Bathroom tile: Hip or dated? What about kitchen tile or tiled floors? Are they the perfect home decor piece for your summer refresh, or will tiled floors simply propel your home into the '70s. Our take: Tiling can be one of the most rewarding and artistic home decor projects. However, having a vision is absolutely essential to ensure your new statement tile fits with your overall home aesthetic and incorporates artistry, the likes of which you might find in a five-star hotel. To help inform and inspire your next tile project—be it tiled floors or a brand-new marble-tiled bathtub—here is some of our favorite hotel tilework:
The Inn at Five Graces, Santa Fe
A phenomenally colorful property, Sante Fe’s The Inn at Five Graces—an American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts property—has particularly stunning tilework in their bathrooms. The New Mexico property features colorful hand-laid mosaics in their bathrooms; Many of the tubs are done in off-white, asymmetric tiling, contrasted with green, rectangular tile trim. The designs feel Moroccan-esque, with colorful vases and florals tiled into the bathroom walls. As you’re charting out your next decor project, consider taking inspiration from these deliberately mismatched, asymmetric tiles, especially if your base tile color is going to be a white or cream. One of the best ways to add artistry and dimension to white tiling, as seen at The Inn at Five Graces, is by incorporating bold-colored trim.
Empathy Suite, Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas
The Empathy Suite at Palms Casino Resort, which opened in March 2019 following a $690 million renovation, features Damien Hirst’s original tiling along the floor of the suite’s outdoor pool. The infinity-edge pool features butterfly mosaic tiling on the pool floor that feels bright and playful with each strategically colored and placed butterfly. What Hirst teaches us with his Empathy Suite tilework is that there is absolutely room for whimsy and unexpected, non-traditional decor colors. A new pool is a perfect place to incorporate tilework, and if you’re playing to your childrens’ interest, that’s not incompatible with artistic flair.
Santa Clara 1728, Lisbon
We couldn’t offer tile inspiration and not make reference to the iconic tilework of Lisbon. Santa Clara 1728 is an 18th-century palace-turned-hotel in Lisbon’s Alfama neighborhood. As the palace was lovingly restored, hand-cut tiles were incorporated throughout the hotel design. Perhaps our favorite tile use is the dynamic beige-colored tiling the bathtub and bathroom sinks are made of. A crucial design lesson this bathroom tilework brings to light: muted tilework and exposed wood play very well together.
Longitude 131, Queensland, Australia
Longitude 131 is a luxurious retreat in the Australian outback that proves high-end art and mosaic tiling work just as well in the wilderness as they do lining the pool floor. Dune Pavilion at Longitude 131° has a bar featuring a desert spinifex, made up by more than 500 tiles—each hand painted. In terms of incorporating this methodology into your home design, the first lesson is: don’t underestimate the value of hand-painted tiling. Next, strategically incorporating tile into the bar area can refresh and bring vibrancy into a tired space without necessitating an entire kitchen or den overhaul.
Faena Hotel Miami Beach, Miami
Another Damien Hirst tiling masterpiece and American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts property, the Faena Hotel Miami Beach has a stunning gold-covered mosaic on the pool deck. The piece, called Gone But Not Forgotten depicts a mammoth skeleton. Faena Hotel Miami Beach also features exceptional tile work at their Tierra Santa Healing House. The spa “features one of the largest Hammams available on the East Coast,” much of which is decked out in marble tiling. The relaxing interior walls are tiled in classic muted white and gray marble, which allows for a pop of color in the center of the Hammam. Let the tilework at Faena Hotel inspire you to play with marble for a more Mediterranean bathroom feel. You can also add splashes of bold colors (think: green, dark gray, or blue accents) to provide an effective contrast to the marble.
Jade Mountain, St. Lucia
The suites at American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts property Jade Mountain in St. Lucia each come with a private infinity pool, so right off the bat, we all have a lot to learn from this property. Each pool is tiled with glass, and the tilework continues into the villas' luxurious bathrooms. The tiles “feature a sophisticated, textured iridescent surface on one side and a smooth but undulating surface on the other,” the hotel's website reads. The result is “reflective and prismatic,” creating stunning space and dimension in the pool and tiled bathroom. There’s a lot to be inspired by here, but our biggest takeaways are to consider retiling the bathroom and pool at the same time in order to orchestrate a cohesive design theme across both projects.
The Drisco, Tel Aviv
If you’re looking for Mediterranean tilework inspo, the hotels of Tel Aviv are here to provide. The Drisco, with interiors by Ari Shaltiel, utilizes marble tiling and splashes of color (mostly blues inspired by the Mediterranean) in the bathroom, mirroring the airiness of the white, dark blue, and light gray bedroom decor. What we love about this tilework is that it brings the beauty of Old City Jaffa and the Mediterranean inside. For those who favor a cool color palette and want tile work that will enhance that vision, use The Drisco as your inspiration board.
Royal Mansour, Marrakech
The tilework throughout the American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts property Royal Mansour isn't just unparalleled in Marrakech, but really across the world. Over 1,500 artisans spent five years laying hand-cut tiles by hand throughout the 53 riad hotel—and none two rooms are the same. From their all-white tiled spa to the colorful lobby, this hotel is an inspiration for any decorating project you have on your list.
