Le Méridien Dallas, The Stoneleigh

This is the sort of thing America could do with a lot more of: the Le Méridien Dallas, The Stoneleigh is an Art Deco classic from the Roaring Twenties, thoroughly renovated in a contemporary-classic style and updated with all the bells and whistles you’d expect from a modern high-end hotel.

The location, in the Uptown district just north of downtown Dallas, is well-suited to this sort of thing: rather than some sterile financial district it’s a neighborhood that’s filled with shops, galleries, and restaurants. The spa is an attraction in its own right, not just some kind of afterthought — you’ll spy locals popping in for a massage and a post-spa lunch, for example. And it’s certainly no less a Dallas destination after dark: the restaurant, Bolla, is one of the city’s big names, and the lobby bar can be depended on to draw a crowd.

Unfortunately the far-ranging rooftop view is only for guests in the Penthouse. But the rest of us don’t exactly have it rough either — rooms and suites alike have oversized windows, flat-screen HDTVs, and black and white marble bathrooms stocked with bath products by Baronessa Cali Oliva, which more or less sums up the Stoneleigh’s indulgent approach.