While Rockefeller Center’s sky-high Christmas tree, which traces back to 1931, may be the most famous of its kind, hotels all over the world pitched equally impressive Tannenbaums this season.
From Dubai to Washington, we found remarkable hotel trees ranging from the traditional to the avant-garde that will fill you with holiday spirit.
Mandarin Oriental Jumeira, Dubai
Maison Cartier dreamed up this jewel of a tree, using its iconic Trinity de Cartier design — created in 1924 by Louis Cartier, it consists of three interwoven rings that represent universality and love — as its muse. Aside from the interlocking gold bands, the glamorous showstopper also features shiny oversized ruby-colored bulbs and a nod to Mandarin Oriental’s signature symbol, the fan.
The Five-Star hotel transformed into a Christmas fantasy with a lit-up, larger-than-life bear in a navy bellboy hat and jacket guarding a doorway; a decorative spinning Ferris wheel; and white lights adorning the 17,222-square-foot Grand Jardin. Admire the snow-dusted towering tree, whose candy cane decorations and gingerbread star pay tribute to Ritz Paris’ culinary arts. Enjoy more holiday cheer at the pop-up Christmas Chalet with champagne and mulled wine.
The Five-Star hotel’s tree shines bright like a diamond, thanks to Jimmy Choo creative director Sandra Choi. She used reflective mirrors and pulsing light to make it look like the precious stone and tied it with a large pink bow (a theme from the famed shoe brand’s winter collection). Choi designed the sculpture so that you could stand inside the sparkling space.
The Historic Davenport Hotel, Autograph Collection, Spokane, Washington
After a truck delivered the 22-foot-tall cork-bark fir from the New Leaf Nursery in Hayden, Idaho, The Historic Davenport’s engineering team pulled it up with a rope from the second-floor mezzanine until it sat on the lobby fountain. Next, the engineers used a cherry picker to decorate the top, and then the hotel team worked its way down, adding 114 strings of lights to the two-story tree.
The Lanesborough, London
A vision in white, the Five-Star hotel’s lacy tree resembles a life-size piece of origami, as do the giant star-like snowflakes surrounding it. To make this winter wonderland, designer Tony Marklew drew on fairy tales like The Snow Queen and the Christmas star. A light within the laser-cut metal tree gives the display a serene quality, like waking up on Christmas morning to a blanket of fresh snow.
Local metal artist Pin (also known as Saruta Kiatparkpoom) pulled from bai sri — a Thai blessing ceremony that bestows happiness and prosperity to a person or place — for this custom-made unique, sustainable tree. Lamps of various sizes mimic the shape of a traditional Christmas tree and emit a golden glow. After the holidays, the metal tree will get dismantled and its parts repurposed.
The Inn on Biltmore Estate, Asheville, North Carolina
It took more than 50 Biltmore Estate staff members to hoist this 35-foot Fraser fir onto their shoulders and lug it into the Banquet Hall. George Vanderbilt started the tradition when he first opened his 250-room home to loved ones on Christmas Eve in 1895. Stay in Biltmore Estate’s castle-like inn and see the tree’s 500 ornaments and wrapped packages tucked into its branches up close.
The Lodge at Turning Stone Resort Casino, Verona, New York
The Upstate New York getaway unveiled its largest holiday display yet with 2 million LED lights, 4,150-plus ornaments, 160 illuminated Christmas trees and much more. But the most festive sight is the 32-foot-tall red, green and silver lobby tree propped up on a four-foot base, sprinkled with more than 23,000 LED lights and about 1,500 ornaments, and topped with a four-foot star.
Fashion house Dior dressed the 10-foot tree posing in the Five-Star hotel’s lobby. As evidence that cruises are trending again, Dior gleaned inspiration for the snow-tipped tree’s blue and gold bulbs from its Cruise 2023 collection. Tip: The Gallery’s J’Adior dessert (candied lemon, lemon cremeux and lemon sponge enrobed in white velvet cocoa and gold dashes) also matches the collection.
Arizona Biltmore, A Waldorf Astoria Resort, Phoenix
An outdoor blue and white mosaic tree at the 39-acre Arizona Biltmore pays homage to preeminent architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s stained-glass Saguaro Forms and Cactus Flowers artwork that hangs in the resort’s lobby. But head to the Spire Lawn for the winter-scene-stealing Bell Forest. Near the fire pits, a grove of soaring trees made of bells chimes with the wind.
Four Seasons Hotel George V, Paris
The iconic Five-Star hotel goes glam for the holidays with a gleaming gold tree flanked by matching illuminated structures. Elsewhere, the Four Seasons decks its halls with green trees simply, chicly decorated with white lights and oversized gold baubles at their base. Stop by the hotel’s holiday pop-up, where you can pick up a chocolatey Yule log shaped like a swirling Christmas tree.
Just outside the Five-Star hotel, East London-born artist and sculptor Suzy Murphy decorated a locally sourced Nordmann fir with 34 soft white neon dogs. Starting with the largest at the base and gradually getting smaller as they reach the pinnacle, the dogs look like they’re running around the 30-foot tree. A series of sketches inspired by Murphy’s childhood pet Toby inspired the bright design.
Anchored beside a waterfall in Dubai’s iconic sailboat-shaped building, this dazzling tree stretches 32 feet tall and 20 feet wide. Its shimmering branches hold 3,040 teardrop crystals inspired by the Five-Star hotel’s logo along with 10,000 lights, 3,000 ornaments and 2,000 pounds of intertwined garland, all encircled by more than 1,400 presents.
