The suite life: seven luxury stays giving guests the star treatment
Looking for an elevated retreat that pulls out all the stops? We handpick a selection of luxury hotel suites that are the picture of privacy.
D/DOCK celebrates Dutch creatives with co-designed hospitality concept
Opening its doors to the public in June 2024, self-described ‘design incubators’ D/DOCK present a new hospitality concept, set to form a cultural hotspot within 19th-century hotel and five-star stay De L’Europe Amsterdam. Known as ‘t Huys (derived from an old spelling of ‘het huis’, Dutch for ‘the house’), D/DOCK envisioned ‘t Huys as a beacon of arts and culture nestled within the historic hotel, embarking on a collaborative co-designing process with local creatives considered a leader in their field.
Of the 14 new suites, standout collaborations include the Sisters Janssen Suite, a bold, sensuous space celebrating self-expression and women, diversity and inclusivity, and the The Van Gogh Museum Suite, created alongside the prestigious museum to immerse guests in the mind and work of one of the world’s most renowned painters. D/DOCK’s own contribution to ‘t Hyus is unexpectedly minimalistic and pared back in style (yet on closer inspection, is home to provocative artworks including a wall installation titled ‘Viva la Vulva’), while The RKDV Suite is a vibrant ode to fashion designer Ronald van der Kemp, the mind behind the world’s first sustainable couture label.
Jacu Strauss designs four new suites at the Pulitzer Amsterdam
Responsible for the anticipated redesign of One Hundred Shoreditch, hospitality design and management company Lore Group has commissioned four new suites at the award-winning hotel Pulitzer Amsterdam. Helmed by creative director Jacu Strauss, the suites were gradually unveiled during spring 2024, each boasting its own signature design language. From a romantic two-room suite inspired by the city’s famous tulip season to a vintage, eclectic stay evoking the Golden Age of Amsterdam, the luxury suites are a proud addition to the five-star hotel – itself occupying 25 canal houses dating as far back as the 17th century.
Among Strauss’ most recently completed rooms, guests can have their pick of The Flower Collector’s Suite, a love letter to the Netherlands’ longstanding history of flowers that emulates the home of a 19th-century tulip trader; The Porcelain Collector’s Suite, a tribute to the skilled craftmanship of local ceramicists; The Merchant Suite, the Pulitzer’s grandest offering dedicated to the Golden Age of Amsterdam; and The Beauty House, a luxury beauty and wellness salon occupying a quaint Nine Streets canal house.
WunderLocke reveals its Holloway Li-designed penthouse suites
Up on the seventh floor in Sendling, Munich, Wunderlocke offers guests a series of rooftop and penthouse suites as part of its 360-key aparthotel complex. Led by interior architects Holloway Li, the project – revealed in 2022 – comprises eleven one-bedroom open plan suites, three two-bedroom penthouse suites and a Wunderlocke Penthouse Suite, all of which incorporate biophilic features and design cues that draw on the building’s Bavarian surroundings.
The 100 sq m two-bed penthouse suite enjoys a view of the city, while the 126 sq m Wunderlocke Penthouse Suite benefits from mountain vistas and features a private terrace and jacuzzi. Holloway Li partnered with artist Claire de Quénetain to produce bespoke upholstery fabrics for the external terrace loungers, with Quénetain’s illustrations taking inspiration from the building’s natural setting, combined with its industrial past. Munich-based multidisciplinary artist Monika Morito was additionally commissioned to paint a wall mural in sunset tones, giving the suites a symbolic connection to the surrounding city.
A shared vision: The Emory hotel lands in London
17 years in the making, this all-suite property – occupying a prime wedge of Hyde Park-facing Belgravia – is among the capital’s most long-awaited luxury hospitality launches. Part of a ‘family’ of projects clustered around fellow Maybourne group grand dame The Berkeley, it features a stellar design cast; a roll call of the internationally influential and important.
Maybourne took an unconventional, even wildly creative approach to the interiors, tapping multiple design heavyweights to collaborate with across the property’s ten floors. Public areas are the preserve of the Paris-based Rémi Tessier, while Champalimaud Design, Andre Fu, Pierre-Yves Rochon and Patricia Urquiola conceived two floors of suites each, with Rigby & Rigby helming the 300 sq m wraparound glass penthouse. Though there are clear commonalities – a commitment to craft, precision and a delicate approach to luxury – the result is more an anthology of design than a singular, common vision. It proffers not only variety, but defines The Emory as a place with thoughtful, overlapping, complementary narratives; multi-dimensional in concept as well as execution.
Chateau Denmark hotel plays homage to rock ‘n roll heritage
Developed by CAW Ventures and designed by Taylor Howes, this new hotel on Denmark Street was one of the most hotly anticipated hospitality openings of 2022. As ‘edgy’ hotels go, Chateau Denmark’s 55-rooms, suites, and apartments air on the extravagant side, with rates to match. It isn’t the rock ‘n’ roll of unmade beds and unwashed tee-shirts, but the hedonism of in-room bars that rival those lining the streets of nearby Soho; the irreverence of confessional booth wardrobes and near-nude photography; and the gothic glamour of cherry red walls and roll-top baths. When London luxury has come to mean a certain west-of-the-city restraint, Chateau Denmark is not afraid to disrupt.
While the majority of the standard guestrooms (or ‘session rooms’) reside in the new main building, suites and apartments are mostly in the historic listed ‘uppers’ of Denmark Street itself, each tier with its own signature stylistic elements. “The challenge was to blend design schemes while having distinctive narratives,” explains Jane Landino, director at Taylor Howes. “We dialled into the rebellious spirit of Soho, the history and the fact that music is key; from a design detail approach, we embraced a ‘saint and sinner’ storyline, with the playful idea that guests arrive a saint and leave a sinner.”
Divide and conquer: Jestico + Whiles creates a new landmark at W Edinburgh
Celebrating Scottish folklore whilst disrupting tradition, the W Edinburgh strives to be a five-star stay worthy of the city’s extraordinary reputation. With both architecture and interior design helmed by London firm Jestico + Whiles, the property features 199 guestrooms and 45 suites, many with outdoor terraces – opening up entirely new perspectives on the city, from the previously low-rise area.
Believing it’s no longer enough for hotels to simply be ‘bed factories’, W Edinburgh’s guestrooms and suites are infused with personality and purposeful trappings; from the outset conceived as an extension of the city and the experience of visitors while in it. Suites feature cobalt-blue-topped granite bars and ambiently lit lounging areas, designed for a pre-supper tipple or cloistered nightcap. Both standard guestrooms and suites are also adorned with commissioned artworks by renowned Edinburgh fashion photographer Jodie Mann – weaving together ‘Scottish figures, fables and couture’ – while the boutique suites within the James Craig Walk benefit from lofty ceilings, deep stone walls and sash windows.
Universal Design Studio converts historic post office into Villa Copenhagen
Transformed by Universal Design Studio, Goddard Littlefair and the latter’s hospitality emerging hospitality arm, Epicurean, Villa Copenhagen occupies the city’s historic Central Post & Telegraph Head Office, originally built in 1912. Tasked with designing the hotel’s five food and beverage spaces, Epicurean discovered old photographs of the site as a working sorting room for the Post House, which inspired the design process for the entire concept – referencing original archways, lights with draped flex, reeded wall paneling and the original glazed brickwork throughout.
Influenced by the artworks of Danish painter, Vilhelm Hammershøi, Universal utilised a warm, muted colour palette across the guestrooms, while suites feature soft ochre-coloured tones *inspired by one of Hammershøi’s paintings), alongside warm-toned furniture, silk curtains, marble tables to dine and work, and large built-in walnut dressing tables and wardrobes. Other contributors include Earth Studio, a partnership between renowned Danish architect Eva Harlou, and manufacturer Mater, who created the Earth Suite – a fully sustainable suite wholly comprised of recycled materials and eco-friendly and durable Mater furniture.
