Fabrika Tbilisi

Tbilisi, Georgia

Fabrika follows a concept that’s familiar enough to anyone who’s seen an Ace or a Freehand or a Mama Shelter — part boutique hotel, part hostel, part multi-purpose events space, where social life takes precedence over traditional luxury.

Flushing Meadows

Munich, Germany

The Flushing Meadows Hotel & Bar knows what creative people want from a hotel. Its owners and designers are architects, bar owners, artists, musicians, even surfers, and are exactly the sort of people any hip little boutique wants as its clientele.

G-Rough

Rome, Italy

Some places in Rome overwhelm with their concern for history, but G-Rough is anything but stifling. A 17th-century building furnished with Italian design classics from the Thirties, Forties and Fifties, it offers plenty of inspiration for creativity in the here and now.

Hotel SP34

Copenhagen, Denmark

It’s uniquely satisfying to transition from Copenhagen’s Latin Quarter, a vibrant street scene of cafés, vintage shops, and galleries to a crisp, contemporary interior, completely free of clutter, warmed up by reclaimed wood, Edison bulbs, raw concrete, and exposed brick.

Michelberger Hotel

Berlin, Germany

Time and again we’ve seen stylish hotels pitch themselves to the creative class, and then price themselves too high for their intended audience to afford. Enter the Michelberger, where bankers and lawyers are by no means excluded, but neither is anyone else.

Only You Hotel Atocha

Madrid, Spain

The exposed brick and industrial trappings of Manhattan-style loft living serve as the inspiration for this Madrid boutique hotel, a decided contrast to the regal grandeur of the royal city’s traditional luxury hotels.

Sub Karakoy

Istanbul, Turkey

Tradition be damned, the industrial-chic SuB Hotel is more like the sort of boutique hotel you’d find in Greenpoint (Brooklyn) or Neukölnn (Berlin) than Karaköy/Galata, the oldest district of one of the world’s great ancient cities.

The Lisbonaire Apartments

Lisbon, Portugal

This mid-century modernist building’s 19 studio and one-bedroom apartments were decorated by 19 different artists, designers, and other local creative types, all of them paying particular attention to typography — among other things, this place is a typesetter’s dream.

Town Hall Hotel

London, England

Leave the West End to the tourists — these days East London is without question the creative capital of the city, and neighborhoods like Bethnal Green are correspondingly on the ascendant.

Volkshotel

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Don’t let its austere Sixties façade fool you. Once the headquarters of a Dutch daily newspaper, the “White Swan” is now Volkshotel, a social hub for travelers, artists, nightclubbers, entrepreneurs, and dedicated foodies.