Best Urban Hotels 2019
It can’t have escaped even the most infrequent traveller that the hotel model is morphing into an altogether more sophisticated creature. Where once you might have checked in to find a pool, a business centre, a restaurant and a gym and considered yourself to be living the high life, these days it’s practically de rigueur to expect a concept store, a bakery, an artisanal coffee joint and a herb garden, alongside a co-working space and a kitchen to cater for midnight munchies.
And while, barely five years ago, your typical hotel guest may have checked in for an average of three nights, now, stays of a few weeks, or even months, are not unusual.
And so an odd hybrid has emerged: a hotel that is part home, part office, and furnished accordingly. A slick serviced apartment that has all the amenities of a five-star hotel, but with the privacy and flexibility of a private residence. No one has yet coined a name for this new model, and we’re still not convinced about ‘co-living’.
How, for instance, would you categorise Hong Kong’s K11 Artus, which features a sky-high garden, a library and a series of short-and long-term residences furnished by André Fu? Or British property magnate Harry Handelsman’s The Stratford, in London, where the short-and long-term-stay lofts are paired with a fire pit and a bar, daily yoga classes and a 24-hour concierge service that will not just book tickets to the ballet, but walk your dog and stock up your fridge?
Fu believes the push for such hybrid accommodation comes from ‘a growing community of
