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Top 10 Hotels: U.S. Business
 1. Park Hyatt Chicago
Black leather Eames chairs and Mies van der Rohe desks fuse function and style in guestrooms at Chicago’s Park Hyatt. Rooms sport the latest technology (iPod connectivity, four dual-line phones, flat-screen TVs), and power diners fill the seventh-floor restaurant NoMI. Yet such a masculine hotel knows when to ease up, hiring noted aroma designer Chandler Burr to scent the hotel and pouring rare, vintage pu-erh teas. (800) 233-1234 or (312) 335-1234, www.chicago.park.hyatt.com
2. Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas
Guests applaud the Four Seasons’ 40 new villas that include 200 square feet of extra space and great views overlooking the popular TPC golf course, which is undergoing a major redesign. Five-time-or-more repeat guests can check in curbside when they arrive, and the hotel offers room-service menus in their Town Cars, allowing busy travelers to order while commuting. Making news is the bold new dinner menu by executive chef Christof Syré and chef de cuisine Katie Natale. Also look for a new lobby design late this summer along with flat-screen televisions in the guestrooms. (800) 819-5053 or (972) 717-0700, www.fourseasons.com/dallas
3. Hotel Crescent Court, A Rosewood Hotel, Dallas
A new lobby lounge, Beau’s, serves food and drink in the handsomely renovated quarters, joining already-popular NOBU. Recent business travelers include Will Smith and Martha Stewart. (888) 767-3966 or (214) 871-3200, www.rosewoodhotels.com
4. Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco
The largest luxury guestrooms in the city now feature WiFi and plasma TVs, and a new surf-and-turf restaurant is the city’s latest power dining room. (800) 819-5053 or (415) 633-3000, www.fourseasons.com/sanfrancisco
5. Peninsula Chicago
Only five years old, the Peninsula has already renovated its rooms with new beds and its meeting rooms with contemporary art. Also added is a new business center. (866) 288-8889 or (312) 337-2888, www.peninsula.com
6. Las Vegas Hilton
Adjacent to the convention center, the best of the Las Vegas Hilton’s nearly 3,000 rooms now feature luxury bed linens, flat-screen monitors, and WiFi. (888) 732-7117 or (702) 732-5111, www.lvhilton.com
7. Westin Kierland Resort & Spa, Phoenix/Scottsdale
The golf-centric resort in the heart of Scottsdale newly offers an “unwind hour” for drinks and nibbles after business hours at its signature restaurant Deseo. (480) 624-1000, www.kierlandresort.com
8. Grand Hyatt New York
The new conference level renovation updated 15 meeting rooms, and this Midtown hotel provides a 24-hour business center and fitness center. (212) 883-1234, www.grandnewyork.hyatt.com
9. Willard InterContinental Washington, D.C.
Working time-outs at the Willard now include Express 30-minute massages and facials in the spa. (202) 628-9100, www.washington.intercontinental.com
10. Mandarin Oriental, Miami
In the heart of Miami’s business district, the Mandarin staff will whisk you to South Beach or a golf club for a few hours of personal time. The fitness center stocks new equipment from Technogym. (866) 888-6780 or (305) 913-8288, www.mandarinoriental.com/miami
Mainland U.S. | Hawaii | Canada | Mexico/Central America/South America | Caribbean | Europe | Asia | Africa | Australia/New Zeland/South Pacific | U.S. Business | International | Business | Family Resorts | Editor's Picks
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The Platinum List
Isn’t
it great to hear firsthand from a friend about a wonderful travel
experience, complete with tips on where to stay and where to play?
Welcome to the ever-popular Celebrated Living
Readers’ Choice Platinum List, which is like having more than 38,000
friends share their travel preferences in one superb best-of-the-best
list. And what a list it is: 130 luxury hotels, 48 legendary golf
courses, 26 sumptuous spas, and 10 top cruise lines.
Two
highlights of the survey, for me, actually take the form of statistics
— we received 10 percent more entries than last year, and a whopping 79
percent more of you reported you read Celebrated Living regularly. As editor, that’s music to my ears.
For your eyes, our Platinum List has a handsome new design, courtesy of CL’s
talented art director Marilyn Calley. The pages are fresh, engaging,
and filled with images that will make you say “I want to go there,” or,
also fun, “We’ve been there and loved it!” As one reader commented,
“These picks are a mix of places already visited and those I dream of
visiting.” See for yourself, beginning with a handy pullout compilation
list on page 49.
 Of
course, we wanted to entice and reward you for taking the time to weigh
in with your outstanding travel knowledge. Grand Prize winner Henry de
Lagarde is glad he participated. He was randomly chosen to win a
two-year lease on a 2007 Lincoln MKX, MKZ, or Navigator (he chose the
MKZ and is pictured with it here), and 500,000 American Airlines
AAdvantage miles. Ten Second Prize winners received 50,000 miles each.
Quite an incentive, I’d say.
We hope you’ll agree that the rest
of this summer issue is as entertaining and enlightening as the
Platinum List. There’s a feature story on Heidi Klum, a look at
chartering fabulous yachts, five great summer motorcycle rides and
several bikes to enjoy them with, a tour of several cool European
castles, and more. Or, for those weekends when you want to just sit
back and enjoy your own backyard, check out our cocktail story, with
recipes perfect for poolside sipping — and for contemplating where
you’d like to go next.
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