Cancel That Staycation for These New Hotels

Suites, suites everywhere: The American love affair with all-suite hotels has finally swept across the pond, where Continental dwellers who once prided themselves on never needing more than 250 square feet are suddenly demanding their equal space. La Reserve is a high-end architectural resort group comprising upscale all-suite accommodations in Geneva, Paris and now St. Tropez's Ramatuelle. Star architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte debuts a whimsical luxury spa hotel offering a dramatic glass-enclosed lobby with butterfly ceiling opposite a dramatic infinity pool with clubhouse and on-site eatery attended by preening staff.

In Barcelona, business travelers looking for apartment-style accommodations that don't cost as much as a NYC co-op should discover Suites Avenue by Spain's Derby Hotels. An architectural steel façade look is equal parts Gehry and Spiderman, but actually designed by architect Toyo Ito, who pens a head-turning destination property opposite Gaudi's La Pedrera. Free of commercial-grade carpeting and Danish Modern furnishings, these longer-stay city pads feature a modern design of black leather décor, rich marble bathrooms and well-outfitted stainless-steel kitchens perfect for preparing local market finds.

"Design" hotels: Somehow in the past decade, "boutique hotel" has almost become a derogatory term. So emerged the design hotel and its latest incarnation in Paris' ever-chic Le Marais. Hotel Gabriel has an ethereal Marie Antoinette theme with glittery lobby and stand-up reception illuminated in backlit translucent glass. A one-room restaurant and lounge are surrounded in all-white Corian walls with even whiter leather furnishings that bring a clinical charm to a menu of antioxidant cocktails. Rooms feature an LCD light-enhanced sleeping system that makes their 200-square-foot dimensions seem dreamily larger.