"An antidote to the concrete towers of modern Quito, the Hotel Plaza Grande, on the Centro Histórico’s main square, has brought a new level of comfort to the capital. In a $6 million restoration of the former Majestic Hotel, this four-story neoclassic building was divided into just 15 spacious suites. Heated marble floors in the bathrooms break the Andean night chill, while bath butlers can be summoned to infuse your whirlpool with indigenous essences. The original Majestic drew Ecuador’s elite until it closed in 1970, and Quiteños are now returning to the ground-floor café and the champagne and cognac bars on the top floor. The restaurant La Belle Epoque—with its three-foot candelabras—is an overexuberant interpretation of the genre; the ambience is festive in the rustic vaulted-ceiling basement wine lounge, El Claustro. Arrangements of Ecuador’s signature roses leave an ever-present scent throughout the hotel."
