Luxury Hotels Woo Guests With Fine Art

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Art collectors looking for new ways to show their acquisitions are bringing museum-quality acquisitions to luxury hotels.

At some hotels, the works of artists Keith Haring and Julian Schnabel hang over beds and fireplaces. At others, visitors pay to view paintings in private areas where security guards make sure the art doesn't slip away with the toiletries.

Here are some hotels that offer art as an amenity:

Original paintings and sculptures adorn Encore's Botero Bar.

Gramercy Park Hotel, New York: This collaboration between hotelier Ian Schrager and Schnabel has been one of the chicest addresses in New York since it opened in 2006. The lobby showcases works by Schnabel and Jean-Michel Basquiat. The hotel's larger collection includes modern masterpieces by Damien Hirst, Richard Prince and Andy Warhol.

Guest rooms feature black-and-white prints by Magnum Photos, the agency founded in 1947 by Henri Cartier-Bresson. Larger suites display one-of-a-kind installations that can be explained by the hotel's curator.

Ace Hotels: This laid-back boutique chain has sites in New York; Seattle; Palm Springs, Calif.; and Portland, Ore. They offer an eco-friendly aesthetic of recycled furnishings and the communal tone of an artist's bohemia with cafeteria-style dining.

The hotel chain is displaying a mural of graffiti-sticker prints by Bronx-based artist Michael Anderson at its New York location. The offbeat mosaic brings charm to the formerly minimalist design of these stylish and affordable hotels.

In Palm Springs, the hotel's top-level guest room features original art from the Ryan McGinley Levi's campaign.