Hotels that go all-out for the festive season

29 December, 2015

Sarah Came
By Sarah Came


The festive season always calls for something special, but some hotels go all-out. We have collected a few of the biggest and boldest examples from top hotels:

Four Seasons Hotel George V, Paris

This luxury hotel overlooking the Champs-Élysées lavishes guests with extravagance all year round, but there are even more special treats in store over the festive season. Celebrated decorator, Jeff Leatham, has bedecked the hotel with fantastical Christmas décor, including a giant bear sculpture and large ice sculptures of penguins.

This figurative feast for the eyes for Christmas is complemented by the literal feast for the stomach for New Year’s (which costs a mere $1,300) provided by the hotel’s Restaurant Le Cinq.

Burj Al Arab Jumeirah, Dubai

Dubai is known for being a hub of wealth and lavish excess, and Burj Al Arab Jumeirah Beach Hotel does not disappoint. Among the other events being held at the hotel for New Year’s Eve, the Festive Winter Wonderland New Year's Gala Dinner (which one can attend for a measly AED 4500 per adult) promises that you will “see in the New Year with the utmost majestic style” and includes live entertainment, free alcohol, sea views, and the closest position you can get to the longest fireworks display in the UAE.
The 2015 New Year’s Eve fireworks displays at Burj Al Arab Jumeirah

 

Hôtel Plaza Athénée, Paris

Every year, the Dorchester Collection’s Hotel Plaza Athénee freezes over its Cour Jardin courtyard and festoons it with glittering Christmas trees to create an enchanted ice rink for the use of its guests and the hotel has put together festive season family packages that include exceptional touches like special gifts for children. Guests can also have a private dinner in the courtyard in a Christmas sled.

Fairmont San Francisco

The Fairmont San Francisco has been celebrating the festive season in style for over a hundred years, and this year it features an edible gingerbread house – two storeys tall, and a 23-foot-tall Christmas tree. Children in the hotel are also treated to milk and cookies delivered to their room.

The Knickerbocker, New York

Although the Knickerbocker in New York only reopened in February 2015, its reputation for having one of the best views of the New Year’s ball in Times Square never died, and the St. Cloud rooftop atop the Knickerbocker is one of the most memorable places to see in the New Year.

The Goring, London

The goring treats guests like royalty all year round, but during the festive season footmen (dubbed Santas’s Helpers for the holidays) usually reserved only for the service of guests in the Belgravia and Royal Suites are made available to other guests to wait on them, wrapping gifts, carving turkeys, and fulfilling any other Christmas requests guests see fit to ask.

Keystone Lodge & Spa, Colorado

Christmas is always a time of fun and wonder for children, and it is especially so at the Keystone Lodge & Spa. The lodge’s executive pastry chef creates a miniature chocolate village for the delight of guests over the holidays, which features a working gondola, and this year a few Star Wars characters. The lodge also erects the largest snow fort in the world during the festive season for the enjoyment of its younger guests.

 

 

 

Recent Blogs