Hubby's 30th in April and want to book a fantastic 4 or 5 days somewhere??....?

I live in England and would like to book a fantastic hotel somewhere for my hubby's 30th in April as a surprise. The problem is I've looked at Italy (country looks fantastic but can't seem to find 'the' hotel, they're either a bit old fashioned or I read bad reviews on trip advisor and it puts me off) I'm very picky when it comes to hotels, I know he'd love a modern contemporary place but there doesn't seem to be a hotel without quite a few bad reviews. I also looked at New York but it's extremely expensive (even though I'm willing to spend upto �1500 - �2000 for the 5 days), I also looked at Canada, maybe to book a week, but I just can't seem to find 'the' place. Maybe I should stop looking at Trip Advisor, I suppose you're always going to get some people liking a place and others not. Has anyone had a similar problem and do you know of any really contemporary modern or boutique type hotels anywhere that we could fly to relatively easily from Newcastle, Leeds or Manchester etc. Many thanks.