The Peninsula Chicago

In the middle of Chicago’s Magnificent Mile of department stores and designer boutiques is the Peninsula Hotel, only the third in America. The Peninsula’s brand of Hong Kong luxury has fared well in New York and LA, but in the heartland?

Any doubts are immediately laid to rest by the uniformed bellboys, spiriting guests’ bags to the lobby before the cab driver can lay a hand on them. Other staffers seem possessed of a psychic ability to remember every guest’s name at once, a delightful contrast to the typically American nod-and-smile.

The lobby is spacious and grand, located five floors up, above a retail concourse—another detail that’s more Far East than Midwest. Rooms are elegant as well, with flat-screen televisions, broadband internet, and messages thoughtfully delivered via a near-silent fax machine hidden in a desk drawer. Control panels by the bedside and in the bathroom allow complete control of the climate, the lighting, even the curtains.

Shanghai Terrace is one of Chicago’s top Chinese restaurants, and, true to its name, offers outdoor seating with a view of the Miracle Mile. The lobby lounge is an impressive space, lit by twenty-foot-high windows, and the bar, in contrast, is intimate and low-lit, with a roaring fireplace and a surprisingly hip crowd. Spa and fitness facilities are first-class, as is the location—neighbors include the Ritz-Carlton, the Water Tower, and the Drake.