Are your eyes aglow with all the shopping to come this holiday season? They’ll practically pop out of your head if you stay at one of these fabulous hotels with high-end retailers nearby and plenty of indulgences to pamper the pooped patron after a daylong spending spree.
1. Island Hotel, Newport Beach, Calif.
(Island Hotel)
Who doesn’t like to shop in the OC? Fashion Island, an upscale open-air shopping center in the heart of Orange County, is home to 200 specialty boutiques, department stores including Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom, and plenty of wonderful dining.
Just across the street is the Island Hotel, where service is the star and staff are likely to call you by name to help you with your mounds of shopping bags. The hotel offers a Shopping Experience Package with overnight accommodations, a $50 gift card and savings booklet for Fashion Island, a pedicure at the hotel’s spa and complimentary valet parking for one vehicle. What’s more, they’ll wrap all your newly bought gifts for free. If it’s not just your feet that need a good rub, try the Post Shopping Island Spa Package, which includes a reflexology massage and cocoa facial.
(Avenue Suites)
2. Avenue Suites, Washington, D.C.
If you’ll be in the nation’s capital and need to knock out some items on your gift list, try the Holiday Stylin’ package at the Avenue Suites Hotel in Georgetown, home to the area’s high-end fashion and shopping district.
(Dan Ham)
The package gives you shopping recommendations from some of the area’s most fashionable icons, including Jonathan Capehart, opinion writer at the Washington Post; Svetlana Legetic, founder of BrightestYoungThings; and Jenn Barger, stylist, fashion writer and founding editor of FW, the Washington Post's fashion magazine. There’s also sedan service to Georgetown, one-on-one time with a professional stylist, free gift wrapping, breakfast to go and maps to get you to every store on your list.
3. Hyatt Chicago Magnificent Mile, Chicago
(Canary Hotel)
This is a great option if you plan to bring the kids along. Not only do you get a $50 gift certificate and a “passport” for $500 in savings at Water Tower Place’s 100 shops, the kids can meet Santa along the way, and you get free admission to the Chicago Sports Museum. The Hyatt Chicago Magnificent Mile offer also includes a Water Tower Place tote bag and signature gift.
4. Canary Hotel, Santa Barbara, Calif.
(Mandarin Oriental New York)
Get your Saks Retail Therapy with a package by the same name at the Canary Hotel, which is within walking distance of more than 300 shops in charming Santa Barbara. Holiday shopping is a new experience as you wander in and out of the many Spanish paseos along State Street, the town’s main thoroughfare.
The package includes accommodations, a makeover in the Saks Beauty Department, a $100 Saks gift card, a personal shopping appointment with a store style expert and a bottle of champagne to enjoy when the day is done. Be sure to leave time to relax on the hotel rooftop, with 360-degree views of Santa Barbara’s red-tiled roofs and the Santa Ynez Mountains.
(Renaissance Aruba Resort)
5. Mandarin Oriental, New York City
One of the best things about holiday shopping is looking at all the beautiful holiday window displays. Mandarin Oriental New York’s Bergdorf Goodman Holiday Windows package gives you a peek behind the scenes of the department store’s popular displays with a personal tour by one of the designers.
(The Shops at Crystals)
After the tour, visit the Trim the Tree holiday installation on the store’s seventh floor for personalized shopping, then savor dinner for two at BG Restaurant. Of course, you also get two nights in the Mandarin Oriental, in a suite with a fabulous view of Central Park.
6. Renaissance Aruba
(Peninsula Beverly Hills)
Fashionistas can get their fix in a tropical setting at the Renaissance Marina Hotel in Aruba with its Ultimate Retail Therapy package. Shopaholics can use the provided discount booklet at 60 fine retailers, including Burberry, Gucci and Dolce & Gabbana, at Renaissance Mall, located at Renaissance Aruba Resort & Casino. Finish your shopping day with a Manhattan or a Cosmopolitan, using your $75-per-room cocktail credit, and then head to the casino, where you've got $25 to start your night.
7. Vdara Hotel & Spa, Las Vegas
(Mandarin Oriental Atlanta)
Shoppers will also love the opportunities at The Vdara Hotel & Spa, a non-smoking, non-gaming boutique hotel that’s a quiet sanctuary in the middle of the wild Las Vegas Strip. Hop the free tram to the nearby The Shops at Crystals, among the few shopping destinations in the country dedicated to high-end fashion, to find the ultimate haute couture duds for the stylish standouts on your list.
Guests enjoy in-room VIP services from many of The Shops at Crystals’boutiques, including custom fittings, trunk shows, delivered purchases and consignment delivering. In-store, choose from options such as personal shoppers, extended hours, VIP fitting rooms with food and drink, limited edition pieces and beauty services. You’ll never look better in Vegas!
(Palm Beach County CVB)
8. Peninsula, Beverly Hills, Calif.
Love shopping at Neiman Marcus? You may love it even more in the heart of Beverly Hills. Stay at the AAA Five Diamond Peninsula Beverly Hills as part of the hotel’s Best of Neiman Marcus package, and you’ll enjoy the best the upscale department store has to offer.
(Silversmith Hotel Chicago)
Start your one-night stay with breakfast at the Peninsula, followed by transportation to the store in a luxury house car. Upon arrival at Neiman Marcus, you’ll have a private beauty makeover with your cosmetics line of choice followed by lunch for two at the Bar on 4 restaurant. Other perks include a Neiman Marcus luggage tag, the store’s signature chocolate chip cookies (with recipe) and a personal interpreter for foreign guests, available for an extra charge.
9. Mandarin Oriental, Atlanta
Buckhead, home to the popular Phipps Plaza, Lenox Square and Buckhead Atlanta shopping centers, is the place to shop in Atlanta. You’ll find upscale stores like Saks Fifth Avenue, Kate Spade and Versace there. With the Mandarin Oriental Atlanta’s Festive Buckhead Celebrations offering, shoppers receive breakfast for two to kick off their day, holiday cookies to curb that mid-afternoon sugar craving, complimentary valet parking and $100 to spend at area shopping venues within walking distance of the hotel. Be sure to check out the life-size gingerbread house, created by top local pastry chefs, and enjoy hot cocoa, cupcakes, Christmas cream pie and mint-flavored macaroons in the lobby.
10. Brazilian Court Hotel, Palm Beach, Fla.
If you really want to go all-out, indulge in the Shop the Tropics package from the Brazilian Court Hotel in Palm Beach. This offering, a mere $18,000 for two nights, gets you accommodations in a luxury suite, a chauffeured Rolls Royce for shopping on Worth Avenue, $5,000 to spend and a personal shopper to assist you. After a day on the town, partake in a gastronomic Chef’s Table seven-course dinner at Café Boulud.
11. Silversmith Hotel, Chicago
Another top-of-the-line Chicago shopping experience takes to the skies at the Silversmith Hotel. On Santa’s Sleigh Ride, you’ll take a scenic helicopter tour of downtown Chicago in all its holiday wonder. The Secret Santa package also includes two nights of premium accommodations; a $5,000 shopping spree at The Shops at North Bridge, where you’ll also have a personal stylist; same-day delivery of your purchases and a bottle of Dom Perignon to cap off your day.
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