The Everyday Bon Vivant: Pink Hotels for You and Me

Three things I love: pink, the Roaring Twenties, and vacation. Combine these three and you get the Beverly Hills Hotel, the Boca Raton Resort, the Chesterfield, the Don CeSar, the Royal Hawaiian, or the Vinoy Resort. Although pink palaces of Mediterranean design were extremely fashionable in the 1920s—Chicago even had its own—these are no shabby remnants from the past. All of the hotels above have undergone millions of dollars in restoration; they still retain a Gatsbyesque grandeur, but they are now equipped with modern, world-class amenities.

My husband and I are in the process of planning a romantic getaway, and I've been imagining ourselves pool-side in a tropical setting with a pink grande dame to call home for a week. Aren't these photos fabulous?! Doesn't take long to get the fantasizing started.

Lilly Pink: The Chesterfield, Palm Beach, Florida
Pack your Lilly Pulitzer, and indulge yourself at this Palm Beach landmark, which is only a couple blocks from your new best friend, Worth Avenue. The hotel's retro-chic Leopard Lounge is the cocktail hour hangout of the elite. Show your spots by ordering the $300 Millionaire's Martini. The hotel was built in 1926.

Frothy Pink: Boca Raton Resort and Club, Boca Raton, Florida
Sea foam green water, frothy pink hotel, activities galore. Can I live here? Yes, as a matter of fact. This super-sized hotel also features condominiums, a yacht club, a country club, and two conference halls. Good times since 1926.

Flamingo Pink: Don CeSar Beach Resort and Spa, St. Pete Beach, Florida

The pinkest of the hotels and every bit as elegant as the architects originally intended in 1928. During a stay with Zelda, F. Scott Fitzgerald called it "the hotel in an island wilderness." Pets are welcome and treated like VIPs: gourmet room service, pet-sitting services, maps of dog-walking routes. Oh, and get this: in-room massages by a certified canine massage therapist!

Salmon Pink: Vinoy Resaissance Resort and Golf Club, St. Petersburg, Florida
Vintage luxury—the only four-diamond resort on Florida's west coast. MVPs come here for the tennis, golf, croquet, two swimming pools connected by a waterfall, and sunset champagne cruises. The Vinoy was built in 1925 and is adjacent to Vinoy Park, one of the top ten parks in Florida.

Coral Pink: The Royal Hawaiian, Honolulu, Hawaii

This is where the Hawaiian honeymoon was invented, along with the Mai Tai. Waikiki Beach, luaus, catch of the day direct from the source, and a spa situated within a tropical garden—a pink paradise. This hotel was built in 1927.

Power Pink: The Beverly Hills Hotel and Bungalows, Beverly Hills, California

Timeless glamour. Host to the well-to-do and the well-known since 1912, and a classic spot for Hollywood soirees. The Polo Lounge is the place to come for "power breakfasts," "power lunches," and the opportunity to see and be seen. For pool-side reading, get your hands on The Pink Palace Revisited: Behind Closed Doors at the Beverly Hills Hotel by Sandra Lee Stuart and John Prince.