The Luxury Hotel Insider: Exclusive luxury hotel deals, features and special rates from the luxury hotel experts at Five Star Alliance.
Named one of Tripbase's Best Luxury Travel Blogs for 2011, below are Five Star Alliance's newest articles featuring exclusive information on luxury hotels worldwide including special offers and deals at the world's best hotels.
Featuring views of the East Passage and Narragansett Bay, the Lighthouse Suite at the Castle Hill Inn and Resort is one of the largest suites in the 19th century Agassiz Mansion. Set on a hill, the cottage was once the summer residence of the famous marine biologist Alexander Agassiz. Today, the mansion is a luxury boutique hotel offering accommodations with historic charm, upscale furnishings, modern amenities, and a seafront setting. Continue reading below the photo.
Measuring at approximately 560 square feet, the Lighthouse Suite has a separate living room and bedroom, divided by French doors, as well as a spacious bathroom with a soaking tub. Offering space for up to four guests, there is a living room with a dining table with four chairs, and a queen size pull-out sofa. Read more below the photo.
Within the coastal-inspired bedroom there is a king size bed and a gas jet fireplace. Featuring views of the Castle Hill Inn and Resort grounds, there is an oversized soaking tub within the bedroom. Plus, the suite offers a spa-inspired bathroom with a glass and marble stand up steam shower.
The Castle Hill Inn and Resort provides a historic setting in Newport, Rhode Island. Built in 1874 by marine biologist and naturalist Alexander Agassiz of Harvard University, the property housed naval officers during World War II, and welcomed royalty and celebrities, including Thornton Wilder who describes the turret suite in his novel, Theophilus North. Part of the Relais & Chateaux family, the inn offers luxurious hospitality, historic accommodations, spa, pool, private yacht excursions, yoga classes, bonfires, and board games year-round.
A generous breakfast in The Restaurant is a treasured ritual at the Weekapaug Inn, but you don’t even have to leave your room on lazy mornings; you can also order in from their selection of continental breakfast items.
We at Five Star Alliance work tirelessly to ensure we bring you the best luxury hotels selection and information regarding amenities, location, and highlights so you are confident that the hotel you choose will exceed your expectations and serve your needs. Sometimes, however, you are left with a few questions that go unanswered, and thats why we’re here.
QUESTION: We are looking for someplace in or near Newport, RI that offers something different as a hotel activity. Where do you recommend?
ANSWER: The Vanderbilt Grace, formerly Vanderbilt Hall, is an historic boutique hotel in Rhode Island just minutes from the delightful waterfront of Newport, and is one of the town's best kept secrets. Originally built by Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, a scion of the wealthy Vanderbilt family, the 1909 property is a vintage Newport mansion that has been restored to its former glory and is one of the few private homes of the era to operate for guests as a fully functioning and top luxury hotel in Rhode Island.
Today, as The Vanderbilt Grace, the mansion comprises a luxurious hotel with 33 rooms and luxury suites in Newport Rhode Island, a sumptuous spa and fitness center with indoor and outdoor pools. The hotel features two restaurants including Muse, a fine dining restaurant created by renowned New England chef, Jonathan Cartwright, where the best local ingredients are on offer in imaginative menus which change throughout the year.
For Your Activity, We Suggest:
Vanderbilt Private Cooking Classes Tap into your culinary prowess with the hotel's chefs as they impart their experiences and techniques to prepare the perfect meal chosen by you. Thecooking classes can be extremely flexible depending on what you wish to taste and experience, the size of your group, the seasonality and local produce available. There are also various dining options available. For example, guests can take a private fishing trip to catch local lobster. Once back on dry land you will work hand in hand with the chefs to prepare your catch to your very own tastes.
This is an ideal experience for the whole family and you can immerse yourselves in local produce and classic New England cooking.
Duration: from 2 to 4 hours Price: from $100 per person Cooking experiences dependent on seasonality.
All rates are based on double occupancy and extra person charges may apply. Please be advised that the rates, availability, as well as any extra person charges are subject to change depending on the hotel’s policies.
The building that is now The Chanler at Cliff Walk was built by Civil War-era New York Congressman John Winthrop Chanler. Construction was started in1870 and took three years to complete. The cost at the time was a staggering $30,000. The building was built as a summertime retreat for Chanler and his wife, Margaret Astor Ward. She was the great granddaughter of the first multi-millionaire of the United States of America, Mr. John Jacob Astor. The building remained a summer home within the Chanler family for approximately 50 years, hosting prominent figures such as President Theodore Roosevelt and poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Current nightly rates at The Chanler at Cliff Walk start at $309 >>
Boutique hotels are well known for being a little more innovative in their design, and many smaller boutiques make the decoration of their public spaces a distinct expression of contemporary style. There's not many of these that have gone so far as to make the design interactive, however. The Forty 1 North plays host to quite the impressive life-size chess set. The plus-size pieces are the perfect pairing with a private party pregnant with prospective players. And if you prefer your play to be packaged in a pint-sized display, Forty 1 North also offers an iPad free with every room. That means for the duration of your stay, a few belligerent fowl are always just a flick of the finger away. Forty 1 North apparently never saw the annotated power point presentation explaining how to make a luxury hotel because they've broken all the rules, and it's working out very well for them. They couldnt even make up their mind whether to spell out the numbers in their name, and it's ended up looking chic and off-beat. If I had half the panache that let's them pull off the things they have, I'd be drinking cocktails out of a goblet and riding a tiger to work. As it stands, the closest I'm going to get to that kind of style is if I book a room there.