This Small Town in Massachusetts Just Got a New Hotel — and It's the Perfect Spot for a Fall Getaway

Escape to Life House, Berkshires, where you'll be surrounded by gorgeous design inside and incomparable fall foliage outside.

The Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts is one of the more magical locations to witness Mother Nature’s technicolor autumnal show of changing leaves amid a backdrop of dramatic mountains and charming New England towns. One such town is Lenox, where several new hotels are ready to accept leaf peepers aplenty this season.

Life House, the venture-backed and vertically integrated hotel brand, management, and software company is behind most of these openings. Early this summer they assumed management of three charming, historic inns in Lenox, renaming and refreshing them all and uniting them under the Lenox Collection umbrella. Then in August, they debuted an entirely new Life House–branded hotel there: Life House, Berkshires.

You’d never know it (and I mean, never), but the chic and cozy boutique hotel is inside a former Days Inn motel from the 1970s. It’s in a prime location just a short drive away from Lenox’s charming Main Street, which explains its appeal. The 65-room hotel has been reimagined as a retro writer's retreat, complete with a library, outdoor fire pits, an intimate cocktail spot, and seasonally focused restaurant.

The writer’s sanctuary theme leads the design narrative, which is expressed through the lens of a writer protagonist looking to get away from it all and focus on their craft — a cue to the historical literary figures who have lived in or passed through Lenox and the surrounding area over the last centuries, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Edith Wharton (whose house The Mount is nearby and well worth visiting), and Fanny Kimble.

But instead of overt and obvious design choices, à la books piled everywhere and cheesy pens and notebooks, the narrative is more subtly expressed through details like custom-strung wire millwork pieces that reflect the interior of a typewriter and secretary-style writing desks in the guest rooms that glow from lamps topped with custom shades inspired by the marble paper backing of old books.

There are, of course, some books around, but mostly they’re showcased on custom wood floor-to-ceiling shelves in the classy Library Lounge next to the check-in desk, which also has cozy green velvet seating and a crackling fireplace. It’s pretty much an ideal place to catch up on emails or even take a stab at that novel you’ve been meaning to start. Adjacent is the Club Room, the stylish farm-to-table restaurant and bar, where custom Murano glass chandeliers handmade in Venice hang high above the marble bar with green velvet bar stools. Across from the bar and behind plaid upholstered banquette seating is a hand-painted Lei Xing mural inspired by the Berkshires landscape, featuring a countryside motif with a small village, mountaintop forests, and animals. (Xing’s art is showcased at several Life House properties.) The door at the end of the bar leads out to a wraparound patio with several fire pits and patterned seating shaded by fringed umbrellas.

These communal areas lend themselves perfectly to one of Life House’s key tenets: encouraging community. All Life House hotels allow guests to connect with one another via their app and also have a variety of activities for guests to join and meet others. The August weekend I stayed at the hotel with my family, there was a yoga class at a nearby studio, a visit to the local dairy farm that supplies the hotel, and a guided hike along one of the many mountain trails in the area.

“Nature is one of the main reasons why people have chosen to come to Lenox over the years,” says Rami Zeidan, founder and CEO of Life House. “We intend to make this House an indoor-outdoor experience for our guests who want to enjoy the Berkshires year round.”

The themes of writing and nature are often tied together by art at the hotel. There are new and vintage works around the property curated by the Life House Interiors team and Saatchi Art. Rooms are adorned with collage artwork by Annie Lynch, whose pieces present black-and-white portraits of female figures with superimposed aerial photographs of local landscapes, and framed poetry by artist Russell Markus who uses an antique typewriter and vintage paper to produce each piece. Lobby art features images of the bucolic Berkshires landscape, portraits of important local figures, and 1970s-inspired abstract forms. One of my favorite spots in the hotel: the public bathroom on the lobby level, which features a glorious forest landscape wallpaper by House of Hackney — you feel enveloped by nature before you even step outside.

Another favorite amenity was a whimsical setup in collaboration with local florist Thistle ‘n Thorn right outside the lobby door. An array of colorful flower stems from zinnias to snapdragons were on display, with instructions for guests to make their own arrangements with the provided glass jar vases filled with water set alongside the flowers. Guests are encouraged to make a bouquet to decorate their room and then take it home at the end of their stay — which I was more than happy to do. My family and I also enjoyed the communal mealtimes and gatherings on the patio for drinks and small bites in the afternoon (with mine and lots of other dogs present!) as well as tasty daily breakfasts with excellent coffee and tea.

You need not be a literary obsessive to enjoy this hotel though. As a writer (and former English lit major), I of course appreciated the writer’s retreat theme. But if I hadn’t read the website closely or pored over some of the artwork, I doubt I would have identified it as an intentional storyline. Instead, I would simply enjoy the retro-tinged décor, the obvious focus on the lovely natural surroundings, and yes, the large selection of books ideal for curling up with by the fire.