and hope that we will then get to see them too. We might actually stay in one hotel, just for fun. It is on Roosevelt Island, a magical little place where the local community has recently been expanded by a number of very cool educational institutions. Hence the hotel’s name—Graduate. Designed by Snohetta, a firm whose work we admire, with extraordinary views, and Anything At All—a fine restaurant. The island can be reached by tram or subway, provides delightful walks, and is home to the exquisite Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park.

What about you? Are there any fabulous new hotels in your future?