New Hotels

Many of the hotels featured in this elegant volume are so extraordinarily posh that readers wishing to experience their comforts may well find their only opportunity is in these pages. The majority of the structures are modernist urban oases located throughout five continents, from London and Buenos Aires to Miami Beach and Italy. (Notably absent, however, are Asian hotels.) Colombian architect Bahamon showcases high-concept designer hotels with""an attention to personality coupled with an organic integration of the building with its history and surroundings."" Fur-lined beds are a necessity at Sweden's chilly new Icehotel, for example, where the building itself and much of the decor is rendered from immense blocks of ice, while Berlin's Propeller Island City Lodge is""an art gallery where guests stay in constantly changing installations."" In addition to the glossy photos highlighting soaring lobbies and luxurious suites, the page spreads offer brief histories on the hotels' structure and design. Though at its heart a book for designers and hoteliers, this volume will also give lay readers and armchair travelers plenty of sophisticated eye candy.