Hip Hotels City [Paperback]

Thankfully hotels no longer attempt to look like offices with each one looking exactly the same as the next. Herbert Ypma, founder of the award-winning magazine Interior Architecture, has scouted around the world to find some of the most individual hotels. "Travel, even business travel, can still be an adventure," he writes in the introduction. "A Hip Hotel can turn a boring business jaunt into a stylish and stimulating experience." Ypma's book Hip Hotels: City--the first in a series of books on hotels--is a guidebook as well as a record of the work of some of the world's most famous designers: Terence Conran in Vienna, Anouska Hempel in London, Christian Liaigre in New York, Philippe Starck in Hong Kong, Edward Tuttle in Bangkok. Ypma has used more than 600 photographs rather than words to show the splendours of the hotels he chose. After all, words like "charming" and "beautiful" mean different things to different people. Hip Hotels can be read like a decor magazine--you keep it next to your bed and read a chapter or two when you feel like inspiration for decorating your own home. For those who are lucky enough to stay at these Hip Hotels, it's a useful guide when making travel arrangements.

'There are few people more expert than Herbert Ypma. His HIP HOTELS series has raised the bar for hotels as destinations'
--GT --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

The high-design revolution of the 1990s has provided a stylish alternative to the chain hotels and traditional "grand" hotels. This guide features 44 hotels that are widely diverse in their gastronomy, architecture, ownership, location, atmosphere and design; but they all offer one key feature - an experience. It may be high design or high art, Zen minimalism or cool kitsch, chic loft living or lavish historical revivalism, but always the hotel takes centre stage. Many big names in contemporary architecture, interior design and fashion have had a hand in creating the style of this book, including: Terence Conran in Vienna; Diesel in Miami; Anouska Hempel in London; Karl Lagerfeld in Berlin; Christian Liaigre in New York; Andree Putman in Cologne; and Philippe Starck in Hong Kong and Los Angeles.