Five SC hotels earn Triple Crown award from Conde Nast Traveler. Here’s why they’re great
Five South Carolina hotels have been named to the first Conde Nast Traveler’s Triple Crown list — The Dewberry Charleston, Zero George, Wentworth Mansion, The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island, and Montage Palmetto Bluff.
The triple crown is awarded to hotels that make the magazine’s annual Hot List (best new hotels), Gold List (editor favorites) and Readers’ Choice.
“That doesn’t happen easily,” the magazine said.
The list includes 397 hotels worldwide with 105 of them being in the United States and Canada.
The Dewberry on Meeting Street in Charleston is in what once was the L. Mendel Rivers Federal Building. The hotel was also named to the annual Travel + Leisure list of the best 500 hotels and received a key from the Michelin Guide.
“If I could move into any hotel in the world it would be into the Dewberry’s impeccable mid-century-inspired rooms.” said Erin Florio, global features director.
Allston McCrady said in a review, “By Charleston height standards, the eight-story Dewberry towers over Marion Square with 200 west-facing windows. Its cool, lime-washed facade gives way to a sleek, marble-slabbed lobby flanked by warm wooden walls and accented with mid-century modern furniture.”
It has an expansive sitting area called the Living Room and a fleet of Volvo house cars. Discerning travelers, hipsters, trendsetters, and connoisseurs who appreciate the hotel’s fleet of luxury Volvo house cars. Volvo has a plant in Charleston.
“The James Beard-nominated ground-floor brass bar serves the classiest Old-Fashioned in town, sporting a monogrammed “D” ice block,” McCrady said. “Living Room seats spill out onto an open terrace where brunch runs the gamut from fresh pastries to lobster benedict to caviar service, with wooden bowls handcrafted by a local artist from a white oak that stood nearby.”
The Citrus Club is a rooftop cocktail lounge with 360-degree views over the peninsula, The Spa offers Natura Bissé facials, hot river stone massages, detoxifying seaweed wraps, among other amenities.
Zero George, named after the hotel’s address in Charleston, includes restored circa 1804 buildings with a private courtyard, 21 guest rooms and suites in three historic residences and two brick carriage houses.
It’s located two blocks from Charleston Harbor in the Ansonborough neighborhood.
“Meander shady lanes on our complimentary bikes; indulge in our award-winning cuisine; walk to King Street or Waterfront Park; sauté away at our cooking school,” the hotel says on its website.
“It doesn’t get more Charlestonian than this,” McCrady said in the Conde Nast review.
The complex is the work of Dean Porter Andrews, who retired from developing Orient Express Hotels, and his wife, Lynn Easton, an event planner.
The couple opened Zero George in early 2013, one in a portfolio of vineyards, restaurants, and luxury lodgings, McCrady said.
“There’s a timelessness and breathability to it all,” McCrady said. “Zero George doesn’t clobber you over the head with history (no 19th-century portraits, chunky mahogany heirlooms, or oriental rugs). It lets the buildings speak for themselves, with tastefully neutral design elements that keep you comfortably in the 21st century.”
There is The Caviar Bar on the veranda, and The Restaurant at Zero George, which has Michelin Recommended status.
The cooking class is offered on Mondays, the only day they do not serve dinner.
“It’s riveting to watch a talented chef shimmy pans on the flat cooktop of a French stove, grab exotic garnishes from a shelf of jars and potions (like fennel powder crisped garlic, and truffle dust), and dance the tightrope between precision and intuition, all the while topping off glasses of Sancerre and bantering effortlessly with guests wherever the conversation leads,” McCrady said.
Wentworth Mansion in the Harleston neighborhood on the west side of Charleston peninsula was built in 1886 by Francis Silas Rodgers, a cotton broker, phosphate magnate and shipper.
There are 14-foot ceilings, Tiffany windows, hand-carved moulding, marble fireplaces, pocket doors, crystal chandeliers, and a rooftop cupola with sweeping views of the city, McCrady said.
The hotel has a carriage house restaurant.
“You’ll also find little snacks and drinks (pastries, iced tea, lemonade, afternoon wine and hors d’oeuvres) just off the ground-floor parlor throughout the day, plus bottles of sherry, port, and brandy beneath the staircase landing. Insider tip: take a glass of sherry up to the rooftop cupola at sunset, a popular spot for marriage proposals,” she said.
A spa is located in the former stables.
“Gilded Age grandeur without the confines of top hats and corsets,” McCrady said.
The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort is a classic hotel by the sea, McCrady said.
“The soaring central lobby frames views of the ocean beyond,” she said. “On each side, dual sweeping staircases fill your peripheral vision, curving past two-story murals painted by local artist Karen Larson Turner who captured Kiawah’s Lowcountry landscapes, shimmering with coastal light.”
The Sanctuary is the only hotel on Kiawah’s 10-mile stretch of beach.
“On the one hand, you’ve got state-of-the-art construction built in 2004 to withstand the occasional hurricane (thick walls, solid windows, no ambient noise),” McCrady said. “On the other hand, old-school design touches give the hotel warmth and softness: floral drapes, mahogany bed frames, and soft yellow hues.”
Her oceanfront room had a private balcony and featherbed.
The Ocean Room restaurant, she said, has possibly “the best steak you ever have.”
There is an alfresco brunch at the Jasmine Porch on Sundays.
The spa has a mineral pool, steam room, dry sauna, private rain showers and relaxation room.
There are five championship golf courses nearby.
A bit farther afield is the Montage Palmetto Bluff in Bluffton.
Corina Quinn said there are three villages there with Montage Palmetto Bluff in the heart of Wilson Village.
“The Montage’s grounds are made up of the Inn, which evokes the mansion sensibility with rooms like the library, and a covered porch for dining,” she said.
Added to that are a world-class spa and two pools.
“Bike paths and golf carts are how you get around; the property has an on-site bird conservatory, a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course, and works closely with the surrounding villages, as well as the Palmetto Bluff Conservancy, in maintaining the charm and protecting the wildlife and nature of the area,” she said.
She stayed in a cottage with pine floors, vaulted ceilings, a screened-in porch facing the river, marble bathrooms with freestanding tubs and a separate shower.
The cottage also had a fireplace and wet bar and local snacks.
There is the Octagon Porch and Bar restaurant that serves, what else, shrimp and grits and other southern inspired meals.
Also the River House bar’s mixologists make their own shrubs and banana liqueur, and fashioning creative cocktails from local ingredients. The River House also has lemonade and cookies at 3:30 p.m. on the screened-in porch. Nightly s’mores by the fire pits.
The Canoe Club offers fine dining and water views.
She especially liked the resort’s dogs “who are constantly roaming the grounds and happily accepting pets from guests large and small.”
There are two pools, daily activities for kids, biking, boating, kayaking, tubing, and paddleboarding.
“The spa is spacious and will set you right into vacation mode,” she said.