Scott Laird

Sometimes, when wandering through a city, the imaginative thinker might come upon an interesting building and stare up at the façade, thinking “Wouldn’t it be nice to have a room up there?” On Market Street in San Francisco, the building is the…

Seattle is a city that excels in several divergent mediums. It’s a world capital for jet airliner production and coffee roasting, and is well known for nurturing the grunge rock movement of the 1990s. The 1990s, in fact, were the “Seattle Decade” by…

San Francisco is one of the most distinctive cities in the world. As such, it’s a city that begs travelers to stay in hotels that drive its unique character right through the front doors and into guest spaces. Four Seasons has long championed a sense…

Travelers tend to split into two groups when the question of bed-and-breakfasts comes up: either they adore them and actively seek them out, or they dislike them and never consider them as options. I’d never before seen my dislike for B&Bs so…

One of the finest pleasures of traveling is discovering brand new hotels. That pleasure is compounded when the new hotel also happens to be newly constructed—conceived and built from lobby to penthouse with original intent for each space. Older…

As in any large city, the choice of hotels in Paris can be dizzying. With no less than 20 distinct arrondissements, or neighborhoods, each containing hotels in virtually all categories, it can be difficult to make a choice. Would a visitor prefer a…

Manhattan is one of the most hotel-saturated boroughs of any city in the United States. Book virtually any hotel and there will be several others within a block, often in a variety of categories and rates. While New York has its share of legendary…

When I attended the launch of the first Curio Collection property, The Highland Dallas, in 2015, I knew the brand had something going for it. Curio is a collection of independent hotels inspired by local neighborhoods, backed by the distribution and…

Canopy by Hilton, introduced in 2014, seems to have finally found its sea legs. After a delayed start while some legal issues were wrangled, Hilton is opening Canopy properties in North America at a respectable pace. Early examples in Washington D.C.…

The story of Seattle has always been the story of a city in flux. Construction cranes stretching across the horizon boldly proclaim that tomorrow's city will look different from today's, and there's much talk about whether the current ruling tech…

It can be difficult to update a classic. It can be even more difficult to update a classic that's viewed as the iconic seminal resort in an area that was virtually undeveloped a half-century ago. JW Marriott Miami Turnberry Resort & Spa is the latest…

In March of 1964, an earthquake struck Anchorage, Alaska, shaking the city and the surrounding region for four-and-a-half minutes. The quake registered 9.2 on the Richter scale, making it then, and to date, the largest earthquake ever recorded in…

Sandals Montego Bay, which finished a noteworthy refurbishment during the summer of 2018, has clearly got the logistics of the guest experience well-polished. Arriving guests are met at a dedicated airport lounge and whisked away to the resort, just…

Sometimes the most unassuming hotels in the most unassuming communities turn out to be sleeper hits. Dallas Marriott Las Colinas is such a hotel. Las Colinas is an Irving, Texas planned community that has seen development ups and downs over the past…

During the planning phase of the Hyatt Regency Los Angeles International Airport, the question that confronts all airport hotel operators inevitably came up: what can you do, as an airport hotel, to stand out? Admittedly, it's often a difficult…

Poipu Beach, on Kaua'i's sunny south shore, is a place quite unlike any other in Hawai'i. I've been intimately familiar with the place since I was a small child, and while there's been significant development over the years, I'm always amazed at the…

Fairmont is a fascinating hotel brand to examine; albeit one that's sometimes difficult to describe. Born of a tradition of Canadian railway hotels and U.S. landmark properties, the brand is a storied one that seems to snuggle comfortably into any…

It's difficult not to walk around the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa without wearing a smile. Animal lovers, in particular, will be enchanted by the veritable petting zoo that resides on-property. Exotic birds take up residence on perches in the…

In the family of hotel types, airport hotels tend to be the misunderstood relatives. Their origins, however, are rooted in some of the earliest instances of significant travel during the modern era. The coaching inns for travelers between carriages…

Amsterdam is a city of houses. The city center, which grew during the Dutch Golden Age of the 17th Century, is popular with visitors because it maintains the architectural character of the era. The unmistakably Dutch canal house designs, in a…