Checking into a hotel used to be a trip to the land of conformity. Today the high-design revolution of the 1990s has resulted in an exciting, stylish alternative to the dreary sameness of chain hotels and the stuffy pomposity of traditional "grand" hotels. The hotels featured here are widely diverse in their gastronomy, architecture, ownership, location, and atmosphere, but they all offer a unique experience. It may be high design or high art, cool kitsch or Zen minimalism, chic loft living or lavish historical revivalism, but the hotel, not the journey or even the city, always takes center stage. The biggest names in contemporary architecture, interior design, and fashion have had a hand in creating the distinctive style of hip hotels: Terence Conran in Vienna; Diesel in Miami; Anouska Hempel in London; Karl Lagerfeld in Berlin; Christian Liaigre in Los Angeles and Paris; I. M. Pei in New York; Andree Putman in Cologne; Philippe Starck in Hong Kong and Los Angeles. Whether whim or work takes you to the Left Bank or Ocean Drive, Bondi Beach or Notting Hill Gate, you can now choose a hotel that is the equal of the world's hippest urban destinations. Read Less