W Hotels opened its 40th hotel and new flagship in London February 14, bringing the brand’s design-led luxury to the colorful streets of Soho.

The 192-room property stands ten stories tall above the city’s famous Leicester Square and is covered in translucent glass which changes color according to the time of day and the ambience of the area.

The new landmark is designed to establish Starwood’s W Hotels as a truly international luxury design hotel chain.

Increasingly, travellers who wake up in a luxurious hotel bed can head home and order the accessories to recreate the experience for themselves at home.

This week, Swiss luxury hotel chain Swissotel announced its first online shop Swissotel At Home, selling bed linen, towers and bathrobes used in its hotels, as well as Swissotel branded items such as mugs, candles or silk scarves.

Swissotel’s shop will compete against some of the biggest names in the accommodation industry for the chance to sell its own products to guests and fans.

The bathrooms in Paris’s swanky Le Meurice hotel have been voted by best in Europe, beating a list of other contenders that prove the French know best when it comes to the salle de bain.

The honor was awarded last week at the industry Villegiature Awards, which recognizes the best aspects of Europe’s hotels — from terraces to websites.

The Philippe Starck-designed bathrooms of Le Meurice were judged to be the best, managing to top competition from Hotel Raphael in Paris, Le Palais Stephanie in Cannes, La Mas Candille in Mougins, and Muse in Ramatuelle (all in France) as well as Luna Baglioni in Venice, Italy.

W Hotels officially opened the W New York Downtown August 18, a towering structure just steps away from the planned Freedom Tower on Ground Zero.

The 58 floor tower features 217 guest rooms in the new hotel and more in private condos, both offering views of the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Hudson River and Battery Park.

Starwood says that the interior has been designed around the creative notion of a “ripple effect”, featuring a light installation by UK artist Bruce Munro which features 1,260 hanging lights capable of changing color to create glowing waves of energy.

Fashion brands launching their own hotels and the latter playing host to fashionable events are old news.

However, the link between the two industries has never been more evident, with W Hotels now becoming the first ones to hire a fashion director.

According to the WSJ, Amanda Ross will be responsible for staff uniforms and the look of the hotel’s general appearance including the room design.

This past Thursday Washington’s luxury W Hotel opened its doors, finally. The W Hotel is the closest hotel to the White House.

So close, in fact, that an underground tunnel leads from the White House, under the Treasury Department and ends at the front door of the hotel.

The new W Hotel, the 25th to open in North America, takes over the historic Hotel Washington, which opened in 1917.