“A truly seductive bedroom should engage all your senses,” say James and Tamara Lohan, founders of the Mr & Mrs Smith hotel brand. “The feel of the linens on the bed, the softness of the light, even the scent of the room should all enhance your experience.”
For most of us, romance can be in short supply in our daily lives. Between work pressures, the school run and the ever-alluring glow of our phones, one-on-one time with our partners is often hard to find.
Buying “The World’s Sexiest Bedrooms,” a handsome new hardcover book published by Mr & Mrs Smith to mark its 15th anniversary, might not do much to change that, but it’s sure to inspire plenty of lustful leaf-turning.
Featuring 35 enticing suites from around the world – “all wildly romantic in different ways,” the Lohans tell CNN Travel – the book transports you from country hideaway to tented safari lodge to naughty urban retreat.
There’s Cliveden House in Berkshire, England, an aristocratic pile with tennis courts and helipad, and a swimming pool where in 1961 the politician John Profumo met 19-year-old Christine Keeler and embarked on an affair that would scandalize Britain.
And at the five-star Soneva Jani resort in the Maldives, bedroom games are taken to the next level with the addition of a giant water slide, which will take you straight from the deck of your suite to the waves below.
“You can watch exotic sea life swim beneath you as you cosy up in a hammock; roofs retract at nighttime to let guests fall asleep under the stars,” say the Lohans of Soneva Jani. “This overwater resort feels as close to paradise as you can get.”
For seduction in the city, try gothic elegance at The Franklin in London’s Knightsbridge, designed by Anouska Hempel, an actor, hotelier and former Bond girl (“On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”).
The Presidential Suite comes with a giant four-poster bed with mirrored headboard, in which to conduct your affairs of state.
In Hong Kong, The Upper House’s Studio 70 Harbour View offers sumptuous sights of Victoria Harbour and the green hills beyond, although users of the limestone-clad bathtub are warned to “please remember the view may be a two-way one.”
The Lohans “love a hotel room with an incredible view, a scene that really takes your breath away, like the panorama in the suite overlooking Tuscany’s beautiful Val d’Orcia at rustic retreat Monteverdi. From here, you can spy rolling, cypress-dotted hills from the bath tub.”
And while the Lohans “find it incredibly hard to play favorites,” the Coqui Coqui Mérida Residence & Spa in Yucatán, Mexico, “really does tick all the boxes.” A hotel so boutique it only only has one suite, guests here have the whole place to themselves.
“It’s beautiful too, with his-and-hers claw-foot bathtubs and an ornate four-poster bed, and outside there’s a private pool and suntrap terrace.
“The hotel’s famous perfumería, on the ground floor, fills the whole place with the scent of orange blossom.”
“The World’s Sexiest Bedrooms” is photographed by Polly Brown and written by Mr and Mrs Smith contributing editor Sarah Jappy. It is published by Thames & Hudson and retails for $40.
Answers have been edited for length.