The Best Design Gifts Come From the Hotel Lobby Store

I am writing this from my apartment, but I wish I was writing it from a luxury hotel—ideally a suite, but I’d settle for a couch in the lobby if we’re being honest. Hotels are everything I want home to be like, from the artfully-appointed curios lining the bookshelves to the noticeable absence of a pile of laundry I can’t bring myself to actually do. It makes being somewhere new feel like being somewhere new, in a good way. It’s crisp sheets, a chance to try shampoos with new and unusual scents, and watching hours of Shark Tank reruns on a giant wall-mounted TV instead of sleeping or exploring—sign me up!

But since I am not Eloise, living full-time at the Plaza, much of my engagement with hotels involves poring over detailed TripAdvisor reviews and, lately, ordering things from online gift-shops. From household goods to art to beauty products, hotels around the world are selling things that will make people coming over to your house think you are exceptionally well-traveled—and you don’t even have to go outside to get them.

The Mark, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, is a hotel whose vibe is old-school luxury with a soupçon of modern whimsy—I would channel that energy by using this bone china mug to microwave leftover drip coffee.

Bon vivants of the 1920s might have used this ashtray as an actual ashtray over cocktails at the Ritz’s iconic Hemingway Bar, but I think you should use it to keep track of loose change.

A chic little monogrammed towel from La Mamounia, the luxe Morocco resort you might have seen on Netflix.

Shinola isn’t so much a hotel as it is a lifestyle brand: they have a hotel, of course, but they also make covetable watches and clocks. This one, in sunny yellow and cheery sky blue, softens the blow of having to actually care about what time it is first thing in the morning.

I could talk about the Positano hotel Le Sirenuse for hours, despite the fact that I’ve never even been to the Amalfi coast. The designer Luke Edward Hall is similarly smitten, and his collection of dishware captures the breezy elegance of dining on one of the hotel’s famous terraces (or so I imagine).

Living as we are, in a historical moment when no one leaves the house without hand sanitizer, why not indulge in a spray version from a surfer’s paradise in Malibu?

Anyone who is anyone has stayed at Claridge’s: Queen Victoria, Katherine Hepburn, literally all five Spice Girls. For spring and summer dining, I love this pale pink and cream tablecloth, which will look great piled high with scones on Instagram and still pretty good covered in crumbs from said scones!

What if you could spend the night at MoMa? That’s the question posed by the 21c Museum hotels, which pair cool, modern rooms in southern and midwestern cities like Louisville and Durham with a contemporary art collection you can get up-close and personal with. Each hotel has different pieces, but one constant is a set of life-size penguins rendered in rainbow hues—this miniature version, in purple, is a quirky souvenir worth saving suitcase space for.

The Chateau Marmont has towered over Sunset Boulevard for decades, serving as a semi-secret clubhouse for generations of celebrities and people (like me) who love to spot celebrities while eating overpriced blueberry muffins. The sweatshirt, cozy after a long day of lounging poolside, communicates that you love both gossip and 1920s Gothic Revival architecture.

From the East Village to the Maldives, The Standard is, well, the standard when it comes to glossy, minimalist hotels for people who stay up past midnight. This bottle opener—it goes in your wallet, like a credit card!—brings a little bit of ‘we’re on vacation’ fun to ‘‘opening a mineral water at home on a Thursday.’’

I love a hotel with a signature spa treatment, which is why I’m desperate to go to Hershey, PA’s Hotel Hershey, where one option is to have your entire body wrapped in chocolate fondue and then in a blanket to really let the chocolate (it also has mud in it) sink in. Until that dream comes true, this scrub from the gift shop is also pretty chocolate-y.

The Disneyland Hotel, just outside the Magic Kingdom in Anaheim, has long been a draw for people who love both Disney movies and midcentury design. Glassware, keychains, and matchbooks from the property are all over Etsy, but I’ve got my eye on this drinks tray, which I would use as a conversation piece at my "It’s A Small World"-themed dinner party.

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