The Haunt Edit

HAP Weekly

The Haunt Edit

Haunted havens for spooky season, boutique picks for bookworms, and fall-ready West Coast escapes.

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HAP WEEKLY

Spellbinding Stays for Spooky Season

By Stacey Leasca

The spooky season is finally upon us, which means it’s time to get witchy. It’s ok if you don’t have a coven yet, because these boutique hotels are ready to commune with you around a cauldron.

In Scotland, witches and warlocks will find the perfect home base in The Witchery, which sits at the top of Edinburgh's Royal Mile, just below the castle, on Castlehill, where hundreds of people accused of witchcraft were burned at the stake in the 16th and 17th centuries. “The Witchery offers the perfect real-life escape for anyone wanting to embrace a little magic of their own,” the hotel team shared. Its nine individually designed suites feel like the real deal, with plenty of candles casting their soft glow, oak paneling, and velvet touches. “Set in Edinburgh's historic Old Town, the iconic hotel's candlelit interiors, theatrical suites and fascinating connections to the city's witchcraft history make it a particularly enchanting place to stay as Halloween approaches.”

Closer to home, at 20 South Battery in Charleston, South Carolina, two resident ghosts each have a room. Owner Dr. Jack Schaeffer said the first, known as the Headless Torso, lives in Room 8. “We believe he was a wounded Confederate soldier; guests claim to see a torso, with no head or legs.” He added, “People have said he hovers over the bed or marches back and forth at the foot of it in this very erect military posture.” He even claims to have had a brush with the soldier. “One night, I heard boom and boom, two loud booms,” he said. When he went upstairs to check, “there was nothing, no damage at all.”

Room 10 offers a kinder poltergeist. According to Schaeffer, the Gentleman Ghost may be Richard Lathers, who bought the property in 1870. “He likes to lie in bed with guests and touch their hair,” he said. “Many people will order an extra glass of wine or leave flowers for him.” And really, according to Schaeffer, there’s no need to worry. “He's very gentle, and if you feel scared, he'll run,” Jack said. “He may make his presence known, but he's not here to frighten anyone.”

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Looking for more of a party? Maxwell Mansion, an 1856 boutique hotel in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, throws its annual Old Fashioned Frights party on Saturday, Oct. 24, from 7 p.m. to midnight. The adults-only bash takes over the mansion's period-decorated first floor (how very “Hocus Pocus” of them), including the ballroom, the Apothecary Bar, and the Speakeasy, with a live DJ, specialty cocktails, and a costume contest. “Halloween is the time of year when we give ourselves permission to go completely overboard,” co-owner Monica Pfeifer said. “We spend nearly a week transforming our first floor spaces and both bars, with a different theme around every corner.”

The Humbird Hotel Bar & Grill in Humbird, Wisconsin, has ghosts and ghouls all its own. According to its owners, the building has been a Masonic lodge, a smallpox hospital, a brothel, and a speakeasy, giving it plenty of history to play with. Owners Elizabeth Havenor and Matt Hawkes lead overnight ghost hunts on Friday, Oct. 9, and Friday, Oct. 30, for guests who book a room those nights, bringing out spirit boxes, SLS cameras, and other paranormal gear. Don’t worry if you’re too chicken to sleep overnight. The hotel also offers a ticketed evening ghost hunt on Wednesday, Oct. 21, which doesn't require an overnight stay.

And in Marina, California, The Sanctuary Beach Resort highlights Monterey Bay's local lore. Its Killer Cocktails menu features five limited-time drinks for the season, each tied to a regional ghost story. And on Sunday, Oct. 18, it’s hosting the Season of the Witch Aromatherapy Workshop, allowing guests to blend their own botanical potion. Just make sure it’s for good magic; no virgin blood required.

HAP WEEKLY

The Bookworm’s Guide to Luxury New England Escapes

By Ruby Gregg

There is a specific kind of magic reserved for New England in the fall: a convergence of crisp mountain air, golden foliage, and (as cliché as it sounds) the irresistible urge to hide away in an armchair with a good book. New England's winding roads and coastlines harbor boutique stays where literary history was actively written. Here are three properties shaking off the old "required reading" label and turning bookish travel into an indulgent retreat.

Hancock, New Hampshire’s The Inn at Hancock just reopened in May following a three-year restoration, and holds the title of the state’s oldest continuously operating inn. Tucked into the Monadnock region, this historic inn sits just down the road from MacDowell—the legendary artist colony where Thornton Wilder penned “Our Town.” It’s a rare retreat where literary history seamlessly meets today’s creative community.

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The Chanler at Cliff Walk is an oceanfront masterpiece set directly on Newport’s iconic rocky coast, dripping in Gilded Age drama. Beyond its Hollywood ties—The Chanler hosted the cast of “The Great Gatsby”—guests can book private, historian-led tours to historic estates, including Edith Wharton’s former home, Land’s End, and the country's oldest lending library, then round out the night with custom bedtime stories detailing old-money scandals.

And finally, Barnard, Vermont’s Twin Farms. Originally purchased by America’s first Nobel Laureate in Literature, Sinclair Lewis, alongside journalist Dorothy Thompson, this boutique gem remains Vermont’s sole five-star all-inclusive stay grounded in storytelling. The property keeps its storied heritage alive through its Off-Script Author Series—an intimate program connecting acclaimed historians and Pulitzer Prize winners directly with guests. Beyond the literary salons, find yourself in treehouses and private cottages, filling your days with picnic lunches, woodland train rides, and traditional Onsen soaks, after afternoons spent reading and connecting with fellow literary-minded travelers.

HAP WEEKLY

These West Coast Hotels Are Made for Leaf Peeping

By Lindsay Cohn

Every year, throngs of leaf-peepers descend upon New England—whether it’s Woodstock, Vermont, or the Berkshires—and the Hudson Valley, crowding parks and nature trails with cameras and non-ironic flannel. As someone born and raised on the East Coast, crisp breezes and colorful foliage hold a special sentimentality. Even as a newly minted Los Angeles resident, I still crave that annual leaf fix — just a little closer to my new home. That’s why, this year, I propose trading New England’s foliage frenzy for West Coast autumnal colors at these cozy boutique hotels that are perfectly positioned for soaking in all the seasonal splendor.

Desolation Hotel Lake Tahoe
Located in Alpine County, 25 minutes south of Lake Tahoe, Desolation Hotel Lake Tahoe is ideal for outdoor types. The self-styled micro-resort boasts leafy views and ample amenities, including a pool, jacuzzi, sauna, cold plunge, outdoor soaking tubs, fire pits, and private beach access. Guests can snooze in log cabins or yurts.

Limelight Mammoth
California’s answer to a classic East Coast fall, Mammoth Lakes​ has gorgeous alpine hikes framed by golden aspens. The most polished and eco-conscious hotel in the narrow playing field, the all-electric Limelight Mammoth pairs modern mountain vibes with a heated pool, hot tubs, and a location just steps from the Village Gondola.

The Allison Inn & Spa
Willamette Valley is Oregon’s best wine country—and a top connector for the state’s leaf-peeping prize (something as far as I can tell, I’ve just made up). The Allison Inn & Spa unfolds across 35 acres of vines and landscaped gardens, an open-air art gallery, a renowned farm-to-table restaurant, and spacious rooms with upholstered window seats and valley views.

Posthotel Leavenworth
A favorite of foliage-chasers and Euro-enthusiasts, Leavenworth is a Bavarian-style village in Washington’s Cascade Mountains. Posthotel Leavenworth exudes classic charm, with an alpine bathhouse-inspired wellness sanctuary complete with saltwater hydrotherapy pools, steam baths, saunas, and a cold plunge, plus balcony rooms with tree-studded river vistas.

Hotel Spotlight

The Boutique Hotel We're Obsessed With—Andenia Boutique Hotel

Andenia Boutique Hotel abandons the grand, theatrical footprint of traditional Peruvian luxury in favor of pure, secluded intimacy. What feels at first like entering a walled garden in the countryside reveals itself as a Nine-room sanctuary framed by towering valley rock and overgrown endemic flora.

There are no packed tour buses here—just slow mornings where dawn light spills over bare floors and the valley dictates the day’s pace.

Days slip away inside the estate’s walled botanical sanctuary, where narrow pathways wind toward open-air soaking pools carved from local rock, sun-bleached canvas hammocks suspended beneath native fruit trees, and secluded nooks designed for total stillness. By shifting the focus away from the typical transit-stop rush, this nine-suite hideaway recalibrates the Sacred Valley experience altogether.

HAP WEEKLY

Hotels Defining the New Era of Hotel Dining

Hotel dining used to be a punchline. Travelers long understood that they shouldn't expect much beyond mushy scrambled eggs at the meager breakfast buffet or a limp room service salad. But those days are over, because across the world, hotels are not only perfecting their culinary offerings, they're redefining what a sense of place can taste like.

From Hotel Yellowstone at Jackson Hole, where Wild West flavors like elk saltimbocca are on the menu along with a side of Teton views, to Hotel Fiescherblick in Switzerland, which offers guests a taste of the seasonal terroir, including same-day-foraged mushroom cones and locally sourced wild game, boutique hotels are serving up the best bites in town. Kitchens are now the soul of the property, drawing as much acclaim as the design and amenities.

Read the full article through this link.

This story ran in our 2026 magazine. Each week, we will share one story from it in our newsletter. To buy a physical copy, visit our subscription store here.

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