The Lowdown: The Burgess Hotel, is Atlanta’s upscale Buckhead neighborhood’s only independent boutique hotel. It has a pleasantly refined atmosphere and, by all accounts, one of the city’s very best restaurants. It also has a bold, modern, international feel, with more than a touch of Asia – from its Hong Kong origin owners – the large dragon sculpture in the lobby for example, along with many oriental prints on the walls. Rooms: Your choices are as simple as it gets at the Burgess – you have either a room with a king bed or a room with two queen beds. All are spacious, clean and modern, they are minimalist in design but with bold bursts of color here and there. Nothing out of the ordinary for a luxury hotel is here but they are unmistakably chic and extremely comfortable. Check out all your room options here at Booking.com. Food, Drink & Facilities: The Burgess’ signature restaurant Fia, which creates wood-fired Western Mediterranean fare, is one of Atlanta’s most highly rated restaurants, while Mr. B, the hotel’s cozy library lounge, creates unique, highly inventive craft cocktails. The hotel’s pool sits in a lovely, green lush courtyard. It has its own outdoor bar and is a relaxing oasis for many guests when the weather is kind. The hotel’s state-of-the-art fitness center is a step above the vast majority of hotel gyms. Equipment includes Peloton bikes and Lateral X Ellipticals with adjustable 3D motion. Location: The Burgess is in Buckhead, near the PATH400 trail and surrounded by some of Atlanta’s swankiest businesses and most impressive-looking homes. Hal’s the Steakhouse, a veritable Atlanta institution, is nearby and some of the city’s best shopping can be found at Phipps Plaza and the Shops, Buckhead Atlanta. The hotel offers a complimentary transportation service for all guests within a two-mile radius. Some Guest Reviews: “We absolutely LOVE this property and the STAFF all around was AMAZING. Mark Hull was an incredible host/ bartender and a fantastic individual all around. Jacob at the front desk was a gem, as well as his colleague and the manager. A service on all levels. I wish I knew everyone’s name to give 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: In the vibrant South Congress neighborhood of Austin, Texas, Hotel Saint Cecilia is a luxury boutique hotel very much in tune with the city’s bohemian side. Its eclectic decor, vintage furnishings, and laid-back vibe make it a favorite among passing creatives, artists, and musicians. It occupies a beautifully renovated 1880s Victorian mansion, and with it having a mere 14 guest rooms, the atmosphere is personable and intimate. Rooms: Hotel Saint Cecilia’s guest rooms are distinctively, beautifully, decorated and you can expect antique rugs, Victorian and other vintage furniture, and original artwork.  All also feature high ceilings, hardwood floors, and floor-to-ceiling windows. There are five suites, three studios, and six cozy poolside bungalows. The studios feature private balconies with views of the hotel gardens, while the bungalows have private porches amidst the greenery. The suites are the most spacious, featuring separate living areas, oversized soaking tubs, and wood-burning fireplaces. Prices & Availability: Enter your dates and check prices at Booking.com here. Hotel Saint Cecilia welcomes dogs of any size for an additional fee of $25 per pet, per night. Treats, bowls, and toys are provided. Food and Facilities: Hotel Saint Cecilia’s restaurant and bar, the Lounge, offers a Mediterranean-inspired menu of small plates along with creative cocktails in a stylish, relaxed atmosphere. It has a cozy indoor seating area, an outdoor patio overlooking the hotel’s pool, and a poolside bar. The menu showcases locally sourced ingredients, offering fresh, authentic flavors that seem to be consistently popular with guests. The bar offers an extensive selection of wines, spirits, and craft beers, as well as a rotating cocktail menu. The hotel also provides a hearty daily breakfast including eggs how you like them, some great fresh pastries, and a selection of coffees and juices. The small outdoor pool is the hub of the property when the weather’s warm. It is surrounded by lush greenery, poolside lounges and cabanas. Hotel Saint Cecilia has a small but well-equipped fitness center.  It also offers complimentary bicycles for guests to explore the city. Art lovers will appreciate the hotel’s collection of contemporary art displayed throughout the common areas, adding to the hotel’s overall boho-chic ambiance, READ MORE

The Lowdown: Home to perhaps Denver’s coolest bar, Death & Co, The Ramble is an uber-stylish, 4-star boutique hotel in the city’s hip RiNo (River North) Arts District. The interiors are inspired by 17th-century Paris it is said. It has that old-world elegance and class but is also thoroughly hip and modern. It has an unmistakable New York vibe too. Their bar might take some of the blame. It was the highly regarded Death & Co Cocktail Bar’s first branch outside Manhattan. Rooms: The hotel’s 50 rooms vary in size, though none are really large it must be said, and the entry-level rooms are quite small. They are though lavishly dressed with antique Persian rugs, art deco chandeliers, hand-crafted furniture, quality linens and super comfortable beds. Mod cons include an iPad with a Bluetooth gramophone speaker, air-con, mini-bar, cable TV and insulated walls. Prices & Availability: Enter your dates and check prices at Expedia.com here. Food and Facilities: Death & Co’s palace-like lobby bar and restaurant, open til 1:30 am is the centerpiece at The Ramble, but they also have a nice outdoor dining space, The Garden, which closes a few hours earlier. The food and drink are superb in both, and Death & Co particularly has a strong following among fashionable locals. It is generally lively and fun. Attached to the hotel is the almost as lovely Vauxhall Theater, which hosts a great range of events – plays, film screenings, concerts etc. The Ramble also has a small, functional fitness center open around the clock. Location: The hotel is bang in the middle of Denver’s new coolest neighborhood, RiNo, with some of the city’s best bars and restaurants minutes away. Right next door in fact is Dana Rodriguez’s highly regarded Supa Mega Bien. Denver’s downtown, and of course LoDo (Lower downtown), are less than a mile away. Some Guest Reviews: “The rooms are beautifully designed – the bed extremely comfy! We had a corner room which was great! The cocktail bar is dangerously good 😊 And the neighborhood very walkable- we will be back!…..” “The Ramble Hotel is truly one of those hidden gems. From its beautiful ambiance to 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