Best Luxury Hotels in USA

With all of its 266 rooms overlooking the bay, this hotel carries all of the classic elegance and British sensibilities you’d expect from the Ritz-Carlton group. The freeform pool features palm tree islands, thatched pagodas and provides views across the marina (the ideal spot to watch the sun set) and there’s a separate kids pool and club to entertain younger guests. Tennis courts and a Tom Fazio-designed 18-hole golf course are available and there’s a complimentary shuttle to the resort’s Lido Key Beach Club located. All bedrooms and suites at the AAA Four Diamond resort have balconies and are decorated using fine art, and contemporary and vintage furnishings.

Celebrating all things creative and close to the Ringling College of Art and Design, the Art Ovation Hotel is a unique boutique property. Bedrooms and suites come equipped with sketchbooks, colouring pencils and a ukulele, there’s an Artist’s Studio for makers to work onsite, and an enthralling programme of installations, performances and workshops. Guests also benefit from the use of loaner two beach chairs, coolers, bicycles and kick scooters while staying. The Perspective Rooftop Bar provides views across the city, marina and park with a warming fire pit, while the Overture Restaurant is the place for modern American dining.

Striking and minimalist, The Sarasota Modern has been inspired by midcentury architecture. With 14 room categories, it caters to a diverse range of guests; from digital nomads (desks with USB ports are provided in each), to honeymooning couples and groups seeking self-catering facilities. It has a playful spirit, with its Wink Wink Modern Lounge and Wink Wink Modern Pool Bar, with the adjoining Tiki pool bar with overhanging palms. Order Polynesian-inspired or vintage-style smoking whisky cocktails. Beach chairs, beach towels, beach blankets and bicycles can be borrowed and there are ping pong tables, deck games and a pool table.

While still in its infancy, Posada del Angel was visited by the likes of Bill Clinton during his Presidency. But on first sight you may be surprised to learn it’s fewer than three decades old; with much patina, terracotta tiles, stone walls and a pretty pillared central courtyard bursting with blooms, it resembles a heritage building, blending well into Antigua’s cobbled streets and colonial-era properties. This was the UNESCO-listed city’s first-ever boutique hotel, with a long narrow outdoor pool, a plushly decorated outdoor terrace with far-reaching volcano views, a breakfast dining room with an open fire and just seven individualised suites.

Home to one of Carolinas’ largest whiskey collections, The Ballantyne is a resort-style hotel with a breathtaking Gone with the Wind wide staircase and its own art gallery. Try a signature treatment, such as the Carolina Lavender massage, at the in-house spa which is considered to be one of the best in Charlotte. You can swim indoors here, or outdoors, surrounded by glamorous loungers and beside the pool bar (which also serves food). Further dining options are the Gallery Restaurant (with golf course views and an alfresco terrace) and The Ryal. 244 bedrooms have deep-soaking baths, 55-inch TVs and designer toiletries.

This was The Ritz-Carlton group’s first LEED Gold-certified property worldwide, and the first hotel to receive the accolade in the Charlotte area, making it a good option for the eco-conscious traveller. The property is located in the salubrious Uptown, accommodating guests in 146 bedrooms over 18 storeys. A penthouse spa and wellness centre occupies two floors and there’s a newly launched in-house gift boutique, Hidden Treasures. For drinking and dining guests can frequent the Urban Sip wine and scotch bar, the Bar Cocoa dessert dining and retail experience and the Cocoa Lab dessert cooking school (the chocoholic’s dream), as well as a street-side BLT Steak restaurant.

This Argentinian-inspired hotel features bold and eclectic custom furnishings and original artwork. Each bedroom offers Starbucks Coffee, a JBL Bluetooth Speaker, a soaking tub and a portable steamer to tackle travel-creased clothing. Búho Bar is the indoor/outdoor lounge on the 16th floor with weekly live music; Mico is the lavish restaurant serving Argentine cuisine in Art-Deco-influenced surroundings; and Poseidon is the hotel’s spa, harnessing the healing power of water. Additionally, there’s a Starbucks coffee shop, the exclusive use Monito dining room and a Bohemian Garden for some alfresco relaxation with stunning views over Charlotte.

Dating back to the Gilded Age, this was once the private home of wealthy cotton merchant Francis Silas Rodgers and his 14-strong family (plus 24 servants). Built in the Second Empire style by architect Daniel G. Waynes, it has a rooftop cupola and spans 24,000-square-feet over four floors. Now a boutique hotel, it has 50 bedrooms, some of which have hot tubs for two and library nooks. Original features — including pocket doors with 19th century brass hardware, 14-foot ceilings, Tiffany windows, hand-carved moulding and marble fireplaces — are everywhere making it a veritable sweetie shop for fans of period residences. The stables have been repurposed as a luxe spa and the carriage house as a restaurant.

The Charleston-based Bennett family are behind this grande dame, a hotel reflecting Charleston’s elegant and graceful nature. Hotel Bennett opened in 2019, but was in the planning for over a decade prior. Refined and plush, it has 179 bedrooms, the Fiat Lux rooftop bar and the Art Deco-inspired Camellias bar, the two-tiered Gabrielle restaurant focussing on the coast’s seafood and La Pâtisserie, paying homage to the city’s European connections. A chic rooftop pool has sea views, plus there’s a spa and a concierge to help with anything you need during your stay.

Stay in one of just 18 bedrooms at this family-run Relais and Chateaux property. Evocative of the Gilded Age, the red-brick mansion house features antiques, glamorous modern interior touches by designer Joszi Meskan, working fireplaces and four-poster beds. Guests have access to a library of books, a complimentary car (for trips up to three miles), a selection of movies, a 1920s-esque afternoon tea and drinks served from a vintage bar trolley. But the best benefit of all, is the creative in-house bistro, Magdalena, featuring a raw bar and headed up by Chef Scott Bacon.

This 1900s-era dance hall and warehouse is now a 128-bedroom hotel in one of the city’s most prestigious neighbourhoods, Fells Point. Part of the Waterfront’s Recreation Pier, it juts out over the sea, with a “floating” pool area and dining deck providing direct views of the passing superyachts. Inside are two further culinary options from the team behind Nobu; the Rec Pier Chop House for world-leading steaks and The Cannon Room whisky bar (do try the Sagamore Spirit Rye). The Sagamore Pendry decor is a blend of industrial-chic and grand, with a touch of grown-up sass.

Stay right beside the sea, at the city’s most iconic hotel. Dating back to the 1920s, it displays the kind of classic American elegance that’s attracted guests including a total of ten presidents, as well as famous names like Frank Sinatra and Elizabeth Taylor. It’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but recently received a massive makeover bringing its 85 grand and funky bedrooms into the modern age. The Cavalier has an indoor splash pool, a private beach club, a full-service spa and multiple dining options (several of which are ocean-fronted) such as a taco shack, an ice cream parlour and an Asian-fusion rooftop eatery.