The Dorian brings something downtown Calgary was short of: a design-led boutique hotel with a point of view. Part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection, it takes its cue from Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, and the theme runs through the whole building in velvet, brass, dark green and gilded mirrors, with Wilde’s aphorisms turning up etched into the glass. Behind the styling is a capable modern city hotel of 137 rooms and suites at 525 5th Avenue SW, walkable to Stephen Avenue, the Bow River and the Arts Commons.
The rooms carry the same confidence as the lobby, trading beige business-hotel neutrality for emerald tones, gold accents and city or river views, with the plush touches you expect at this level: good bedding, robes and locally made toiletries. It is boutique in feel but backed by Marriott’s service and loyalty programme, a rare combination in a city where the alternatives skew corporate. Pets are welcome, and there is a fitness studio and meeting space for the business travellers who make up much of Calgary’s midweek trade.
The social heart is The Wilde Rooftop Restaurant and Bar, one of the city’s better dining rooms and easily its most photogenic, with modern Canadian cooking, Alberta beef and a skyline that earns its keep at sunset; the Portrait of Dorian Gray, a lavender-and-citrus gin cocktail, is the drink to order. Downstairs, Prologue Cafe handles slow mornings over flat whites and fresh pastries. It is compact and firmly urban rather than a resort, but as a stylish, characterful base for Calgary it is the pick.