magexpect

I am going to take a 3-4 months tour of the USA with a European friend. Where would you go? Please no 300rooms hotels, but the ones where they call you by name and not CC's once checked in. Sports are not important but service and outstanding food. Am I too demanding?

Blumie

Here is a list of some of my favorite U.S. hotels. Some may exceed 300 rooms, but all offer excellent service and food:

Boston: Four Seasons
Lenox, MA (Berkshires region): Wheatleigh (higher category rooms; lower category rooms are small)
New York: Four Seasons, Trump International
Washington, D.C.: Four Seasons
Chicago: Peninsula, Four Seasons, Ritz Carlton (managed by Four Seasons)
New Orleans: Winsor Court
Dallas: Mansion on Turtle Creek
Las Vegas: Four Seasons
Los Angeles: Shutters on the Beach (I suspect you'll get a lot of disagreement on this one)
San Francisco: Ritz Carlton (club floor room)

flamboyant 1

Auberge du soleil, Napa Valley - will be excellent for your food, service needs!

Amangani Jackson Hole, stunning scenery!

Non-NonRev

My vote for best(especially taking into account the food component):

Chateau du Sureau

On the southern approach highway to Yosemite National Park. Outstanding rooms (but not "over-the-top" and truly world-class cuisine at Erna's Elderberry House.

If you and your visiting friends visit only one outdoors/recreation location, I highly recommend Yosemite:

http://www.chateaudusureau.com/

NYBanker

This would be my vote, too. Activities year round. Only about 40 rooms - but every service/amenity you could reasonably ask for. Best hotel experience I've had in North America - bar none.

Food, for being outside of New York City, was excellent.

Only drawback - in the winter, you need to travel via the hotel's SUV to the slopes. They do have a special slope-side lodge for hotel guests - as a private place to relax.

magexpect

Thank you very much for all the feedback. I hope there will be more...

I have my own SUV. Does that mean because of lack of parking space you have to use theirs?

flamboyant 1

The problem is rather the amount of snow at the altitude where the Amangani is located.

www.amanresorts.com

jja34-1

As a former resident of NYC and a part time resident of Jackson, I take umbrage at this.

There are many fine restaurants in Jackson, some better than what I would consider to be their peers in NYC. IMHO, the dining options in Jackson are far better than other U.S. ski resorts I have been to. Restaurants such as the Snake River Grill, the Bistro and Game Fish have attracted well trained chefs who have devised innovative and enjoyable menus. That being said, I am not a fan of the restaurant at the Amangani, which I have always found to be a rather unsatisfactory experience. After quite a few visits, I have not been up there in more than a year, though, so things may have changed for the better.

I think this may have more to do with the winding, often icy road that leads up to Spring Creek and the Amangani. Even in summer that hill is a bit treacherous. In winter, I would not go up there without a four wheel drive and then driving only very slowly. Once you hit the main road to Teton Village, though (about a mile from the hotel), there is rarely any ice or snow. It is kept in very good condition (it is the first road plowed in Jackson each winter morning) because of the traffic back and forth to the ski hill.

Edited to add:

The Amangani has a very attentive and well-staffed corps of valets (who sadly now know me by name).



[This message has been edited by jja34-1 (edited Jan 16, 2004).]

magexpect

What have you done to them???

Icy roads have never been a problem to me. I originally come from Switzerland, live now in Atlanta. I still have a chalet in Switzerland and you should see the road that gets to it.

Thank you for the culinary comment.