Part of large French hotel group Accor, the Ibis Styles label was launched in 2012. There are 18 of these concept hotels across Europe, all an exercise in style and comfort with playful touches. Designs run the gamut from exposed brick and monochrome furnishings in London's Southwark, to bold Sixties decor that characterise Ibis Styles Liverpool Centre Dale Street (pictured). As well as a striking Beatles mural in the lobby, lyrics by the Fab Four pepper walls throughout the property.
In the 133-room Wroclaw Centrum Ibis Styles, you'll find a restaurant with chequered floors and furniture-inspired sculptures hanging from the ceiling. There are also trendy rooms washed in neon pink and green. Many Ibis Styles have contemporary bars, which continue the theme of the hotel, and you'll be able to feast on a hearty continental breakfast come morning too. Prices at Wroclaw Centrum Ibis Styles start from £56 ($67) per room per night.
Seriously stylish and seriously budget-friendly, this German chain was founded in 2000 by Dieter Müller, formerly of French group Accor. Motel One hotels are located in 12 European countries from capitals such as Berlin, London and Paris to under-the-radar hot spots like Leipzig and Linz. Usually bearing two or three stars, the well-located hotels are impeccably designed, kitted out with everything from plush designer furniture to funky flea market finds.
Local artists and interiors experts were used to create fresh designs for each of the hotels, from jungle prints in Paris to street-art-inspired digs in Berlin. Motel One Amsterdam-Waterlooplein is a particular standout. Dutch creative Piet Hein Eek has worked his magic on the hotel, with features including a curious chandelier made from upcycled lampshades and recreated pieces from Dutch masters such as Rembrandt which adorn the walls. Prices start from £106 ($126) per room per night.
The Barceló Hotel Group, founded by Simon Barceló in Majorca in 1931, is by no means a new kid on the block but its Barceló Hotels & Resorts range has a distinctly modern vibe. The brand's ethos is to incorporate art, design and cultural elements from each individual hotel's surroundings inside its walls. The range is now in more than 20 European destinations from Prague (pictured) to Cádiz in southern Spain.
The chic Barceló Bilbao Nervión (pictured) in Spain's Basque Country remains one of the chain's most impressive spots. Built with city breaks and business travellers in mind, it's mostly minimalist in its design with some head-turning art pieces peppered throughout, such as the psychedelic work that dominates the lobby. The 4-star hotel's Ibaizabal Restaurant, serving up Basque delicacies, also comes highly recommended. Prices start from £69 ($83) per room per night.
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Self-described as a collection of urban and beach hotels aimed at those with "curious minds and fluid lives", INNSiDE began in Germany and was acquired by Spanish hotel heavyweight Meliá in 2007. No two hotels look the same, but they all have bold designs, convenient locations and facilities to attract leisure and business travellers alike. INNSiDE Munchen Neue Messe, for example, is close to Munich's convention centre with colourful meeting rooms and art-adorned common spaces served by fast-running Wi-Fi.
Palma Center, another of INNSiDE's 32 European outposts, is equally as plush, with a modern wellness area, outdoor pool, rooftop bar and restaurant, and a mezzanine library to relax in after a long day's work. Elsewhere, INNSiDE Newcastle is located on the city's historic quayside with fantastic views of the Tyne. Prices start at around £60 ($72) per room per night.
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Mama Shelter is a fun, hip and youthful line of boutique hotels from French hotel giant Accor. Currently the boutique brand has found its way into 13 European cities, from Bordeaux to Belgrade. Describing its 2-to-4-star hotels as “urban refuges”, Mama Shelter has an ethos that’s centred around community – from sharing plates in its trendy restaurants to comfortable, communal lobbies and lively bars for socialising.
You’ll find foosball tables in bedrooms, cork boards littered with posters and shops filled with organic products and trinkets. The onsite restaurants vary city by city: plates range from poke bowls to pasta, with craft cocktails to wash it all down. One of the trendiest hotels of the bunch is 125-room Mama Shelter Belgrade, with its rooftop bar, retro decor and easy-going rooftop pizzeria. Prices at Belgrade start from £105 ($126) per room per night.
Spanish-owned NH Hotel Group (founded in 1978) is the big brand behind modern design hotels nhow, which can be found in eight of Europe's major cities. Each hotel is different from the next, with input from renowned architects and designers around the world. nhow Berlin (pictured) is one of the most striking in the portfolio with its futuristic, pink-splashed lobby, art gallery and music studios. It's got a fantastic location too right on the River Spree.
Floor-to-ceiling windows allow light to pour into the ultra-modern bedrooms at waterfront nhow Rotterdam, with its block colours and white-washed walls. The Milan venue has an equally vibrant design, with a sleek bar and a restaurant serving elevated Italian cuisine, while its nhow LOFT is a quirky space for meetings and private events. Prices in Rotterdam start from £118 ($141) per room per night.
This Dutch mini chain, established in 2008, brands itself "the hotel that changed hotels" and a disruptor to the industry with affordable luxury. Beginning in Amsterdam with a single hotel at Schiphol Airport, citizenM now has hotels in eight European cities including Rotterdam, Copenhagen and Paris. The quirky group has swapped the ‘lobby’ for the ‘living room’ and clean lines for bold colours, piles of books and lifts covered in artwork. It has a key focus on sustainability too with 90% of its electricity coming from renewable energy.
You'll find four of its funky design hotels in London's Victoria, Shoreditch and Bankside neighbourhoods, plus another close to the Tower of London. The latter is scattered with Union Jack cushions, pop art featuring Queen Elizabeth II and a library stacked with design-focused tomes. Each citizenM hotel also has a canteen serving comfort food at all hours, rooftop bars, a counter-service coffee shop and creative work spaces. Prices at Tower of London start at around £220 ($264) per room per night.
Room Mate Hotels' portfolio of urban sites is so diverse you’d barely realise they are part of the same family. Opened by three friends, the first Room Mate hotel was in Madrid with an onus on creating a welcoming environment with a fun and fearless design. 14 destinations worldwide, from Florence to Istanbul, now have a Room Mate property, and the brand has an ever-growing presence in Spain.
One of the chain’s standouts is Bruno in Rotterdam. It’s set in a former tea factory, with an eye-popping lobby area dotted with colourful foliage and lounge chairs, all centred around a log-fire-inspired water feature. Don’t miss a sundowner whipped up by expert mixologists at the chic lounge bar. Relative newcomer Room Mate Filippo in Rome also combines a fantastic city centre location with elegant design. Prices at Bruno start from £71 ($85) per room per night.
A stylish offshoot of the British-owned InterContinental Hotels Group, Hotel Indigo was launched in 2004. The chain prides itself on bringing the essence of individual neighbourhoods into its properties to create unique boutique hotels. It has lodgings in a wide range of European cities from Barcelona to Berlin, and Krakow to Antwerp (pictured). Expect common spaces with contemporary flourishes, such as slouchy leather sofas, colourful Eames-style chairs and abstract artwork.
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The discerning design details continue into the bedrooms. Hotel Indigo Durham (pictured) in the northeast of England, for example, occupies old university offices, a history referenced with leather-bound books and library-esque wood panelling. London's Leicester Square offering, meanwhile, is an Art Deco masterpiece, oozing glamour. All the hotels have 'spa style' bathrooms with walk-in power showers and indulgent toiletries. Prices at Durham start from £118 ($141) per room per night.
25hours Hotels, founded in Germany in 2003, is a chain of 15 urban hotels that is all about cool locations and contemporary interiors. Now part of Ennismore, a joint venture with Accor, 25hours Hotels can be found in cities across Germany as well as in Vienna, Zurich, Florence, Paris and Copenhagen.
Its two Hamburg hotels play on the port city's industrial vibe: expect metal fittings, exposed pipes and wood panelling. The property in the HafenCity neighbourhood is particularly sleek, offering bikes to rent, smart meeting spaces (pictured) and a Finnish spa. The pair of Zurich hotels are bold and bright, with eye-popping red, yellow and blue furnishings, and quirky additions. Hotel Zurich Langstrasse has a studio for artists, pawn shop and sauna. Prices in Hamburg start from £111 ($133) per room per night.
German group SORAT Hotels has been running since 1989 and its portfolio consists of colourful, contemporary 3-to-4-star hotels with reasonable price tags and central locations. Each one guarantees a cosy bed and a good continental breakfast, but USPs vary between properties. Hotel Central Hof in Bavaria describes itself as a “wellness temple”, with a panorama sauna, a rooftop area lined with loungers and state-of the-art fitness equipment. Its colourful facade is a head-turner too.
SORAT Hotel Saxx Nürnberg, meanwhile, has a proudly Franconian design, with bold portraiture, sleek wooden finishes and crisp linens. SORAT Hotel Berlin had a design refresh in 2022 – with a fabulous location in Berlin West, it's a brilliant base for a summer escape in the city. Prices in Nürnberg start from £105 ($126) for a double-occupancy room.
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Founded in Sweden in the Sixties, this Nordic chain oozes cool. Scandic has hotels in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Poland and Germany, and each is blessed with an effortlessly stylish Scandinavian feel. The portfolio includes Downtown Camper in central Stockholm, complete with a rooftop spa suite, co-living spaces, and skateboards, bikes and kayaks to rent from the lobby. The Campfire Grill is the perfect place to swap stories after a day of urban adventures.
Scandic Grand Central, also in Stockholm, is another standout. Located in a historic building, its design is inspired by the Big Apple, with walls papered with posters, a sleek cocktail bar, low-lit bistro and roster of live music. The hotel even has its own theatre, the Vasa Theatre, which hosts events and acts from Sweden and beyond from bands to dance troupes, plus glitzy film premieres. Prices at Grand Central start from £89 ($107) per room per night.
The Hoxton dubs its properties “open-house hotels inspired by the diversity and originality of the streets and scenes” surrounding them – a fitting description for this unconventional chain, whose very first hotel opened in London's Shoreditch in 2006. Today the brand (now part of Ennismore) has properties in London's Holborn too, as well as in Amsterdam, Paris, Barcelona and the US. The hotels have industrial-chic down to a tee, each one making the most of its space, from floor-to-ceiling windows in Paris’ 2nd arrondissement to quirky concept rooms in Amsterdam.
Room sizes range from ‘Shoebox’ to ‘Biggy’, so whatever your needs and budget, they’ll be met. Meeting and events space is found in each of the hotels, and the well-stocked fridges and free-flowing tea and coffee are nice touches. Fashionable bars and restaurants add to the vibe, from Shoreditch’s laid-back, all-day Hoxton Grill to Moroccan-themed Jacques' Bar in Paris. Prices at The Hoxton, Shoreditch start from £214 ($257) per room per night.
Curio Collection by Hilton was launched in 2014, aimed at guests looking for a boutique and local experience. Described as "one-of-a-kind upscale" hotels that have been “handpicked for their individual character", there are more than 150 diverse properties dotted around the world. In Europe, the collection is soon set to include the Anglo American Hotel Florence, slated to open in March 2024 in the city's historic centre, with an outdoor courtyard and a restaurant serving Tuscan dishes with a twist.
The fast-expanding brand also has hotels set to open in France and Spain in the next few years, including the Palacio Bellas Artes Hotel San Sebastian, Curio Collection by Hilton. The 82-room hotel in the Amara district is expected to open in Spain's gastronomic hot spot in 2024. It will join an impressive portfolio which spans cities from Lisbon, Madrid and Santorini to Krakow, London and Reykjavík.
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