Austin, now that it’s booming, is home to a hotel from just about every boutique and luxury chain under the sun. But the Texas-based ZaZa group took its time. Long a familiar name in Dallas and Houston, ZaZa hits the state’s capital city at a moment when it takes more than just a quirky design sense to stand out. Fortunately for everyone involved, Hotel ZaZa Austin is very much up to the task.

Hotel ZaZa is, if you can believe it, a bit of the south of France, transplanted to the south-central United States. It’s a conceit that seems difficult to carry off, but in this case it certainly works, resulting in one of Dallas’s most extraordinary hotels. The oversized guest rooms are individually decorated, all in a plush and urbane style, with chic contemporary furnishings and luxe amenities like king beds, Italian linens and sprawling bathrooms with whirlpool tubs and separate rain showers.

Downtown Houston’s Hotel ZaZa puts decadence first, and you won’t confuse it for a business chain anytime soon. Standard rooms are deluxe, but not as overtly hedonistic as the Magnificent Seven, the eight—yes, eight—luxury suites, each featuring an entirely different theme, played out in the fabrics, furniture, extras, and amenities like whirlpool hot tubs and plasma screens.

Hotel ZaZa Memorial City is the sequel to the decade-old Museum District installment, and brings the brand’s familiar high-end, high-style experience to the west side of Houston. Where the Museum District edition is ornate and almost Baroque, the Memorial City version is clean-lined and bright, inspired in part by the mid-century modernism of Palm Springs.

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