Dallas Hotels

As you'd expect from a hotel named for movie icon Zsa-Zsa Gabor, Hotel ZaZa specializes in luxury details – think Frette bed linen, rainforest showers and enormous swagged curtains in every suite. The building itself is an old-fashioned colonial-style affair and comes complete with a chic bar and an expensive restaurant.

Set in a lovely 1920s art deco skyscraper, The Joule is Dallas at its most patrician and boasts a lobby crammed with art – all themed around local moneyspinners, oil and gas. Rooms are slickly decorated and come with enormous ensuite bathrooms, and there's an enormous, well-appointed gym.

If JR branched out into hotels, the W Dallas Victory would be it. Overlooking the sports venue of Victory Plaza, the hotel offers 252 oversized rooms and suites in categories named Wonderful, Cool Corner, Spectacular, Fabulous, Mega, Fantastic, Marvelous, Wow and Extreme Wow. There's also a great spa and onsite restaurant.

With a motto that boasts 'reinventing 1940s cool,' the Belmont is a renovated motel immediately to the west of Downtown. As promised, there's a distinctly retro vibe, although the lovely fresh linen, free wifi and heated swimming pool make it clear that modern amenities have not been overlooked.

Unusually minimalist by Dallas standards, Hotel Lumen is an oasis of soothing colors and ergonomic furniture. The hotel also has a heated outdoor pool, a hosted wine reception every evening and an on-site fitness centre. Off the lobby, the Front Room is a casual-chic restaurant serving three meals daily.

Ultra-modern and possessed of a lobby decked out with gold seating and blinging chandeliers, The Highland does Dynasty chic reworked for the 21st Century. Rooms are large and the beds supremely comfortable, while bathrooms come stocked with Diptyque toiletries.

Not far from Dallas' old Love Field Airport, the Addison Galleria is an old-fashioned motel, albeit with a large heated swimming pool and a lovely courtyard. Part of the Best Western chain, this is a real no-frills affair – but with prices starting at $49 a night, no one is likely to complain.

Just around the corner from City Hall, the Hilton Garden Inn Downtown couldn't be more central. A stone's throw from city center attractions, rooms are comfortable and clean, if fairly uninspiring. No matter – there's a pool onsite, guest parking and you get a free buffet breakfast in the morning.

On the northern edge of downtown, the Hyatt House Uptown sits amidst a bustling business district very close to Cedar Springs and Maple, an area dense in art galleries and antiques stores, as well as dozens of good restaurants. Rooms are a businesslike affair but there is a complimentary breakfast.