What’s Old Is New Again

Sometimes a renovation is more than just a fresh coat of paint and a bit of re-upholstering. A thorough enough redesign can change the fundamental character of a hotel, for better or for worse. Some of the most dramatic changes we’ve seen lately have taken place at the Sunset Marquis, which has transformed itself from a glamorously debauched rocker’s playground into something a bit more upscale, a swanky little slice of New Hollywood, though one that hasn’t lost touch with its rock-and-roll roots — a bit like the Sunset Strip itself, now that you mention it.

It’s far from the only one. The ink was only just drying on the last round of design-mag tributes to the Park Hyatt Milan when Ed Tuttle (of Amanresorts fame) swept in to town, leaving his signature ultra-luxe, ultra-contemporary stamp on a hotel that’s less than a decade old. On Manhattan’s Upper East Side a similar transformation has taken place: The Mark Hotel, newly reopened, is now the aristo-chic experience it was always meant to be. Meanwhile in Cannes the Hotel Majestic has been brought thoroughly up to date, without sacrificing any of the place’s classic Art Deco character; the result moves it to the top end of the Riviera’s luxury-hotel league table.

Changes are afoot in Miami Beach as well. Just when you’ve seen as much monochrome minimalism as you can take, The Betsy has put the finishing touches on a redesign that’s distinctly retro in inspiration. Here it’s as though Art Deco has yet to happen, and the hotel’s unique Plantation style, though updated for a 21st-century audience, is a welcome contrast to the South Beach status quo.

Finally, anyone who’s spent time in New York’s Delaware County can be forgiven for thinking it’d take more than a bit of architectural attention to bring the Catskills up to date. That’s before you’ve seen The Roxbury, which has just added a new wing to its slightly irreverent interpretation of the classic upstate resort hotel. The new rooms take some inspiration from the TV shows of the ‘60s and ‘70s, an offbeat concept that can’t help but set a hotel apart from the field.