3 great international hotel chains

International hotel chains

It can sometimes be a challenge to find chains where the hotels stand out. A chain with hotels that are unique and that provides more than just a bed and some breakfast (although sometimes that is exactly what you need, so no shade towards chains).

But there are exceptions. Here are three hotel chains that I think manage to create something unique with interesting design while at the same time being part of a chain (and that are affordable to us normal folk):

W Hotels

The W is part of the Marriott group and has almost 60 hotels in more than 50 different destinations, with 35 additional hotel projects in pipeline. Their journey started in NYC and they try to add some of the NYC feel to all of their hotels. Their concept is built around 4 corner stones: Music, Fuel, Design and Fashion.

I have had the opportunity to stay at 5 of their properties: London, Barcelona, Amsterdam (photo above), San Francisco, and San Diego. I have also taken the opportunity to have a look around in the lobby area of many more of the W hotels and they never disappoint when it comes to cool, interesting and sometimes a bit whacky design.

Next on my list of W hotels that I would like to stay at is the W Ibiza. It looks amazing!

The Hoxton

The story of this chain started back in 2006 when they turned a car park in Shoreditch, East London into their first hotel. In 2015 they ventured outside London and England when they opened their third property in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Fast forward to today they have 9 hotels in Europe and the US.

At Hoxton they have defined what makes a Hoxton hotel and one of the main things is what they call “Open house”, where guests and locals come together to hang, eat and drink. This together with “Thoughtful design” where the key words are vibrant, cosy and welcoming makes for a really successful hotel concept.

So far I’ve stayed at four of their properties: London Shoreditch, London Holborn, London Southwark and Amsterdam (the photo above is from AMS, where M, my husband is exiting to explore the city).

Next on my list of Hoxton hotels that I would like to stay at is The Hoxton Paris. Might be the first thing I plan for as soon as we are free to move around again.

Ace Hotels

When Ace Hotels opened their first hotel in Seattle, USA in a former Salvation Army halfway house, they started a journey that would have an impact the hotel industry. They introduced two things that were brand new at the time, they defined their own unique Ace style and they also opened their doors to non-guests. They realized that a great way to make hotels feel vibrant and interesting is to connect it closer to the local community. And it worked and still works really well. So well that many other hotels have been inspired by what Ace is doing (for example I see it in The Hoxton hotels that I have written about above).

Today they have 11 unique hotels with that typical Ace flair in US, Panama, the UK and Japan (the one in Kyoto is the most recent to open, in June 2020) and I hope there will be more in Europe in the future.

I have had the opportunity to stay at five of their hotels: Seattle, Portland (where the photo is from and in this photo it is not M exiting to explore the city :-)), Downtown LA, Palm Springs and London.

Next on my list of Ace hotels that I would like to stay at is Ace Kyoto. I still haven’t been to Japan and it is high up on my wish list. If we go, a stay at Ace Kyoto will for sure be on the itinerary.

Do you agree? Or do you have any favorite international hotel chain that didn’t make in onto my list?