Sleep with the Stars

With a private beach, swim-up island and shoreside cottages, the GoldenEye Hotel and Resort is a celebrity hideout on Jamaica’s North Coast. But before it became a getaway for the stars — Johnny Depp and Naomi Campbell have sunned themselves here — the 21-room property was owned by Ian Fleming, who wrote all 14 James Bond novels while living there. Years later, the resort’s current owner, Chris Blackwell, was hired as the location scout for the first James Bond Film, Dr. No. Today, get your action fix at the eponymous James Bond Beach just down the road from the hotel.

Between the slots, the shopping and the shows, it can be easy to overlook Las Vegas’ equally impressive dining scene. But that’s hardly the case at The Venetian, where celebrity chefs reign supreme: Thomas Keller, Emeril Lagasse and Wolfgang Puck all have outposts dotted along the hotel’s Venetian-inspired canals. The hotel’s pulsing 12,000-square-foot nightclub, TAO, also plays host to its own star-studded roster of VIP events, celebrity birthday parties, and A-list performances (Kaskade, Ice Cube, and Bruno Mars all played last year).

If its TriBeCa address weren’t suffient star power, the Tribeca Grand ups the Oscar-worthy ante with its own 100-seat basement movie theater, used for Tribeca Film Festival showings as well as celebrities’ own private screenings (Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke have been known to host on occasion). The hotel, which New York Magazine deemed “Hollywood on the Hudson,” is also known for the inevitable celeb-spotting scene at Church Lounge, the intimate bar with a private space reserved just for A-listers.

While the Beverly Hills Hotel has been an Old Hollywood mainstay in L.A. for a century now, the Ritz London has played host to its own share of celebrity history across the pond. Keynote guests included Judy Garland and Winston Churchill, and as legend has it, Charlie Chaplin once required 40 policemen to ward off his crazed fans inside the hotel circa 1921. The Ritz has appeared in more recent cinematic parlance as well — it served as a prominent backdrop in 1999 cult classic, Notting Hill. Plus, in true A-list fashion, the hotel’s basement casino, The Ritz Club requires a membership and hefty fee before partaking in their high-stakes games.

The list’s style stealer award goes to Viceroy Palm Springs, a Hollywood Regency-styled glamazon in the heart of Palm Springs, the palm-lined desert oasis once frequented by the Rat Pack and loved today by L.A.’s fashion forward folk. The black, white and yellow-hued Old Hollywood decor is the handiwork of celebrity designer Kelly Wearstler, who is responsible for the interior design in a number of the Viceroy properties. And if the quirky-chic interiors weren’t enough eye candy, the resort’s pool, al fresco restaurant and patio bar all offer sweeping views of the breathtaking San Jacinto Mountains and palm trees beyond.

The Inn at Perry Cabin in Saint Michaels, Maryland has played host to hundreds of weddings, but there’s one in particular that remains, well, infamous. The reception scene of the 2005 film, Wedding Crashers, starring Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson and Isla Fisher, was filmed on the Perry Cabin grounds. And since the Inn dates back to the early 19th century, its storied history even includes location credits in the 1928 silent film, the First Kiss. Today, celebrities from Nicholas Cage to Jane Seymour have been known to frequent the idyllic Chesapeake stay for its chic décor, waterfront views and sumptuous spa.

On Sunset Boulevard between the Comedy Store and the House of Blues, the Andaz West Hollywood has the most quintessential LA views in town. From the rolling Hollywood Hills to the North to the glittering City of Angels below, the soaring sights from the Andaz’s pool deck, lounge and 239 guestrooms are unrivaled. Plus, the hotel’s Sunset Strip locale places it at the heart of the action, just steps away from all the star-studded sleeps, eats and watering holes of West Hollywood.

If you could capture Old Hollywood in a color palette, it’d be green and pink — the signature hues of the Beverly Hills Hotel. The hotel served as the set of Gregory Peck and Lauren Bacall films, Howard Hughes was a resident for 30-some years and Marlene Dietrich, Rita Hayworth, Marilyn Monroe have all been photographed against the hotel’s preppy stripes and palm fronds. Fresh off its hundredth year, the iconic hotel is still a celebrity-studded affair and regular host of VIP charity events, weddings, as well as A-list dinners at the perpetually packed Polo Lounge.