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A former convent in Milan, a Hollywood hangout in London and more…

By Mary Gostelow

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Four Seasons Hotel Milano
Milan, Italy

Nuns in the Convento della Santa Maria del Gesu, built in 1432, would be happy to see how much their home, now a 98-room hotel, is loved today. Some of the original frescoes remain, while the cloisters have been turned into immaculately manicured lawns. Suite 444 is highly popular for its office/parlour, library and private terrace. GM Vincenzo Finizzola can arrange visits to many of the designer fashion houses nearby.

www.fourseasons.com/milan

The Como Melbourne
Melbourne, Australia

In the trendy South Yarra area, the 1988-vintage post-Modernist building is an ideal base for the local restaurants and boutique shopping and is only minutes away from the Yarra River (a world-famous site for rowing). For indoor exercise, the 115-room hotel has a rooftop gym and indoor pool. Ask GM Paul Bidgood for one of the C-shaped third-floor suites with private Japanese terrace gardens. Business guests sometimes host private in-suite dinners.

www.mirvachotels.com.au

Boca Raton Resort & Club
Boca Raton, Florida

The famous strawberry ice cream-coloured hotel is now being repainted in subtler hues of salmon mousse. This 1,050-room resort, under managing director Jean-Jacques Pergant will soon include new branches of restaurants La Goulue and the Old Homestead Steak House. For business guests, rooms in the tower block are handy. When you have more time, try one of the bungalows designed by Alexandra Champalimaud.

www.bocaresort.com

The Soho Hotel
London, United Kingdom

A former multi-storey car park is now the favourite hotel of the visiting Hollywood entertainment crowd. They love Kit Kemp’s witty interiors, which include a three-metre Botero black-cat sculpture in the lobby. Among the 91 rooms, a popular choice is 503, the airy rooftop suite beloved by Jennifer Lopez; it has a free-standing Corian bathtub with a nearby flat-screen TV. GM Carrie Wicks also oversees the Refuel bar-restaurant, a meeting place for Soho’s in crowd.

www.sohohotel.com

The Taj Mahal Hotel
New Delhi, India

With a 24-hour gym and astrologer on hand, this 296-room palace has what you want, when you want it. The 12th-floor club lounge is superb. Put your shoes out to be cleaned and they are returned, individually wrapped, in a fabric-lined basket. Newspapers are set on butlers’ tables outside bedroom doors. GM Yannick Poupon runs this shipshape operation, the ideal business base and just the place for luxuriating in a spacious city garden with a large pool.

www.tajhotels.com

Write to us: letters@enroutemag.net

Mary Gostelow is one of the world’s top authorities on luxury hotels and the editor-in-chief of Wow Travel, the online magazine of www.kiwicollection.com. E-mail her at mgostelow@enroutemag.net.

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