Christmas trees were never just brightly lit green Tannenbaums with gifts underneath. They have always come in many shapes and sizes. Before spreading the tradition abroad, many Germans hung their trees from the ceiling and hid their children’s gifts in the branches, the better to keep the gifts out of their greedy clutches.

Destinations around the world have featured dazzling displays this season that avoid believing that Christmas trees ever looked traditional. From Santa Barbara to Sydney, these hotels adorn the hallways with stunning arrangements that are sure to fill you with joy, whether you love your tree with bright red bows and sparkling white lights or with champagne bottles.

The Lanesborough, London

Lanesborough’s glittering festive display looks to the future. Adopting the theme “Be Bright & Sparkle! Artist Tony Marklew has embellished the London Hotel and its tree with thousands of faceted crystals and large reflective silver orbs for a stunning effect. The decor represents the hopes of a bright and sparkling year 2022.

Four Seasons Resort Maui in Wailea

Artist Noah Harders, who was born and raised in nearby Waikapu, has created a unique group of striking mauve, lavender and pink trees. Instead of fir or pine, Harders used around 1,000 king and queen proteas, over 1,000 dried palms and other dried pieces, sourcing from as many local farms as possible.

Gajoen Tokyo Hotel

The ethereal trees of the Tokyo hotel are a vision in white that unfurl on a bed of red poinsettias. The unusual shape is believed to bring good luck. The trees contain around 460 handcrafted ornaments using discarded kimonos from the property’s costume lounge, a collection of formal wear.

The Ritz-Carlton Bacara, Santa Barbara

The Santa Barbara Getaway celebrates the season with a fragrant floral tree. The bespoke design uses over 1,800 roses in rich shades of purple, raspberry and coral. In addition, the arrangement is environmentally friendly: Luxe Bloom flowers retain their fragrance and coloring for up to a year without watering required.

Hotel de Paris Monte-Carlo

The large shiny gold balls that adorn this tree are from the Swiss luxury jeweler Chopard. After snapping photos of it in the lobby, retire to the Monte Carlo hotel’s winter garden to enjoy treats at celebrity chef Alain Ducasse’s Chocolate Bar amid illuminated small trees and stone sculptures. chocolate.

Historic Davenport Hotel, autograph collection, Spokane, Washington

Rising 21 feet across the lobby, the St. Maries, Idaho cork bark fir is a classic beauty. Simple gold and red ornaments are woven onto its branches, along with 114 strings containing 11,400 twinkling bulbs – the largest number of lights the hotel has ever used in its annual tree.

Sydney Crown Towers

To celebrate Crown Towers Sydney’s first Christmas, Australian bead supplier Paspaley spent over 200 hours imagining a design. He carved the tree with over 50 mother-of-pearl shells (each carefully hand-drilled to create an ornament), 8,450 individual hand-wired beads inspired by pearls, 500 pearly Christmas baubles and an oversized encrusted star. of pearls.

Four Seasons Hotel Abu Dhabi on Al Maryah Island

Pastry chef Rasika Weerasinghe has concocted this delicious wonder. Installed in the Al Meylas restaurant, 3,500 choux pastry balls have been stacked in the shape of a tree. The pastries have been coated with a Valrhona blue-violet chocolate coloring spray, the shade representing the hotel’s seafront and the serenity of its spaces.

The House of the Temple, Chengdu, China

La Maison du Temple maintains a holiday tradition: a sustainable Christmas tree. This year, he built a 23-foot-tall tree using 10,000 recycled glass bottles in the rooms. Clear glass shines with thousands of twinkling lights. After the end of the festivities, the bottles will be recycled in a recycling center.

The Palm Beach Breakers

It takes The Breakers 11 months to plan their vacation decor and 15-20 staff members to install 170,000 sparkling lights, 8,000 ornaments, 12,000 feet of ribbon and 126 knots throughout the property. A highlight is the pair of 18 foot evergreens in the lobby. This year should be particularly happy: it marks the 125th anniversary of the family hotel.

Mandarin Oriental Jumeira, Dubai

Italian fashion house Salvatore Ferragamo collaborated with the hotel to build this year’s tree. The adornments were taken from Ferragamo’s famous Gancini pattern and the iconic rainbow shoe, and the Mandarin Oriental fan logo tops the tree. Everything is bathed in gold in homage to the UAE’s Golden Jubilee, the country’s 50th anniversary.

Windsor Court Hotel, New Orleans

As New Orleans’ favorite adorns its 11-tree halls, you can’t miss the 19.5-foot Tannenbaum. It’s covered in over 25,000 white lights and a toy train rolls along the base. The boutique hotel also hangs six-foot magnolia wreaths in the lobby windows and over 1,500 feet of golden magnolia wreath in other spaces.

Claridge’s, London

Kim Jones, artistic director of Dior men’s collections, imagined a stellar snow globe tree for the London hotel. Holographic projections blend into the pleated canvas to give the 21-foot-tall white centerpiece the appearance of sparkling snowflakes. The balls that orbit the tree reflect iconic Dior motifs, including stars and miniature perfume bottles.

The Ritz-Carlton, Cancun

The elegant golden ornaments that hang from the tree branches in the lobby of the five-star hotel are from Tiffany & Co. and are inspired by designer Jean Schlumberger. To learn more about the brand, visit the Tiffany Suite, where you can view exclusive selected jewelry for last-minute personalized shopping with an expert.

The Lytle Park Hotel, Cincinnati, Ohio

Toast the season with this champagne Christmas tree. Composed of bottles of champagne, the tree also serves as a lobby bar where you can clink flutes of champagne. For more holiday joy, the rooftop bar of the Vista hotel has been transformed into a winter pavilion with Alpine and Russian firs.

The Connaught, London

This Nordmann fir is 30 feet tall and features the stack sculptures of local artist Annie Morris – warped, vivid spheres precariously stacked in columns. The wobbly towers symbolize the uncertainty of life and the beauty that can come from the unknown. Artist Idris Khan provided the foundation, reinforcing Morris’s sculptures and representing the medium at the heart of relationships.

The St. Regis Washington, DC

The White House Historical Association, a nonprofit organization that preserves the history of the famous DC residence, decorated this lobby tree. The group dressed him in official White House ornaments and a golden eagle. During the holidays, visit the tree at 6 p.m. daily to participate in a free champagne sabrage ritual.