Jade Bar (the smaller of the 2 bars) right off the lobby. Painting is by Julian Schnabel. Nice intimate space. You can find more shots of Jade Bar on the hotel’s website.

The Hotel Congress, built in 1919, is an historic landmark located in the heart of downtown Tucson, Arizona. The hotel has a colourful history that includes being the location on January 22, 1934 where the infamous American gangster John Dillinger was finally captured after a series of bank robberies committed by the “Dillinger Gang”.

The second floor lounge at the Congress Hotel is also known as a place where love-related wishes come true! Check out some examples from guests of the hotel:

Wish #1

My room was cool, but the 2nd floor lounge, site of the famous lover’s wishing shrine was hot! I made a wish as a joke the first night and was shocked when it came true immediately. The 2nd and 3rd wishes I made also came true. For the money, it is the greatest attraction in Tucson! No room price is too high to get this kind of ammenity…[TripAdvisor]

Wish #2

I heard about the famous lovers’ wishing shrine in the 2nd floor lounge at historic Hotel Congress. Rumour has it that wishes made there relating to love come true and I had to find out for myself. It’s TRUE!!! Aside from that, the hotel itself is a cool, hipster, artsy place. It has a groovy nightclub downstairs, pseudo French Cup Cafe and Tap Room. I had a great time there and fell in love too…[Yahoo!]

HotelsByCity [Tuscan Travel Guide] [Hotels in Tuscon Arizona]

The Dutch are no strangers to re-claiming spaces and putting them to innovative use. After all, about half of the Netherlands exists on re-claimed land.

The KruisherenHotel in Masstricht is a boutique property developed in a converted 15th century abbey. Cutting edge design flourishes throughout this hotel where traditional architecture gives rise to contemporary stylings.

Kruisheren Hotel in Maastricht. I took these pictures for school. This is a design hotel in an old church, really amazing!

HotelsByCity [Hotels in Maastricht, Netherlands] [Netherlands Travel Guide]

Boutique hotels around the world are positioning themselves as “lifestyle” hotels. The concept of lifestyle branding suggests that a hotel can embody the values and aspirations of a group or culture. A successful lifestyle brand speaks to the “core identity” of its customers, each of whom have their own sense of self based on their background. The lifestyle hotel provides a powerful supplement to this core identity by allowing the individual to publicly associate themselves with the hotel’s identity.

New York City’s Hudson Hotel on 58th Street is self styled as the embodiment of the lifestyle hotel.

“Urban adventure, daredevil design, and true affordability meet in Hudson, the ultimate lifestyle hotel for the 21st century…Hudson is a brilliant reflection of the boldness and diversity of the city – the quintessential New York hotel…Hudson is the next generation of Cheap Chic – stylish, democratic, affordable, young at heart and utterly cool…[Hotel Site]“

Although we’re not sure exactly which lifestyle element the Hudson Hotel lounge, featured above, is trying to appeal to - it does capture the essence of eclectic-cool-weird-chic.

HotelsByCity [Hotels in New York City] [New York City Travel Guide]

Images can speak a thousand words, and we thought this picture of the Deseo Hotel Lounge on the rooftop in Playa Del Carmen said plenty. Of course, then we read some reviews of the property and discovered a consistent theme among most of them; that this hotel has some serious noise issues.

This is a terrible place for a relaxed stay. It is noisy and incredibly expensive. The rooms are soooooo minimalistic that will give you the impression you are in prision, the so-called breakfast is awful and coffe is served in tin cups, so dirty it is disgusting.

The closest beach is ugly and the “exclusive” beach club you are entitled to go (Mamitas) is quite far and full as a sardine can, so you better get at dawn or you will be left out of the “in” crowd. All rooms look to the pool and there is no in-room TV. Totally disrrespectful DJ activity at the pool everynight, leaves you sleepless until the wee hours of the morning (management, kindly provides ear plugs).

If you are into ectasy and such you will have a great time, if not, stay elsewhere…[TripAdvisor]

HotelsByCity [Other Playa Del Carmen Hotels] [Mexico Travel Guide]

This was the bar in our hotel. There were these lights on the sidewalk outside. We didn’t hang out there but had to get a picture anyway.

During the late 1920’s at the height of Prohibition, the hotel quietly and most illegally opened its now renowned Empire Plush Room Cabaret theatre. Merry-makers found their way through a maze of underground passageways, which still exist, to reach the secret cabaret. The San Francisco socialites gathered nightly to enjoy the illegal spirits and to hear the top entertainers of the era perform.

As prohibition faded into history, the Empire Plush Room once shrouded in secrecy, became one of the area’s most popular cabaret clubs. Young torch singers, comedians, dancers, and pianists flocked to the Empire Plush Room hoping to be discovered.

Today the York Hotel and the Empire Plush Room continue to keep the tradition of cabaret alive by hosting entertainers like Rita Moreno, Andrea Marcovicci, Sam Harris, and San Francisco’s own Paula West.

[York Hotel]
[Empire Plush Room]
San Francisco Travel Guide [HotelsByCity]

Internationally known TabletHotels.com, the self-styled one-stop antidote for hotel comoditization hell compiles an extensive list of lodging “alternatives” to a predictable, common and mundane hotel experience.

Sao Paulo, Brazil’s Hotel Unique is part of Tablet Hotels’ referral group:

Designed by a leading Brazilian architect of Japanese descent, this place rocks. From the uber-cool building design, to the stunning lobby, comfortably trendy rooms and rooftop restaurant/bar/pool, it is about as hip as they come. While not cheap, it is also a deal compared to similar hotels in London, Paris and Rome.

The only downside is that it is a bit out of the way from the major business/shopping areas around Avenida Paulista, but the architect clearly needed more space than downtown would allow to build his vision. Sao Paulo has the largest Japanese community in the world outside of Tokyo, and the quality of the Japanese food is high all over town. The hotel restuarant’s sushi bar rivals the best…[more]

Hotel Site
Reviews [TripAdvisor]
Tablet Hotels [Site]

The hotel is definitely in an non-touristy part of Paris. The neighborhood is poor, with obvious problems of unemployment and grafitti. On the other hand, it had fascinating cultural diversity, with many residents wearing the clothing and speaking the languages of Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa, and South and East Asia. It is near (but not in) the up and coming St. Martin Canal area, which appears to be a magnet for young Parisians, and features many hip restaurants and bars. Of note, the hotel is very convenient to Charles de Gaulle airport by taxi or RER, and might be an interesting alternative to an airport hotel for those with early morning or late night flights.

[Kube Hotel Site]
Paris Travel Guide [HotelsByCity]

The lounge at the hotel Semiramis in Athens, totally wacky - designed by Karim Rachid

In Karim Rashid’s Words: “…I believe that we could be living in an entirely different world - one that is full of real contemporary inspiring objects, spaces, places, worlds, spirits and experiences…”

Athens is known for its hip hotel style, as you can see from this image of the lounge at the Hotel Semiramis.

[Hotel Site]
Karim Rashid [Designer]
Best Rate [HotelsByCity]

“The poolside lounge features orange plastic chairs. This is a long exposure shot taken from across the pool.”

It wasn’t so long ago that downtown Los Angeles after six P.M. was a ghost town. This is the case no longer, and it’s thanks in no small part to the Downtown Standard — in particular, the rooftop bar, with its astroturf, topiary gardens and waterbed loungers, a fixture on the downtown nightlife scene, and a place so exclusive that guests are issued bracelets to guarantee entry.

Hotel Site
Reviews [TripAdvisor]
Coverage [HotelChatter]