The Best Hotels in Detroit—and Why the City Belongs on Your Travel List

The Best Hotels in Detroit for Design Lovers, Foodies, and History BuffsA former resident and frequent Detroit visitor shares her favorite hotels in the city.Marriott InternationalWhen I first went to Detroit in 2013 to write a travel story, I quickly realized I couldn’t bear to be merely a chronicler of what I found there; my husband and I ended up buying a house in the city to renovate. When we shared our plans to Airbnb the place whenever we weren’t in Detroit, my Michigan mother-in-law gave me a look of gravest concern, laced with confusion: “Why would anyone vacation in Detroit?” she asked.That was then. Now, as I perch in a glass-enclosed terrace atop the former Wurlitzer building—in a somewhat secret space available only to guests of The Siren Hotel—surveying the rewritten skyline of downtown Detroit, this city isn’t just my favorite place in the country. Travelers come from all over to soak up its architecture, music, art, food, and drink of an American city quite unlike any other.I could have sworn tumbleweeds were rolling down the wide, empty avenues of early 2010s Detroit. Once-grand buildings and skyscrapers were crumbling in real time, forlorn at best and burned-out at worst. Still, there was a palpable sense that between grassroots revitalization efforts and deep-pocketed development, the tide was turning.A dozen years after buying that house (no, I didn’t keep it), a raucous energy rippled through downtown. Long-abandoned historic buildings, now restored as hotels, echoed with cocktail shakers and suitcase wheels. “Why would anyone vacation in Detroit?” That, I’m glad to report, is now an archaic question. Heading to The D yourself? Here are some things to know, and my recommendations on where to stay while you’re there.Editor-recommended hotelsFrequently asked questionsRoostDetroit was long ago dubbed the Paris of the Midwest, and nowhere makes the case like Roost, set inside the Book Tower—a 1920s skyscraper built to echo Haussmann's Paris. Inside, the French bistro Le Suprême could be a love letter to your favorite Parisian haunt, while downstairs Hiroki San pours sake with gold-flecked sushi and the Bowie-named lounge, The Aladdin Sane, mixes cocktails by candlelight. The 117 apartment-style rooms are built for real life—full kitchens, sprawling suites, live plants—but the true star is one of Detroit's great interior spaces: the three-story rotunda, a cast-iron and brass dome of 6,000 glass panels and 7,000 jewel embellishments that for decades before the building’s reincarnation hid behind a drop ceiling. It’s best for couples and groups who want to live, for a few days, inside Detroit's most romantic building.Read Full ReviewElement by Marriott Detroit at the MetropolitanRide the Gothic elevators to the top of the Metropolitan building, and you'll understand why the Monarch Club is one of the most popular rooftop bars in Detroit: a midcentury-inspired cocktail den that gives way to a 360-degree open-air deck, best at sunset, warmed by firepits when the Michigan winter rolls in. Downstairs, the Element is an enjoyable base with apartment-style rooms and suites, big windows framing city views, and an easy practicality. Grab a coffee from Madcap nearby, spend an afternoon on Belle Isle, and come back to a bed they're not exaggerating about when they call it “heavenly.”Read Full ReviewHotel David Whitney, Autograph CollectionInside Hotel David Whitney's soaring atrium—all neo-Renaissance splendor, flickering fireplaces, and a pianist straight out of a classic film—you'll see why its loyal guests won’t stay anywhere else. This 1915 landmark, where Detroiters once saw their doctors and dentists in marble-lined style, is now a polished Autograph Collection hotel with a fully liveried doorman who greets everyone like a long-lost friend. The 160 rooms are sized for proper unpacking (angle for a corner room ending in 07 for expansive windows and park views), and the Library Bar pours cocktail riffs named for the wildly wealthy lumber baron family behind the building. At the doorstep of Ford Field, the Fox Theatre, and Comerica Park, it’s where to base yourself for a game or a show before retreating to a leather sofa with a nightcap.Read Full ReviewDetroit Foundation HotelConcrete floors, exposed brick, oversized windows: Detroit Foundation Hotel puts you inside a 1929 firehouse, its raw industrial edges softened by Parisian-inspired furnishings. The showpiece is the Apparatus Room—once home to Detroit's firefighting cavalry, now a light-flooded bar crowned with hundreds of hanging bulbs, dramatic enough to draw drinkers who aren't staying over. Look for the DFD crests and the doors the engines once roared out of, then wander to the Riverwalk or Eastern Market. With musically minded events like vinyl sessions and Firehouse jazz nights in the mix, it's an atmospheric, unmistakably Detroit base for couples, groups, and solo travelers who like their hotels with a story.Read Full ReviewShinola HotelFew hotels come with a luxury watch you can borrow—but few hotels are built by a watchmaker. Shinola knits five historic downtown buildings into one very aesthetic stay. At its heart is an art-filled living room that's less check-in lobby and more gathering place, turning into a cocktail party for weekly DJ sets and monthly jazz. Across the 129 rooms—from intimate queens to splashy penthouses—midcentury clean lines, deliriously cushy beds, and Detroit-emblazoned robes make for spaces you’d prefer not to leave. You will, though, for the wood-fired pizza and housemade pasta San Morello is sending out, and exacting cocktails in the sultry speakeasy. Checking into a lifestyle brand comes with perks: Visit the Detroit Institute of Arts for free, take a spin on a bike (Shinola’s, of course), and arrange for in-room personal shopping. This is the place for groups, solo travelers, and couples looking for a downtown base with polish.Read Full ReviewThe Siren HotelSiren is committed to the atmosphere in this hundred-year-old Italian Renaissance building, once home to the fabled music company Wurlitzer and reborn as a boutique hotel by design outfit Ash. Reach the snug rooms, with their chunky custom terrazzo-tiled baths, via the creaky old elevators, and emerge after in-room beauty treatments to sip bubbles below a glittering disco ball at Candy Bar. Slip around back to the sliver of a bar, Chenin, for biodynamic wines and butter-lavished treats, or post up amongst the exuberant blooms and smoked antique mirrors of the lobby for some of the best people-watching in town. It's best for couples and solo travelers who want studied style over square footage.Read Full ReviewFAQ:What is the best part of Detroit to stay in?This is Motor City, so unless you’re ready to hop in a car to go anywhere, you’ll want to base yourself in the highly walkable downtown area. (You can easily rideshare or bike to nearby Midtown, Mexicantown, Corktown, and beyond for the independent restaurants, nightlife, and cultural attractions.)Are there pet-friendly hotels in Detroit?I’ve spent the last dozen years visiting Detroit with dogs, so that’s an enthusiastic yes. Shinola, for one, will greet your pup with a tennis ball and a bed as aesthetic as it is cozy. A maintenance worker at The Siren liked bringing my big mutt handfuls of tiny Milk Bones. Every hotel listed here welcomes dogs, and your mileage may vary, but most haven’t been strict on published weight limits.Which hotels in Detroit offer the best views of the city?These hotels are clustered so close together that you can admire the others from almost whichever you choose. Ask for a high floor at the Element, David Whitney, Roost, or Siren for bird's-eye views. A lower floor at Shinola gets you a front row seat to the humming main drag that is Woodward Avenue, and you can see Canada from many rooms at the Foundation.How we choose the best hotels in DetroitEvery hotel on this list has been selected independently by our editors and written by a Condé Nast Traveler journalist who knows the destination and has visited that property. When choosing hotels, our editors consider properties across price points that offer an authentic and insider experience of a destination, keeping design, location, service, and sustainability credentials top of mind.Dana McMahan weaves stories through words, spaces, and experiences, with her writing in outlets including Real Simple, Garden & Gun, NBC, and Washington Post. Although she's a Kentucky Colonel living with her big dog and her husband in Louisville, her wanderer’s heart may take her from Kathmandu to the Arctic ... Read MoreMore hotels nearbyUnited States, Detroit, 1509 Broadway StreetA century-old former Wurlitzer music store reimagined as a fever dream of a boutique hotel.$$ | United States, Detroit, 1400 Woodward AveBuilt by the watch brand that staked its name on Detroit's comeback, Shinola melds five historic buildings into a warm, design-driven downtown hotel centered on an art-filled lobby.$$ | United States, Detroit, 250 W Larned St.The Apparatus Room’s bar, all soaring windows and hundreds of hanging bulbs in Michigan's oldest former fire headquarters, is reason enough to book the Foundation, but the loft-style rooms and full-size Le Labo products don't hurt.Hotel David Whitney, Autograph CollectionUnited States, Detroit, One Park AvenueFormerly where early 20th-century downtown Detroit went to the doctor, the landmark David Whitney is now a glamorous Autograph Collection hotel wrapped around a four-story atrium and its dark-academia Library Bar.