The Lowdown: The Heywood is a small, stylish, boutique hotel hidden away in the hip Eastside of Austin. The house, an original Craftsman bungalow, dates back to 1925 and has been thoughtfully restored and modernized. With just seven rooms it is cozy and personable, and the staff are wonderful, but with it being this small, there is no breakfast, or any other meals for that matter, provided. Rooms: The seven bespoke rooms are comfortable and stylish. They differ in some features – some have bathtubs, some have outside space – balcony or patio for example but everything is quality here, across the board, from the original longleaf pinewood floors to handmade beds and Stearns & Foster luxury mattresses. Mod-cons include a minifridge and minibar, smart, cable TV, white noise machines, Squeezebox Internet jukeboxes with free streaming, and iPod/iPhone docks, and ‘digital concierge’ tablets to help guide guests around the local area. Prices & Availability: Enter your dates and check prices at Expedia.com here. Food and Facilities: There is no restaurant onsite and breakfast is not provided, though you have some snacks in your minibar, and there’s a coffee and tea station in the common area. Upon check-in, guests are offered a box of locally hand-crafted chocolates and complimentary beers from a local craft brewer. The Heywood offers free bicycles and it can organize various tour packages such as bicycle brewery tours, sunset lake paddles, food experiences, and arts & crafts making excursions. In-room massage and salon services are also available. Location: The Heywood is in the heart of East Austin, a neighborhood with a hip, independent vibe and many quality food outlets, cafes, bars and interesting shops within walking distance of the hotel. Downtown Austin is less than a mile away. Some Guest Reviews: “The room was clean and well furnished. The staff were all extremely friendly and the entire stay was perfect. I would absolutely book the Heywood again…..” “Loved the complete setup of the hotel. I especially enjoyed the outside patio area. Additionally, the extra treats that were left in the room were a nice surprise! The hotel is conveniently located to walk to the lake area or READ MORE

The Lowdown: Where Chicago’s new coolest neighborhood, Andersonville, meets Lincoln Square, Uptown and Ravenswood lies the unassumingly titled Guesthouse Hotel. The place itself is also charmingly unassuming but has some of the best accommodations in the area. The Guesthouse is an aparthotel with guests staying in one, two and three-bedroom apartments with full kitchen facilities. Rooms: There are twenty-five apartments at the Guesthouse with the choice mainly just depending on the number of guests. The one-bedroom units can sleep up to four, the 1001 sq. ft. two bedrooms up to five, and the three-bedroom units up to seven with the help of a sofa bed. They are all broadly similar too – they mainly just differ in size – ranging from 601 sq. ft. to 1800 sq ft. The building used to be a luxury condo before its reincarnation as a boutique apart hotel and internally that’s pretty much what they are – luxury condos. Their design and decoration aren’t too dynamic, though they certainly have a touch of class and they are enormously comfortable, clean and bright. All come with a balcony and modern apartment facilities such as cable tv, Nest thermostat, dishwashers, washing machines, and tumble dryers. Prices & Availability: Enter your dates and check prices at Booking.com here. Food & Facilities: There’s no restaurant or bar at The Guesthouse but they have an agreement with two excellent local restaurants to supply catered meals on order. Southport Grocery delivers breakfast which includes delicious pancakes and French toast, and lunch with a range of gourmet sandwiches, salads and soups. In the evening then Calo, a local Italian restaurant can deliver a whole host of classic Italian dishes including some really great thin-crust pizza. It being a hotel and not just an apartment block there are some cool social spaces. The roof terrace is a cool place to hang out, weather permitting, and it has lounge chairs and a barbecue. So too are the small, cozy Club Room and Library adjacent to the entrance lobby. There are two small boutique, informal stores by the lobby too, one selling locally made arts n crafts, jewelry, teeshirts, and more, the other selling delectable READ MORE

The Lowdown: The Bowery’s 17 floors tower over New York’s buzzy East Village allowing its rooms some of the very best views around. The hotel has a buzz all of its own too and is something of an A-list hang out. Photos are strictly prohibited in the lobby bar for example and its upper level suites are not available to be booked online, just to give you an idea. It’s not cheap by any means, and some guests do complain about the size of the rooms, but The Bowery has such an uber cool reputation that it doesn’t really need to care. The location is very convenient: you’re a short walk away from East Village, Greenwich Village, Chinatown, Little Italy, Nolita, SoHo, NoHo and the Lower East Side. Rooms: The Bowery has 110 rooms and 25 suites, with all but one type of suite – the 400 square feet studio suite – being unavailable to book online. Check out all your room options here at Booking.com. The rooms range in size from 250 to 350 square feet and are certainly comfortable, if not very decorative. They have something of a vintage feel too, and lots of dark woods combined with brightly colored upholstery and linens. The marble bathrooms are particularly vintage in style. Entry level rooms have walk in rainfall showers while higher up the chain you will also find bathtubs. All are supplied with luxury C.O. Bigelow or Lingua Franca bath amenities and terry robes. The views, as mentioned are a real highlight, from pretty much any floor. The floor-to-ceiling, warehouse-style windows can also take much of the credit. Prices & Availability: Enter your dates and check prices at Booking.com here. Food & Facilities: The Bowery’s signature restaurant is Gemma – a well-known celebrity hangout. It is a rustic, trattoria-style Italian located on the ground floor. The food is mainly traditional Italian with a seasonal menu and an extensive Italian wine list, but the menu is varied and doesn’t shy away from giant burgers, fries, strip steaks and the like. Its pizzas too are legendary. Guests of the hotel can happily order from the menu 24 hours via room READ MORE

The Lowdown: The highly respected Firmdale hotel company’s first non U.K. venture was the 11 floor, 86-room Crosby Street Hotel. Smack bang in the middle of SoHo, Manhattan but on a surprisingly quiet street, the location is very hard to beat. It has a cozy, homely feel throughout, though artistic flair abounds – most of the common areas and their individually designed rooms display a dazzling array of bold colors, quirky patterns and interesting art. The industrial style floor to ceiling windows allow for impressive views, particularly from the upper floors (they cost more though), and allow daylight flood the space. Unusually for a high end Manhattan hotel there is no signature restaurant here, but you have the happening Crosby Bar & Terrace which has a broad menu, very well received by guests, and excellent cocktails. Among its other amenities are a private garden, a guest only drawing room, several event and meeting rooms, a well equipped fitness center and a state-of-the-art 99 seat screening room. Rooms: Their 86 rooms and suites are all individually decorated and, as you can see in the photos, are a riot of color in places. They are also enormously comfortable and spacious. The mid to upper range suites are more like mini apartments than hotel rooms with very inviting lounge areas and fireplaces. Check your room options out here at Booking.com. The marble and granite bathrooms all display a nice sense of old world opulence. They all come with twin pedestal sinks, RikRak toiletries and, in the upper range suites, elegant bathtubs. Other amenities include work desks, minibars, safes, large cable TVs, Tivoli radios, air conditioning and black out curtains/blinds. The enormous windows replace entire walls and allow great views. The hotel has 11 floors and so naturally the higher you find yourself the better the views will be. Expect to pay more though for the upper floors. Prices & Availability: Enter your dates and check prices at Booking.com here. Food & Facilities  The Crosby doesn’t have a signature restaurant but the Crosby Bar & Terrace does serve breakfast, lunch, dinner as well as brunch and afternoon tea on the weekends. The breakfast buffet READ MORE

The Lowdown: Only open since 2018 the Angad is a bright and bold new addition to the hotel scene in St. Louis, Missouri. It has, as the name suggests, a strong emphasis on art and is a veritable showcase for local talent. Throughout the building you can admire curated sculpture pieces, paintings, video art and photographs from local artists, the majority of which are also available to buy. Color is also a strong theme at Angad with most of its 146 rooms having an exact equivalent in a different color. On the understanding that color affects mood you can choose between green for rejuvenation, yellow for curiosity, red for empowerment and blue for freedom. Its location right in the heart of St. Louis’ Grand Center Arts District is fitting and here you are within walking distance of some of the city’s best restaurants, cafes, bars, theaters and galleries. Rooms: All 146 rooms have a different single color scheme – red, blue, green and yellow. You don’t get to choose your room before booking though, only after by contacting the hotel once your get the confirmation e-mail, or at your check-in. The rooms range from entry level singles to 410 square feet rooms with two queen size beds to sleep four, 505 square feet suites which have a double bedroom, a separate lounge area and a kitchenette, and then their top-of-the-range, 1,400 square feet, Double King Suites which have two double bedrooms with king size beds, and a lounge area. Check out all the details at Booking.com here. Be prepared for some low-level shock on getting acquainted with your room for the first time: except for the floors they are almost entirely monochrome. The idea is that such an immersion in a specific color can encourage certain moods and in this case that is either red for empowerment, blue for freedom, yellow for curiosity or green for rejuvenation. Prices & Availability: Enter your dates and check prices at Booking.com here. Food & Facilities: There are two food venues onsite the most prominent being the Commonwealth Restaurant which does a fresh take on modern European cuisine with a seasonal menu and locally READ MORE

The Lowdown: Hotel Clermont, in the heart of Atlanta’s trendy Poncey-Highland neighborhood, is a celebration the city’s eclectic history. The hotel has a storied past, having once been a somewhat disreputable 1920s-era hot spot before it fell into disrepair. In recent years, it has been lovingly restored to its former glory, with both vintage-inspired decor and amenities that are thoroughly modern. Playful design details abound – like the goldfish bowl in the lobby and the neon pink sign on the rooftop bar that reads, “We are not a hotel, we are a refuge.” Rooms: Hotel Clermont’s 94 rooms are divided into several categories. Double rooms are cozy, yet stylishly appointed with a queen bed and whimsical touches like retro rotary phones. The Deluxe Double rooms are outfitted with two queen beds. Their King rooms then are a step ahead in size and with king beds instead of queen. Their top-of-the-range is the Clermont Suite, the hotel’s largest accommodation, with separate living and sleeping areas, a king bed, and a large balcony with sweeping views of Atlanta. Most economical, if you’re with a group are the bunk rooms which can sleep up to four on bunk beds. Check out all your room options here at Expedia.com Food, Drink & Facilities: Hotel Clermont has several dining and drinking options on-site. Tiny Lou’s is a chic French-American brasserie that serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with dishes like lobster eggs Benedict, steak frites, and a rotating selection of house-made charcuterie. The restaurant’s intimate bar is a great spot for a pre-dinner cocktail or nightcap. For a more casual vibe, head to the Lobby Bar, which serves up creative cocktails and light bites. And, of course, there’s the rooftop bar, which is a destination in and of itself. It boasts stunning views of the Atlanta skyline, a pool, and an outdoor fireplace. Hotel Clermont also has a fitness center and a bike rental program. Location: Located on Ponce de Leon Avenue, one of Atlanta’s main thoroughfares, Hotel Clermont is surrounded by some of the city’s most vibrant neighborhoods. Poncey-Highland is known for its indie shops, restaurants and galleries, and it’s just a few blocks from READ MORE