Recently in Luxury Collection Category

The Phillips Collection doesn't arrange their artworks by date, type, nationality, or artist. Instead, they simply arrange and rearrange them based on the way different pieces work together visually in an effort to "reinforce conversation." Known as America's first museum of modern art, The Phillips Collection opened to the public in 1921. Established as a memorial to his father and brother, Duncan Phillips founded the museum with his mother Marjorie. Over 3,000 modern and impressionist works by the likes of Degas, Cezanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso, and Klee comprise the impressive trove, but the museum's piece de resistance is undoubtedly Renoir's "Luncheon of the Boating Party," which Phillips purchased in 1923. Two other highlights include the Rothko Room and The Migration Series, a sequence of sixty paintings by Jacob Lawrence that depicts the movement of African Americans from the South to the North between the two world wars.

Guests of The Fairfax at Embassy Row, an exquisitely elegant hotel in the lively Dupont Circle neighborhood, are especially well suited for a visit to the Phillips Collection. It's about a one minute walk away! Try to plan your visit for the first Thursday of the month when the museum hosts "Phillips after 5." Live jazz, gallery talks, a cash bar, and loads of art combine to create one lively cultural bash. There's also a Sunday concert series featuring classical chamber music, and a new "Leading European Composers" series, which highlights the work of current composers from Europe.

[image by Robert Lautman, courtesy of The Phillips Collection]

Cape Town is not only one of the world's most beautiful cities, it's also one of the most diverse, with a melting pot of cultures that can make any visit feel like an around-the-world tour. The city's diversity is the theme of the 2010 Cape Town Festival, which brings together popular African artists and entertainers from across the globe to celebrate the idea that the cultural whole is so much more than the sum of its parts. The festival will be held in the Company's Gardens on Queen Victoria Road in the city center from March 19 - 22, 2010, with dozens of dancers and musicians supporting the "One City, Many Cultures" campaign, including popular African artists such as Angolan R&B singer Anselmo Ralph and 2face Idibia, a Nigerian hip hop musician and songwriter whose award-winning hit song "African Queen" captivated the continent in 2005. In addition to the music, there will be hundreds of vendors selling Cape Town cuisine ranging from Kenyan cassava bread and Ethiopian chickpea bites to Indian samosas and Thai noodle dishes. So grab a bite to eat and maybe a bottle of delicious South African wine and experience the amazing diversity that is Cape Town. Starwood has two Cape Town properties, the Westin Grand Cape Town Arabella Quays and the Arabella Western Cape Hotel & Spa, a member of Starwood's Luxury Collection.

[image via Cape Town Festival]

In the first half of the twentieth century, the German-American composer Kurt Weill created a string of compositions for the stage and concert hall that took the music world by storm. From his 1923 String Quartet op. 8, a masterpiece of chamber music, to The Threepenny Opera, which he created with German dramatist Bertolt Brecht, Weill had a gift for pleasing fans of popular and classical music alike. From February 26 to March 3, the beautiful Bauhaus Buildings of Weill's hometown of Dessau, Germany will provide a stunning backdrop for the Kurt Weill Festival 2010, a mix of dance, drama, and music that pays tribute to city's most famous son. Venues throughout this striking city host creative events of all kinds, ranging from a guided tour in the City Museum entitled "A City Under Reconstruction" to a performance of jazz in the foyer of the Anhaltisches Theater Dessau by the Thilo Wolf Quartet. But the most highly-anticipated event is a performance of one of Kurt Weill's rarely heard works, "One Touch of Venus." This comical musical involves a shy barber who brings a statue to life by placing a ring on her finger, leading him into a life of confusion and criminality. It's a great way to experience the work of one of the century's most important composers. Dessau is a short drive from the Westin Leipzig and the Hotel Fuerstenhof, Leipzig, a member of Starwood's Luxury Collection.

[image via Kurt Weill Festival 2010]

Infused with romance and mystery, decadence and revelry, The Venice Carnival has been luring masked merrymakers to the canal-crossed city for centuries. This year's event takes place through February 16, and with a theme like "Sensation: 6 senses for 6 districts," it's sure to be a magnificent spectacle of food, drink, music, dancing, and fabulous costumes.

Begin your grand Carnival experience with hot chocolate and sweets in the Hotel Danieli's elegant lounge, then cap off the evening with dinner and minuet dancing beneath the Murano glass chandeliers of the hotel's lavish ballroom. "Le Rois Dansent" is an opulent party modeled after one of Louis XIV's own extravagant affairs, while "Casanova's Ball" promises an evening of glittering seduction in candlelit gardens and palace ballrooms. Concerts, cocktail parties, historic parades, festivals of period costume, gondola tours, and dozens of costume balls round out the Venice Carnival's rich program. You'll be swirling with delight from morning's Baroque brunches, through the day's dizzying array of activities, until you collapse upon your regal bed at the marvelous Hotel Danieli, a 14th century palazzo outfitted for a legendary noble like the Sun King himself. Just remember to pack a costume and mask to match the extravagance of it all, or contact the hotel for advice on where to rent them. Venice Carnival is one of the world's oldest and most beloved traditions. Ever been? Share your stories.