A sense of traditional elegance is evoked in the lobby of this 11-story hotel. Fine carpets and rugs enhance the marble floors. There are antiques and oil paintings, crystal chandeliers, and fresh flowers. The walls are paneled with burnished wood. Guests include business travelers visiting the Ford World Headquarters, families on weekend treks to the Henry Ford Museum, and golf enthusiasts.

What to expect: The hotel comprises a main building built in 1931, two buildings built in 1960, and five replica homes of historical figures. Guests appreciate the expansive grounds, colonial-style architecture, and overall historical ambience. Families are drawn to the educational entertainment available at nearby Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum. Conventioneers appreciate the 17,000 square feet of flexible meeting space.

Amenity highlights: This nonsmoking, colonial-style hotel offers three dining venues, a fitness center, a 24-hour business center, and high-speed Internet connectivity throughout. Recreational amenities include a seasonal heated outdoor pool and children’s pool. A concierge is available to help with travel plans and arrangements.

What to expect: The Westin Southfield provides indoor access to Southfield Town Center's five modern corporate towers, site of numerous Fortune 500 offices as well as specialty shops and restaurants. The hotel's lobby sets a stylish tone, with orchids and other tropical flowers, an indoor waterfall and pond, and a wall of windows. The Westin Southfield Detroit is 100-percent non-smoking.

Amenity highlights: Working and working out are the focal points here: The hotel has a 24-hour business center offering complimentary wireless Internet access and 17,000 square feet of meeting space. The 24-hour fitness center features cardio machines with TVs, along with resistance equipment, exercise balls, and core-training gear. The heated indoor lap pool is flanked by a tiled terrace, where guests can order room service for relaxed poolside dining.

Insider tip: With many corporate headquarters, stores, and restaurants on site or nearby, Southfield Town Center is a destination unto itself. For travelers not planning to leave the Center, a fine-dining option is the Japanese restaurant Musashi, in the 3000 building of the Southfield Town Center. Musashi offers traditional and contemporary Japanese food, including a complete sushi menu and myriad sake selections.

What to expect: Located on a quiet, pedestrian-friendly street, the six-story Townsend welcomes guests into a lobby graced with a carved-marble fireplace, marble floors, and cherry wood walls. Music played on a baby grand piano, combined with fresh flowers and antique furniture, helps establish the hotel's intimate and traditional ambience that attracts a variety of travelers.

Amenity highlights: Open 24 hours, the spacious fitness center offers TV monitors with individual headsets and an excellent selection of equipment including elliptical cross-trainers, recumbent bikes, treadmills, step machines, and free weights. The hotel's Rugby Grille offers tableside preparation of several continental dishes, and has long been recognized as one of Michigan's best restaurants by Zagat's Restaurant Guide.

Insider tip: Just 5 miles from the hotel, the storied and quite beautiful Cranbrook Academy in Bloomfield Hills offers visitors a chance to experience one of the great centers of architecture and interior design in the United States. Founded in 1904, Cranbrook includes a complex of gardens, museums, and schools designed by many great architects from the past century.

What to expect: The nine-story atrium lobby, a blend of glass, stone, black slate, trickling water, and sea grass, is a soothing oasis for business travelers, pre-flight and post-flight guests, and those staying over because of inclement weather or canceled flights. A large, tranquil pool adjoins a soaring bamboo forest; glass elevators provide a lofty view of it all.

Amenity highlights: The hotel’s Asian-inspired DEMA Restaurant overlooks the pool and features an exhibition-style kitchen. The 24-hour fitness center includes a small lap pool accented with glass tiles, a spa tub, a lounge area, cardio equipment, and weight machines. High-speed Internet access is available at the Red Cup Business Center, along with a printer, fax machine, scanner, shipping services, espresso, and brewed coffee (surcharge for all). The Westin is entirely smoke-free.