Bobby and Brooke Mikulas travelled the world for a year. When they came home to Colorado Springs, they dreamt of opening the sort of sociable hotel they had loved while on the road. They poured everything into making it a reality, and Kinship Landing was due to open in December 2020. We all know what happened next.
When the hotel finally opened in March 2021, the Mikulases gambled that their superb location, at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, would stand them in good stead. The gamble is paying off. Locals gather in their plant-filled lobby-cum-bar, Homa, to co-work by day or catch a live show by night. Couples from across the country celebrate anniversaries in their suites, cosying up around the fireplace, and families take over the Camp Deck, before setting off to hike up Pikes Peak.
Kinship Landing is one of the many hotels in the United States that have opened in the past couple of years. An estimated 900 launched in 2020 (down from 1,017 in 2019), and even more followed this year. And of course now we don’t just have to fantasise about future trips and bucket-list adventures, but can actually get on a flight and go.
Perhaps you have dreamt about an escape to New Orleans, to enjoy the balmy winter nights of the Big Easy, to listen to the endless song of the French Quarter and eat baskets of beignets – while staying in the boutique Chloe hotel.
Or maybe it’s a Christmas break to New York City, to go shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue with its iconic holiday window display, ice skating in Central Park and then devouring a T-bone at Keens. At the Rockefeller Center, the 79ft Christmas tree has already been hoisted up and is awaiting its adornments. And this year, Times Square will again welcome people in their thousands for the famed New Year’s Eve Ball Drop.
Wherever it is and whatever it is you have been hankering after from the United States of America, they are ready for you.
For digital nomads… Ace Brooklyn, New York City
The Ace helped establish the digital nomad culture, with its alluring communal spaces made for globetrotting creative freelancers fuelled on craft coffee, fancy cocktails and an on-point soundtrack. The winning formula remains in place at the latest Ace in Brooklyn, but the edges have been refined. Laptops are put away after hours at the trademark lobby table, and the design palette is woody and calming. Collaborations with local artists abound, from the lobby gallery to the bespoke artwork in each room. The restaurant, As You Are, is, predictably, already a destination in itself.
How to do it: Doubles from £335 (001 718 313 3636; acehotel.com).
