French architect and interior designer Jacques Granges has transformed New York’s classic Mark Hotel into a stylishly modern neighborhood scene that features a Jean-Georges Vongerichten restaurant, Frédéric Fekkai beauty salon, and the fashionable Bar Mark. Located in the heart of New York’s residential Upper East Side on Madison Avenue and …

Not many real estate companies can say that the slumped economy has helped their business, but for Equity Estates, the last year has been its strongest yet. The three-year-old destination club has grown 50 percent—its highest rate to date—since December 2008.
The company’s equity-based model, in which members purchase interests …

THE GIFTAn 11-day golf trip for eight through Scotland aboard Harmony II, a vintage 189-foot yacht that recently underwent a million renovation. Rounds of golf at Royal Dornoch, Castle Stuart, Royal Aberdeen, Carnoustie, and Kingsbarns. VIP grandstand seating on the 17th hole of the Old Course at St Andrews for …

Geoff Kruth steers his Toyota Camry down a gravel road lined with industrial-size waste bins and derelict autos. At a dead end, he pulls up beside a brick-and-wood warehouse, where a friendly Red Heeler mix greets the master sommelier and his guests from the nearby Farmhouse Inn.
Kruth, the wine …

For the past four years, New York locals and visitors have watched in anticipation as one of the city’s most famed hotels, The Pierre, underwent a 0 million renovation after its purchase by Taj Hotels. This fall, the Pierre reopened with 11 new Grand Suites (including the two-bedroom 1,980-square-foot Presidential …

Henry-Griffitts is widely credited with inventing—or at least advancing exponentially—the practice of custom-fitting clubs to individual players and their swing characteristics. Though long a favorite among professionals and low handicappers, the Henry-Griffitts brand has remained below the radar of more casual players. The low profile was fine with its founders—a …

From basketball courts to bowling alleys, 20-person hot tubs to rotating beds, Las Vegas hotel suites are in a never-ending arms race of outrageous amenities. But the city’s finest accommodations are, at least in relative terms, a bit more discreet. Following are four of the best options for discriminating Vegas …

Everyone knows about the World Series of Poker, the game’s most public stage, where main-event buy-ins begin at ,000. But the poker world’s most competitive—and financially exclusive—forum is the Big Game at the Bellagio resort. Just ask Andy Beal, a banker who in 2004 lost an estimated million in …

Shadow Creek is unlike any other golf club, public or private. The course has no members and was built specifically to woo whales. The vast majority of its tee times are reserved for these high-rolling gamblers, who pay nothing to play the course but must be a guest at one …

Offering a rare respite on the Strip, the Spa at Four Seasons Hotel Las Vegas is refreshingly free of frills—an atmosphere in line with this exclusive non-gaming hotel’s philosophy. The spa’s therapists are among the best in the city, as are its treatments, which include Raindrop, a massage that entails …