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ALL LUXURY HOTELS
offer variations on a single fantasy, one in
which the beds are so er than our own, the food is be er than
we’reused to and everyone aroundus is almost alarminglynice. At
their best, these placesmake us feel likemonarchs, indulged and
coddled towithinan inchof our humility. And the ones that create
this illusionmost adeptly very o en tend to a ract actual royalty.
When Spain’s King Juan Carlos I stayed at the
Grand Hotel
Excelsior
in Floriana, Malta, he signed the guest book thanking
staff for the “grand service” (which, let’s face it, beats even the
gushiest TripAdvisor review). Althoughmost visitorswon’t receive
an honor guard salute upon arrival, they’ll still be able to waltz
through the regal lobby, climb the grand staircase and survey the
ancient clu er ofManoel Islandwhile nibbling lovingly prepared
delicacies. Book the Presidential Suite, and you’ll have something
in common with Spanish royalty
and
Enrique Iglesias.
Set in California’s starkly beautiful Yosemite Valley, the
Ahwahnee Hotel
—whose more unusual claim to fame may be
that it inspired the interior sets for
The Shining
—has a vener-
able tradition of hosting royalty, including Queen Elizabeth II.
The hotel’s aesthetic is a study in castle-like elegance: exposed
beams, granite walls, roaring fires.
Decorum dictates that a possible
stay last year by newlyweds Prince
William and Kate Middleton cannot
be confirmed, and yet, like the nightly
visitation of the ghost said to roam the
Ahwahnee’s halls, the gli ering couple’s visit persists as part of
the hotel’s mythology.
Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud liked the Four Seasons brand
so much that he bought the company—or at least a chunk of it.
The Saudi royal is said to have a particularly so spot for the
Four SeasonsLosAngeles
. The hotel is set away fromthe commo-
tion of downtown, in a Beverly Hills suburb, providing the peace
and privacy Saudi billionaires require; the décor is unflaggingly
exquisite. The scent of lilies fills the halls, wa ing behind you as
you make your way to the hotel’s signature restaurant, Culina,
where you just might spot a gentleman in a kaffiyeh mu ering
“buy” into his phone.
On the Greek isle of Spetses, the
Poseidonion Grand Hotel
more than lives up to its billing as a “destination for high
Throne Rooms
Hotels that host royalty take pampering to the ultimate level
BY CHRISWRIGHT
KING-SIZED
The resplen-
dent Poseidonion Grand
Hotel, originally opened in
1914 and fully refurbished
in 2009, overlooks the
port of Dapia on the Greek
island of Spetses
HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
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APRIL 2012
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