It’s a bold hotel that tries to be the coolest kid in town in a city that created the coolest music in the world but nine years ago International House set out to out-hip everyone by turning an old Beaux-Arts style building in the Central Business District into an $11 million reflection of the great city of New Orleans through a thoroughly modern prism. A recent top to bottom spiffing-up courtesy of LM Pagano, designer of choice for Nicolas Cage and Johnny Depp, has ­only increased the cool quotient.

The night I checked into the Inn of the Five Graces felt like it should have been dark and stormy: It was difficult to come to terms with desperately wanting to be in a nice, warm bed on a night that was, in fact, starry and cool. I'd been stuck driving for no less than 14 hours, straight across the West Texas plains and eastern New Mexico to Santa Fe, and by the time I parked my car, I was exhausted, irritable, and starving. At this point, almost midnight, I was so happy to be done with the driving that I would have happily accepted a futon mattress and an empty pillowcase, which I could stuff with my jacket. ­

It’s rare that a hotel manages to satisfy both the business traveller and moms and dads, but Denver’s iconic Brown Palace Hotel & Spa does it with old-world style. Business travellers will appreciate the fact that the hotel is downtown Denver’s only Mobil four star property, the complimentary use of a Mercedes and driver in the mornings and evenings, the more spacious executive rooms on floors eight and nine and the complimentary shoe shine.

According to Wikipedia, "Southern hospitality is a phrase used in American English to describe the idea that residents of the Southern United States are particularly warm and welcoming to visitors to their homes, or to the South in general.­

I’ve always found the Catskills to be one of the most relaxing places to visit.­ Growing up, I spent long summer holidays at my grandparents’s home near the region, located nearly two­ hours from New York. And once I moved to the Big Apple, the slower pace, antiquing, and delicious local cuisine drew me to towns like New Paltz and Woodstock­.

When we pulled up to the imposing mansion, I gave the cab driver a more lavish tip than usual.  Since he was dropping me off at the Wentworth Mansion, one of Charleston's most luxurious properties, I felt a little guilty he had to get back to work while I was in for a generous amount of pampering. The first thing I noticed upon climbing the steps and opening the heavy door to the mansion were the beautiful stained glass windows, glinting in even the partial sun.  I planned to gather my light bags and head up to my room myself, but as one employee told me with a stunned look upon her face, “This is the Wentworth.  No one schleps here.” 

I had an idea of what to expect during my visit to the Hotel Teatro in Denver,Colorado. From what I read, I knew it made Conde Nast Traveler's Gold List in 2006, and heard it was arguably the coolest, most luxurious place to stay in the mile-high city. So when I arrived on a sunny and brisk Autumn Friday, I was pleased to see that it offered so much more, from top-notch service to a charming local history lesson.

London offers a dazzling range of hotels for every taste and temperament. There are shiny mega hotels, mini boutique hotels, and swanky business hotels, all catering to the fussiest of travelers.  Hundreds of hotels promise something special -- perhaps the best location, acclaimed restaurants, a superb spa, or maybe some whiz-bang technology in the rooms. But when you're jetlagged, lost, and dragging luggage through the rain at 7:30AM after a red-eye, there's nothing more important than prompt and intuitive service in a peacful place designed to be as much like a home as like a hotel.

Though work is not yet complete, it's already clear that what's going on at The Heritage House is no mere renovation. Built as a farmhouse in 1877 and first converted into a hotel in 1949, The Heritage House has always had a billion dollar location on 37 gently rolling acres that tumble down to the thrashing Pacific. For many years that location sustained the property as it grew into a haphazard collection of eclectic cottages and bungalows””one of which was used as the primary filming location for the movie Same Time Next Year.

Only a six-minute drive from the well-trafficked Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina, the Umstead Hotel and Spa is the last thing you'd expect to discover, sited alongside the sort of leafy campus drive that typically skirts the suburban phenomenon known as the office park. And yet, a spa and resort it is””happily turning its back on the encircling roads to create a self-contained property that clearly yearns to keep close to its literal roots: The grounds were once part of the nearby William B. Umstead State Park, and the woodland theme is reflected in everything from the artwork adorning the walls, much of which takes its cues from the natural world, to the animal-centric, kid-friendly section of a well curated boutique, kitted out with stuffed raccoons and cooing toy birds””one of which is presented to every young guest.