hotel-style apartments

In New York City, hotelier Ian Schrager is developing his first residential property, 50 Gramercy Park North, with 23 apartments adjacent to the Gramercy Park Hotel. Its full-service staff can hire a chef for a dinner party. André Balazs will open 40 Mercer in August; the concierge there will make restaurant reservations. Ubiquitous designer Philippe Starck has helped form Yoo, a London-based development company with swank apartment projects around the world, including Madrid and Buenos Aires.

luxe resorts in remote regions

Explora debuted a nine-room property on Easter Island last winter and has a new hotel in the works there as well (explora.com). Terelj Hotel and Spa, opening in 2007 in Mongolia, will have inlaid marble floors and blankets made from local camel hair (tereljhotel.com).

hotel extras for sporty guests

The Charles Hotel in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is offering a 2,900-square-foot outdoor ice-skating rink this winter (charleshotel.com). In Seattle, the Hotel Monaco rents out Vespa scooters (monaco-seattle.com).

airport-minded amenities

The concierge at Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica, California, will print boarding passes for guests. The hotel also offers an "On the Fly" menu, with dishes like a flatiron steak wrap to take on the plane (shuttersonthebeach.com; 310-458-0030). Virgin Atlantic Airlines will arrange for chauffeurs to drive Upper Class travelers to the airport (virgin-atlantic.com). At Eos, a new luxury airline with flights between New York and London, every seat folds down into a flat bed.

Published January 2006