Five Best: Suites at the top

The Palms Turks and Caicos

From the outside The Palms looks very South Beach. Inside, however, there's a more traditional feel, with the kind of spick-and-span styling you'd expect at a Four Seasons resort. To really indulge, go for one of the two penthouses. Both have three king-size bedrooms, marble flooring, private lifts, butler service and a chauffeur-driven car.

The Palms, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos (00 1 649 946 8666; www.thepalmstc.com). Rates for the penthouse suites start at $2,750 (£1,605) per night, including continental breakfast.

Fitzwilliam Hotel, Dublin

This Terence Conran-designed boutique hotel on Dublin's leafy St Stephen's Green has a restaurant with two Michelin stars, a bar and Ireland's largest roof garden. More recently, however, a whopping two-bedroom penthouse suite has been added. 160 square metres in size, it boasts a huge limestone bath, leather-clad walls concealing state-of-the-art entertainment systems, deep shag-pile rugs, electronically controlled fireplaces and Italian furnishings. Not to mention the grand piano and a full-service bar. Penthouse guests also get 24-hour use of a limousine and butler.

The Fitzwilliam Hotel, Dublin, Ireland (00 353 1 478 7000; www.fitzwilliamhotel.com). Prices for the penthouse suite start from €3,200 (£2,181) per night, including breakfast.

Grand Hyatt, Tokyo

This luxury hotel has the glitz you'd expect of an upmarket Asian hotel, with a choice of 10 bars and restaurants and a specialist spa and fitness centre. Its 389 rooms and suites are spread across 21 floors. Top of them all (physically as well as decadently) is the 260 square metre presidential suite, which sleeps up to five. The big selling point here is that it's the only suite in the city with a 12m private outdoor heated swimming pool.

Grand Hyatt, 6-10-3 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo (0845 880 0080; www.tokyo.grand.hyatt.com). The presidential suite starts at Y626,400 (£3,070) per night, including breakfast.

Opus, Vancouver

Opus offers an antidote to the city's hippy image. The 96 rooms at this sleek, contemporary hotel feature all the usual luxury amenities as well as enormous windows and swish bathrooms. The snazziest rooms are the two seventh-floor penthouse suites. While not the largest (they're just 60 square metres, though can be expanded if you book the connecting superior rooms) in this list, they offer Bang & Olufsen stereos, double-sided fireplaces, chrome four-posters and, of course, great views.

Opus, 322 Davie Street, Vancouver, Canada (00 1 604 642 6787; www.opushotel.com). Rates for the penthouse suite start at CA$745 (£366) per night, room only.

Westin Excelsior, Rome

Opened in 1906, the 319 rooms and suites in this turn-of-the-century showpiece have recently undergone extensive renovations. If you really want to enjoy the period styling, book in to the 1,100 square metre Villa La Cupola, on the fifth and sixth floors. The largest suite in Europe, it boasts two master bedrooms (six more can be turned into further sleeping areas), a living room, dining room, board room, library, study, cinema, sauna and a terrace. It also has an elaborate, frescoed cupola.

Westin Excelsior, 125 Via Vittorio Veneto, Rome (00 800 325 95959; www.westin.com).

Villa La Cupola starts at €22,000 (£15,000) per night, without breakfast.