Amazon Review
Thankfully hotels no longer attempt to look like offices with each one looking exactly the same as the next. Herbert Ypma, founder of the award-winning magazine Interior Architecture, has scouted around the world to find some of the most individual hotels. "Travel, even business travel, can still be an adventure," he writes in the introduction. "A Hip Hotel can turn a boring business jaunt into a stylish and stimulating experience." Ypma's book Hip Hotels: City--the first in a series of books on hotels--is a guidebook as well as a record of the work of some of the world's most famous designers: Terence Conran in Vienna, Anouska Hempel in London, Christian Liaigre in New York, Philippe Starck in Hong Kong, Edward Tuttle in Bangkok. Ypma has used more than 600 photographs rather than words to show the splendours of the hotels he chose. After all, words like "charming" and "beautiful" mean different things to different people. Hip Hotels can be read like a decor magazine--you keep it next to your bed and read a chapter or two when you feel like inspiration for decorating your own home. For those who are lucky enough to stay at these Hip Hotels, it's a useful guide when making travel arrangements.