Even if you can’t travel this holiday, you can still experience hotels decked out in their festive finest. This year, many properties continued the tradition of setting up elaborate Christmas trees, adorning them with everything from crystals to flowers. We gathered photos from some of the best ones to help transport you to hotel lobbies all over the world.
From Las Vegas to London, these properties are spreading holiday cheer with their tannenbaums:
Stroll through the Guangzhou hotel’s Wishing Forest, a grove of simulated white trees made of recycled materials. The handcrafted trees appear to have sagging branches after a heavy snowfall, and the illumination makes them look ethereal.
Mandarin Oriental Jumeira, Dubai
The glowing 20-foot-tall tree on the terrace was a collaboration between the Dubai hotel and Piaget. It melds the Swiss jeweler’s craftsmanship, the Mandarin Oriental’s signature fan symbol and the contemporary feel of the luxe beachfront property.
The sprawling Biltmore Estate (which encompasses the Asheville, North Carolina, inn) trots out 100 Christmas trees, 25,000 ornaments, 100,000 holiday lights, nearly 6,000 feet of garland and 1,200 poinsettias. We’re partial to the Grand Banquet Hall’s 35-foot Fraser fir (above). There’s another reason to celebrate this year: Biltmore marks its 125th anniversary on Christmas Eve.
Standing 30 feet tall, the Manila hotel’s opulent tree is embellished with chiffon, shiny gold and copper ornaments, mirror balls with crystal beads, silver glitter palm leaves and more than 22,500 LED lights.
Approximately 500 faux white florals blanket the 10-foot-tall tree in the downtown San Diego hotel. It fits right in with the rest of the white and light gray lobby.
The Balmoral, a Rocco Forte Hotel
Locally based leather goods purveyor Strathberry helped dress the Edinburgh hotel’s trees. The ones in Palm Court have Strathberry’s signature gold bar (which adorns the brand’s purses) dangling from its white bare branches. The above lobby tree is bathed in blue décor in an homage to the National Health Service.
To promote sustainability, the Chengdu hotel used bamboo partly recycled from the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding for its 23-foot gold Christmas tree. After the holidays, the bamboo will be reused to house an herb garden in the hotel’s courtyard.
Lotte New York Palace and The Towers at Lotte New York Palace
Just steps from Rockefeller Center, you’ll find another iconic NYC Christmas tree. This 35-foot beauty covered in glittering ornaments and topped with a shining star sits in the Madison Avenue Courtyard of the Palace and its hotel-within-a-hotel, The Towers.
Spread across 7,000 acres, the Dominican Republic hotel had plenty of room to erect a 16th-century replica of a Mediterranean village, Altos de Chavón. It’s bathed in lights and décor, including a towering tree that houses Santa.
The tree at the London hotel drew inspiration from the Roaring ’20s, a time when people sought out hope after World War I. Each branch of the 15-foot-tall, white-frosted tree holds more than 10,000 crystals as well as glass garlands and pendants. The reflecting light creates a frozen dreamscape across the black-and-white-marbled and mirrored art deco lobby.
Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach
Encircled with long strands of gold stars, the bright green tree seems to magically hover in the air over the staircase, like it’s an oversized ornament at the beachfront hotel.
The Charleston hotel radiates Southern elegance, with its 12-foot crystal chandelier and double staircases making the center tree the focal point. But there are actually five Fraser firs and 1,000 feet of garland in the grand lobby. Plus, each room boasts its own tree.
The Vegas hotel constructed a winter forest of white manzanita trees for its 15-foot-tall Sugar Palace, made of pressed sugar bricks, sugar-coated snowflakes, blown-sugar swans and more sweet pieces. But this dreamy 17-foot-tall tree decorated with 500 crystals stands above the rest.
The Roosevelt New Orleans, A Waldorf Astoria Hotel
You’ll encounter a sparkling holiday display in this New Orleans landmark. It stretches over a block with hundreds of thousands of lights, red bows and garlands, winter branches and 2,200 glass ornaments.
Set against the black-and-white checked floor and a curved staircase, the lofty tree in the Montecito, California, hotel lobby pops with gleaming gold balls and thick ribbon.
Shangri-La Hotel, At The Shard, London
The London hotel decks its hall with a 16-foot-high paper tree fashioned from recyclable materials at the property. Lyrics from carols and winter songs from nine different countries wrap around the tree to create the illusion of a cloud of words.
Hotel de la Ville, a Rocco Forte Hotel
The ocean is this year’s Christmas theme at the Rome hotel. Each ornament carries meaning: the gold oyster holding a pearl symbolizes obstacles that must be overcome to achieve hope, and the blue seahorse is a sign of luck as well as strength.
The Miami Beach hotel enlisted artist-in-residence Najja Moon to conceive a design for its pine tree. The result is The Huddle, a piece that draws on the themes of worship and basketball. “These drawings are perhaps the remnants of a praise dance or a play drawn up for a last-second shot,” Moon says. “A feeling our younger selves harnessed from the moment the iconic tree went up until the final encore of New Year[’s] Eve.”
Stein Eriksen Lodge Deer Valley
You will have to crane your neck to take in Park City hotel’s colossal tree, which stretches 32 feet high. The traditional tree with red and gold ornaments and white lights looks at home in the rustic, wood-filled mountain lodge.
The starfish ornaments hint that this tree resides in a beachy locale. The Cape Cod hotel keeps its color scheme classic with red and white trim and offers a special cherry-red mailbox for letters to the North Pole.
The Los Angeles hotel replaced its traditional fresh-cut tree with several potted holiday trees. After the festivities, the potted trees will be donated to support California reforestation efforts and the regrowth of areas impacted by wildfires. And to further cultivate its sustainable efforts, Terranea gives guests packets of cypress, juniper and stone pine seeds upon arrival.
