BA - The Club - Seven of the world’s finest hotels

The Dorchester, London

With a glittering history of celebrity comings and goings, The Dorchester on London’s prestigious Park Lane is a marbled and sumptuous spectacle, befitting both English, and Hollywood, royalty. On the eve of his wedding to the then Princess Elizabeth, Prince Phillip held his unofficial stag do at The Dorchester, while the famous Harlequin Suite, home to Elizabeth Taylor’s custom all-pink bathroom, is where the screen starlet signed Hollywood’s first $1m movie contract.

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02 Round Hill Hotel & Villas, Montego Bay

Round Hill Hotel & Villas, Montego Bay, Jamaica

A technicolour blend of parakeet greens, aqua blues and bleached white wood, Round Hill Hotel & Villas hosts some of the world’s most famously occupied vacation homes. Designed by fashion supremo Ralph Lauren, this hotel has felt the stylish heels of Anna Wintour, Grace Kelly, Michael Kors and Tommy Hilfiger, as well as the gold-fingered touch of Pierce Brosnan and Bond creator Ian Fleming, who, so inspired by his stay, built his own home a few miles down the coast.

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The Carlyle, New York

Described by Woody Allen as ‘...the kind of place you go to meet for drinks the way people used to in old New York romantic movies’, The Carlyle certainly brings an amorous touch to the flashy Upper East Side. An art deco landmark, the hotel has hosted every US president since 1964, with Kennedy keeping an apartment there for the last 10 years of his life – a spot Marilyn Monroe was often rumoured to visit. Over in the hotel’s alluring Bemelmans Bar, the famous piano has been played by Broadway megastar Liza Minnelli, New York native Billy Joel and pop diva Mariah Carey.

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George V, Paris

Attracting a dazzling guest list since its opening in 1928, the George V remains pretty as a Parisian picture, with artistic director and celebrity florist Jeff Leatham spending around £1m on flowers for the opulent lobby and three Michelin-star-gifted restaurants each year. Wind the clock back to the swinging 1960s and you’d have found the Beatles roaming the hotel during their 19-day residency at the city’s Olympia Theatre. Their now infamous suite was where the talented quartet composed classic hit Can’t Buy Me Love, and shot their famous ‘pillow fight’ photographs.

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Inverlochy Castle, Inverness-shire, Scotland

A favourite of Queen Victoria’s, Inverlochy Castle defines Highland handsomeness, with emerald pine trees, glassy lochs and a roster of Scottish heart-throbs filling its A-star guestbook. Tucked away in the mountainous vistas of Ben Nevis, Mel Gibson stayed here for a week while filming his 1995 epic Braveheart, and other American guests include Oprah Winfrey, Sharon Stone, Robert De Niro and Robert Redford. The favourite guest of general manager Jane Watson? Robin Williams for his ‘perfect charm and gentlemanliness’.

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Beverly Wilshire, Los Angeles

A safe house for the stars, the Beverly Wilshire is also the keeper of one of Hollywood’s most infamous Presidential Suites – the filming location of big-screen love story Pretty Woman. Honouring its pop culture moment in the sun, the hotel plays the famous flick on repeat in its nail bar, not to mention its Pretty Woman experience – featuring a Rodeo Drive shopping spree, the Presidential Suite and private Rolls-Royce. And in the music world, iconic singers Elton John and Mick Jagger are Beverly Wilshire fans, as were Elvis and John Lennon, with the latter living in the hotel for several months during his separation from Yoko Ono.

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Adlon Kempinski, Berlin

The scene of that Michael Jackson balcony photograph, the Adlon Kempinski is no stranger to a bit of scandal. Burnt down in a fire caused by drunk soviets in May 1945, the hotel’s reincarnation epitomised German sophistication and cultural flair, attracting presidential powerhouses Barack Obama and Nelson Mandela, silver-screen superstars Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Charlie Chaplin and Tom Cruise, plus the Dalai Lama and physicist legend Albert Einstein, through its decadent doors.

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Hannah Ralph

Seven of the world’s finest hotels

The Dorchester, London

Round Hill Hotel & Villas, Montego Bay, Jamaica

The Carlyle, New York

George V, Paris

Inverlochy Castle, Inverness-shire, Scotland

Beverly Wilshire, Los Angeles

Adlon Kempinski, Berlin

The Dorchester, London

Round Hill Hotel & Villas, Montego Bay, Jamaica

The Carlyle, New York

George V, Paris

Inverlochy Castle, Inverness-shire, Scotland

Beverly Wilshire, Los Angeles

Adlon Kempinski, Berlin

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