Hotels Decked Out in Greenery, Pantone’s Color of the Year

Though it’s affectionately known as The Pink Palace, The Beverly Hills Hotel plays host to the famous Martinique Beverly Hills Wallpaper, a fixture as famous as the hotel it inhabits. The distinctive Martinique design has been described as the world’s most famous wallpaper, and it was crafted especially for Beverly Hills Hotel in 1942 by decorator Don Loper. Decades later, imitators abound but the original remains proudly in place at the corner of Rodeo Drive and Sunset Boulevard.

Through landscaping and interior design, hotels have long incorporated greenery with beautiful results. At Conrad Pezula the verdant palette is couched in nature, giving the resort a spectacular, earthy appearance from the outside. The resort sits on South Africa’s “Garden Route,” a 300-kilometer stretch of coast known for its verdant and ecologically-varied plant life. On one side, the peaks of the Outeniqua and Tsitsikamma Mountains provide a towering backdrop, and on the other, the glistening Indian Ocean.

Over at Cameron Highlands Resort in Malaysia, little has changed since its construction as a retreat for colonials and expats in the early 20th century. The resort is perched high above sea level in a forested mountainscape, offering a small corner of England in Asia. Greenery can be found everywhere on this picturesque plateau, with the hills forming the perfect backdrop for rounds of golf, rambles through jungle trails, or exploring the many local farms and gardens. No trip to the highlands is complete without a tea plantation visit, with guests able to savor a brew while also drinking in the fabulous views over the hills.

1 Hotel South Beach takes the concept of greenery to unique heights with the presence of an 11,000-plant living green wall on the property. This wall is just one aspect of the hotel’s beautiful renovation, which has imbued the storied location with a look and feel that’s authentically green. In the lobby, the ceilings have been hewn from wood reclaimed from water towers in Alaska. Furniture dotted throughout the guest accommodations was crafted with fallen trees from South African rainforests, while the hallways have been accented with wood from trees felled by mountain pine beetles.

As diverse as the city it inhabits, 25hours Hotel Bikini Berlin sports a unique “urban jungle” aesthetic overlooking Berlin’s world famous zoo. Foliage is creatively scattered around the interior of the hotel, with planters used instead of walls to partition common areas, and plants hanging from the ceilings in most common areas. On one side of the hotel, Urban Rooms eschew the greenery of the common areas, offering instead muted colors, industrial-style steel headboards and views over the city. On the other side, the jungle rooms trade in a beautiful green palette, with plenty of planted decoration and views over the park and zoo below.

Nestled deep within the Peruvian Amazon, Inkaterra Reserve Amazonica’s accommodations consist of 35 thatched-roof cabanas filled with hammocks, lanterns, organic products and greenery. Nature is at the heart of the offering here, and over 540 bird species have been inventoried on hotel grounds. Guides are available to take guests into the rainforest or nearby nature reserve, while the riverfront ENA Spa pampers using treatments consisting of indigenous plants