Four Seasons Hotel Chicago’s Ice Cream Man. Credit: Four Seasons Hotel Chicago
Forbes Travel Guide Star Rated properties across the globe offer knowledgeable concierges, but these six hotels take luxury living, convenience and attentiveness to new heights. Whether you’re looking for a London literary ambassador or a Las Vegas robot butler, here’s where to stay for standout service upon check-in.
Four Seasons Hotel Chicago
The Four Seasons hotel group consistently nails it with its teens and kids programming, but the Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star Magnificent Mile property’s ice cream men (and women) take the cake with sundae delivery to your room.
The festive cart comes bearing chocolate and vanilla ice cream along with a handful of toppings like chocolate and strawberry sauces, rainbow and chocolate sprinkles, M&Ms and gummy worms so your little ones can build the dessert of their dreams.
Grown-ups can get in on the fun, too. And if ice cream’s not your thing, there’s always the martini cart.
The Shelbourne Dublin’s Lord Mayor’s Lounge. Credit: The Shelbourne Dublin
The Shelbourne Dublin, A Renaissance Hotel
There are nearly 40 million Americans who claim Irish heritage — more than six times the population of Ireland — so it’s only fitting for this Forbes Travel Guide Recommended hotel to have a genealogy butler. Since 2007, that’s been genealogist Helen Kelly.
You’ll need some basic information about your ancestor for the form she’ll send you ahead of your consultation. After you fill out those details, she’ll put together a genealogical report on your relatives, presenting it over over tea or coffee in the Dublin property’s Lord Mayor’s Lounge. Each session lasts an hour and will leave you with a research plan to help you find any other long-lost family members.
If you’ve got quite a few Irish relatives, book a full day with Kelly, who will take you around to the National Archives, National Library of Ireland and Registry of Deeds to help you dive even deeper into your past.
Damian Barr, The Savoy’s Literary Ambassador. Credit: The Savoy
The Savoy
Rabid readers will want to book into this storied Five-Star London stay, thanks to this year’s launch of the Literary Programme with Damian Barr, a columnist and author of the memoir Maggie & Me. Newly appointed as the property’s first literary ambassador, the award-winning writer will continue to host his famed Literary Salons in the hotel’s ballroom (don’t miss the 10th anniversary edition on October 29), revive the writer-in-residence program — so far Sarah Perry, Aminatta Forna and Garth Greenwell have all been confirmed — and, most exciting for bibliophile guests, introduce a book butler.
Looking for something to read on your train ride out to Bath? The book butler has you covered. The dedicated docent will manage the hotel’s library, a small selection of volumes curated by Barr that are updated seasonally and composed of new releases and Savoy staffers’ old favorites.
Even the youngest readers are greeted with a little box of books to borrow during their stay, including classics like the The Velveteen Rabbit and contemporary reads such as Pom Pom Is Super.
Vdara’s Robot Butlers. Credit: Vdara Hotel & Spa
Vdara Hotel & Spa
Taking a page from The Jetsons’ playbook, this all-suite Four-Star boutique hotel employs a pair of robot butlers, Fetch and Jett.
The duo can operate the elevators themselves, call your room on arrival, deliver takeout from the hotel’s Market Café — think falafel wraps, avocado toast and steel-cut oats with chia pudding — and replace any toiletries you may have forgotten.
The robots’ total delivery time is less than 10 minutes, freeing up the property’s cheerful human staffers to help you snag coveted concert tickets and make restaurant reservations.
Viceroy Riviera Maya’s Soap Concierge. Credit: Viceroy Riviera Maya
Viceroy Riviera Maya
Some hotels greet you with a welcome drink; this Four-Star Riviera Maya resort starts you off with lemongrass-infused coconut water, a blessing from a Mayan shaman and, after you’re comfortably in your room, a visit from the soap concierge.
With big blocks of fresh soap in hand, your aromatic assistant runs through your options, which change seasonally — fragrances might include watermelon, cinnamon, rose, lemon, chocolate, rosemary and peach — are all organic, made by local Mayan communities and smell magnificent. Choose a couple of scents and they’ll be expertly sliced into neat bars.
On the Run with Westin. Credit: The Westin Grand Cayman Seven Mile Beach Resort and Spa
Westin Hotels & Resorts
Westin’s global run concierge, Chris Heuisler, wants you to be able to squeeze in a jog — no matter where you are in the world. Since 2013, he’s overseen the hotel group’s running and general fitness programs, ensuring that all the brand’s properties around the world are optimized for the active set — this means mapping out the best local jogging paths and trails, and making sure earbuds and New Balance workout kits (complete with sneakers) are always on hand.
At Forbes Travel Guide Recommended The Westin Chosun Seoul, for example, you can stretch out and go sightseeing around the city on a three-mile group jog led by the hotel’s running concierge.
Or for a more tropical feel, sprint to Forbes Travel Guide Recommended The Westin Grand Cayman Seven Mile Beach Resort and Spa, where customized running maps help you ditch the treadmill for a jog on the beach or around the beautifully manicured property instead.
