The New Breed of Motel

It’s not really our brand at Blue Hill Properties, where we’re focused on a more luxurious experience, but one of our favorite trends in hospitality is what we’ll call the new motel—high in style, conveniently located, typically approachably priced, and with true individuality.

Today, we’ll highlight just two near us in the northeast. The first is Tourists, located in the Berkshires just off the Mohawk Trail so it’s perfect for anyone seeking a great hike and a stylish place to sleep. On the banks of the Hoosic River, Tourists is the brainchild of Wilco bassist John Stirratt and friends, and is a kind of hip summer camp for adults. With a saltwater pool, a suspension bridge, and a Civil War-era mill, the grounds invite exploration, but it’s also great for a visit to Mass MoCA and other Berkshires destinations.

Our second featured property today is the Brentwood in Saratoga Springs. Located trackside by the legendary racecourse, the Brentwood is a remastered motel with terrific style, combining Billykirk leathers, Sharktooth textiles, period works of art, and lots of brass highlights. It’s a darker, moodier look than Tourists, but to our minds has a Madmen vibe that is perfect for the era of the original buildings. Paint colors are dark greens and blues, and the bar is impeccable. Off-season prices are insanely affordable—as I write I’m seeing a nightly rate UNDER $100. So it’s an easy discovery.

Of course, a visit to a Blue Hill Properties destination is always in order, so check out The Jackson House Inn—and book your romantic getaway now. (Yes, Yankee magazine named us Best Couples Retreat.)

Decadent Design Perfection from Jasper Conran

Our second stop today is the Hotel Marrakech, designed by the man who was once Princess Diana's favorite designer, Jasper Conran, but don't hold that against him. His Moroccan riad is a cathedral to good taste, a converted 19th-century palace containing five suites of four-posters swathed in a total of nearly a mile of white voile, set around a quadrangle of orange trees and a pretty tiled fountain.

The place radiates the sort of 1930s decadence once found in Tangiers, due in part to its private-house feel, but also the simple elegance, the pinks and greens, the oil paintings of maharajas, the period jazz emanating from a hidden radio.

A return to Marrakech and this fantastic and fantastical addition to the boutique hotel scene is high on our wanderlist for 2018.

Inspiration in the Catskills

I often say that I'm shameless about borrowing a good idea--and certainly this is true of drawing inspiration from the hospitality sector. What's inspiring me today is the work of one couple in the Catskills region of New York State who are singlehandedly transforming the lodging and restaurant scene there. Catskills native Sims Foster and his wife, Kirsten Harlow Foster, are using his hospitality smarts and an “I’ll do it” work ethic to breathe new life into the area by opening three inns: The Arnold House, which opened with a restaurant in 2014 atop a mountain just outside Livingston Manor; the Nine River Road, in a renovated old home overlooking the Delaware River in Callicoon; and the North Branch Country Inn, also with a restaurant, in North Branch, which was just named one of the “Best Bed and Breakfast Inns in America” by Time Out New York magazine. Next up is the DeBruce, set to open next month--and if it's even half as good as the beautiful trailer video produced by Bullrush Films https://vimeo.com/211406224 it should be terrific.