Cocktails smoking by an open fire…highlight gleaming on your nose…oh! We didn’t see you there. Come on in, fire’s warm.

Because the holiday season calls for a staycation of royal proportions, THE STAYCATIONERS invite you for an evening of crackling tinder, fine silks, and flutes of sparkling ginger against a backdrop worthy of a king (or a queen…queens are better). Shall we?

THE SPOT: The Royalton Hotel | 44 West 44 Street, New York

THE STATS: 168 rooms, fireplaces, smoky seasonal menu, and moody, lavish design by Roman Williams

PERFECT FOR: Fancy staycationing for those with a penchant for all things fiery. (Book The Royalton Fireplace package here and tell ‘em we sent you).

Checking in? Don’t mind if we do. A dashing bellboy materialized, accompanying THE STAYCATIONERS to an ever-glamorous suite, where he left them (and their neatly placed valises) to their own devices. After settling in, the crew called down to request kindling for a fresh fire. Priorities.

Nothing calls for a wild night in quite like a disco ball-inspired bathroom, and who are THE STAYCATIONERS to fight nature? With the fire ablaze, our robe-clad ladies sipped champagne cocktails laced with a bit of The King’s Ginger (royal AF) before making their way to the powder room to freshen up (and take bathtub glamour shots). Want to sip your own staycay cuvée at home? Follow this very complex recipe:

Champagne

The King’s Ginger liqueur

Pour a small amount of The King’s Ginger into a flute and top with champagne. Add more liqueur to taste and garnish with a pretty (edible) flower. Lemon zest works too.

The bed beckoned, and after a classic staycay-chic shot upon it, THE STAYCATIONERS shed their robes in exchange for luxe Free People garb in anticipation of the cocktails that awaited them just downstairs at Bar 44.

Decked in various fineries from Alekka, the crew made their way to the lobby bar for a seasonally appropriate nightcap—a concoction as smoking as their evening looks. YSL, eat your heart out. Like a perfect storybook staycation unfolding, tendrils of wood smoke unfurled from captivity inside its dual-glassed confines, drifting out into the night before our staycationers’ eyes.

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Keep up with THE STAYCATIONERS as they take over new hotels in new cities each month. This round made possible by The King’s Ginger, The Royalton, Free People, and Alekka.

Special thanks to the almighty beautiful boss babe Arushi Khosla, our guest staycationer of the evening.

Photography by queen Noa Griffel for THE STAYCATIONERS.