Fit for a Queen: Eight Luxe Hotels Where Every Woman Reigns

From left to right: Lt. Commander, Kelly Sbrocchi, Miss MI USA 2002 Rebekah Decker-Skivner, Miss MI USA 2025 Michele Lewandoski, Miss MI Teen USA Eliy Simmer, Besté Travel Design founder Meghann Bjarnesen, Miss MI USA 2004 Stacey Lee Spratt.

This weekend, I helped crown the new Miss Michigan USA and Miss Michigan Teen USA. I woke up on Monday with rhinestones in my carry-on and “queen energy” still buzzing in my bones. You don’t sit through hours of interviews and evening gowns without noticing what actually crowns a woman: poise, purpose, and the kind of confidence that walks into a room and quietly resets the temperature. Equally impressive were my fellow judges, from Rebekah Decker-Skivner, who used her Miss MI USA crown to launch her automotive career, to Stacey Lee Spratt, who parlayed her Miss MI USA crown into serial entrepreneurialism and philanthropic efforts. Finally, Lt. Commander Kelly Sbrocchi has never won a crown and brings queen energy to all her endeavors, from her career in the Navy to her social media platform and her podcast highlighting women who “do both.” You can learn a lot from people in a short 48 hours and I’m still counting my lessons from this weekend.

Watching those young women claim their space reminded me of my favorite kind of hotel, places that don’t just pamper you, but feel built in your favor. The best of them are thrones you can slip into for a night or three, with rituals that celebrate sisterhood, wellness that restores you from soul to skin, and a dash of lore that whispers, you belong here.

In that spirit, here’s my curated list of queen-worthy luxury stays across the globe—anchored by one in the U.S., one in Europe, and three more spread across the world, plus a few bonus “honorable mentions” if you’re building a royal road map. Think palatial spas and suffrage-inspired teas, imperial villas and rainforest sanctuaries. Save your tiara for dinner; the service will take care of the rest.

USA — The Hermitage Hotel, Nashville

History that changed the world, poured with champagne.

A Beaux-Arts grande dame with a knack for making headlines, The Hermitage isn’t just another pretty lobby—it’s a chapter of American civics you can check into. During the climactic summer of 1920, pro- and anti-suffrage forces set up headquarters here, turning its gilded halls into the final battleground for the 19th Amendment. Today, the hotel honors that legacy each August with Yellow Rose Tea, a glittering afternoon ritual with a pianist playing 1920s standards, a commemorative menu, a glass of bubbly, and a yellow rose for your lapel, an ode to the women who wore the color as a quiet vote for progress. It’s equal parts sugar, sparkle, and spine. 

Settle into a suite, then drift downstairs to Drusie & Darr, where Jean-Georges Vongerichten has brought his global polish to the American South. Envision plates that feel celebratory without trying too hard, the kind of dinner that makes you keep your heels on a little longer. (There’s also The Pink Hermit for breezy, café-style indulgence.) If you’re traveling with girlfriends, book a late-afternoon tea followed by a languid, cosmopolitan dinner and a conspiratorial nightcap under the lobby’s chandeliers—the most stylish civics lesson you’ll ever sip. 

Insider move: time your visit for the suffrage anniversary festivities and line up portraits in the light-washed Veranda after tea. Those arched windows are basically Nashville’s softest filter.

Europe — Hôtel du Palais, Biarritz (France)

An empress’s summer villa turned seaside showstopper.

On the Côte Basque, the Atlantic flexes in shades of steel and sapphire, and the Hôtel du Palais holds court above the breakers with imperial nonchalance. Built as a summer retreat for Empress Eugénie in the mid-19th century, the mansion that begat Biarritz’s fashionable era is now a Hyatt “Unbound Collection” icon, part historic fantasy, part beach club with a crown. Walk the grounds and you can almost hear the rustle of silk skirts on marble; take your coffee on the terrace and watch the pool mirror the evening’s first stars. 

For a girls’ escape with gravitas, book sea-view rooms, then spend your days toggling between the saltwater pool and long lunches that stretch lazily into golden hour. The romance here is unapologetically feminine: pastel salons, chandeliers that flirt with the afternoon light, and a confidence that comes from knowing your hotel predates most of the couture houses represented in your suitcase. If your inner history buff needs a fix, ask staff to point out period details salvaged from the villa’s imperial days, proof that elegance, properly tended, ages into legend. Bonus: This property is part of the Hyatt Privé program, which means your Bestés have access to all the perks.

India — The Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai

Royal welcome, high tea, and a ritual of care designed just for women.

With 15 trips to India under my belt, I’m no stranger to the Taj brand, and the flagship Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai holds a special place in my heart. Inside, the tone softens: hand-carved balustrades, art-lined corridors, and the city filigreed through arched windows. Check in under the banner of Queen’s Woyage (play on letters intended), Taj’s women-focused program that packages a royal welcome, daily 60-minute spa therapies, daily high tea, a palace heritage walk, curated local experiences, “She Surprise” amenities, and savings on in-room dining, laundry, spa, and salon, all designed to fold self-care into every day of your stay. 

My favorite rhythm here: a morning in the Jiva Spa (they’ll read your energy and tailor treatments with an Ayurvedic sensibility), a late lunch at the stately Sea Lounge, and a sunset amble along the harbor where ferries stitch the water like fastidious seamstresses (an apt parallel in fashionable Mumbai). Then dress up for dinner. Hit Wasabi by Morimoto if you’re craving precision and play on the plate, and let the concierge finesse a nightcap with a view of that famous arch. It’s the kind of itinerary that leaves you both lit up and rested, which, as I learned watching pageant finalists handle rapid-fire interviews with grace, is a superpower unto itself.

Morocco — Royal Mansour, Marrakech

Every guest a queen; every treatment a poem.

If palatial privacy is the fantasy, Royal Mansour is the reality: an estate commissioned by the King of Morocco where each guest is housed in a private, multi-story riad with rooftop plunge pool, lantern-lit salons, and butlers who materialize like genies. But it’s the Spa at Royal Mansour that feels explicitly, exquisitely feminine; a white-lace atrium of carved metal and marble where the hammam becomes ceremony. Opt for a signature treatment that pairs a kessa scrub with Miel d’Ambre exfoliation, then a soothing orange-blossom soaping and masks infused with saffron from Taliouine or rose and argan from Kalaat M’Gouna. You emerge lighter, like someone pressed “refresh” on your cells. 

Between sessions, order mint tea and sink into the hush of the spa’s garden lounges, or add on sound therapy and watsu for a retreat that unknots modern life in a decidedly Moroccan vocabulary. Vogue once called out this program for broadening wellness beyond Eurocentric clichés; I call it the most convincing argument for a long layover in North Africa.

Indonesia — COMO Shambhala Estate, Bali (Ubud)

A rainforest sanctuary that treats vitality like an art form.

Just outside Ubud, COMO Shambhala Estate fans into 22 acres of riverine forest and sacred spring, a hush of green where wellness isn’t a menu—it’s a way of being. Days here are tailored by in-house consultants who design multi-night programs to restore mind, body, and spirit; the palette includes yoga in open-air pavilions, hydrotherapy, nutrient-dense cuisine, and cutting-edge touches like oxygen therapy and microbiome-supportive protocols. It’s rigorous in the kindest way, asking you to show up for yourself amid birdsong and banyans. 

Rooms and villas float above the Ayung River, all crisp linens and teak, with private pools that catch morning light like a secret. Book a “glow” lunch between sessions, wander the jungle paths at twilight, and remember how good it feels to inhabit your body when it’s been treated as royalty. If your girlfriends’ group chat has been begging for a reset, this is your place: arrive frazzled, depart luminous.

A Judge’s Interlude: What Crowns a Queen

Back in Michigan, judging meant meeting the kind of women who remind you why these trips matter. In interview rooms we saw composure tested and convictions articulated; on stage, talent and athleticism shared the spotlight with sequins. The winners weren’t just camera-ready; they were mission-ready. They were students, entrepreneurs, and volunteers with calendars fuller than their lash lines. That’s the connective tissue between pageant and place: the best hotels don’t just swaddle you in luxury; they reinforce your sense of self. They make space for your rituals (tea with a friend, a solo spa afternoon, an unhurried writing hour) and add a few of their own, until you’re a little taller, a little clearer, more yourself than when you arrived.

How to Experience Them Like a Queen

Pair ritual with story. In Nashville, book the Yellow Rose Tea and read a short history of the 19th Amendment over macarons; in Biarritz, order oysters on the terrace and toast Empress Eugénie for normalizing the seaside summer. 

Lean into women-centric programming. At the Taj, the Queen’s Woyage inclusions are your roadmap to daily restoration: spa, tea, heritage walk, surprise, repeat. In Marrakech, schedule the hammam early in your stay; it resets your nervous system and your itinerary.

Make wellness the main character. In Bali, book a structured multi-night plan with oxygen therapy and nutrition consults so the benefits follow you home, long after your tan fades.

Bring your court. These hotels are superb for solo time, and even better as a “queens’ weekend.” Pack coordinated silk pajamas for tea, one serious dress for that just-because cocktail, and comfortable shoes for palace tours, souk strolls, and jungle walks.

The Final Bow

Judging Miss Michigan USA and Miss Michigan Teen USA felt like handing a scepter to the next wave. These women are ready to serve, to lead, to stand beautifully and speak boldly. These hotels deliver the same energy: they center you. They insist on your comfort and your joy. And they quietly nudge you to remember the women who got you here, from suffragists with yellow roses in their buttonholes to empresses who turned salt air into a season.

So go ahead: choose your palace. Order the tea, the treatment, the tasting menu. Sleep like someone who earned her crown (because you did). And when you go home, take that queen energy with you. The world will rise to meet it.

Special note: You never pay a planning fee for hotel-only bookings with Besté Travel Design. Simply email us your dates and hotel choice at info@bestetravel.com and we’ll get to work on your booking!