Two New Sight Unseen–Approved Hotels Are As Much Living Rooms For Locals As They Are Destinations for Design-Seeking Travelers

When the Ace Hotel opened in Manhattan in 2009, it established a blueprint for the idea of a hotel lobby as a living room for the city. (Or, perhaps more accurately with a nod to the Royaltons et al of early ’80s, revived the idea.) With its Stumptown Coffee, Opening Ceremony outpost, April Bloomfield-helmed restaurant, rows of laptop-friendly desks (in an era before WeWork, no less), vintage-inspired photo booth, and a bustling events calendar, the Ace was as much a hangout for locals as it was a haven for travelers. Ace continued to imprint this model as it opened in cities around the world, and other hotels soon followed suit.

As this mode of hospitality became the norm over the past decade and a half, though, it’s gotten harder for new hotels to stand out, which is why design has become such an important distinguishing factor. But as I found in my travels over the last six months, there are a few properties who are really doing things right — who have taken the idea of the hotel as living room, tweaking it through both expansion and refinement, to something resembling perfect.

The first of these properties is the Stockholm Stadshotell, which soft-opened in December in Södermalm, an area that’s akin to the Brooklyn of the Swedish capital, and where there were previously no cool boutique hotels. Stadshotell bills itself as a “house where you can eat and sleep,” and the idea that it’s a place where you can simply stop in for a bite and a hang, regardless of whether you’re lodging there, is reinforced by its restaurant-world bona fides. The hotel was opened by Fredrik Carlström and Ian Nicholson alongside Johan Agrell, Jon Lacotte, and Dan Källström, the trio behind a collection of Stockholm’s most beloved eateries, including Babette, Café Nizza, and Schmaltz; the team opted to open its restaurant, which is the beating heart of Stadshotell, before the rooms were even ready for a stay.

Design is of course a distinguishing factor here — the interiors feature elements like floor-grazing curtains, burlwood headboards, Fledermaus chairs, burgundy-lacquered tables, Swedish Grace accessories, and pink marble bathrooms. Several hotel flourishes were made in collaboration with local artisans, from the Teenage Engineering radios that adorn each windowsill to the intarsia wood elevator panels by Stockholm artist Klara Knutsson. But perhaps the thing that most defines Stadshotell is the idea of hospitality. Staying at Stadshotell is not unlike sleeping over at the home of your most interesting design friend (who also happens to be a killer chef): Every item has a meaningful story behind it, and every meal has the opportunity to turn into a group hang or party.

The other hotel I visited was the Ace Hotel Kyoto, which was built on the former site of the Kyoto Central Telephone Office, originally designed by Tetsuro Yoshida in the 1920s and renovated in the ’90s by Richard Rodgers. Atelier Ace worked with Kengo Kuma & Associates and Commune Design to preserve elements of the original building in a sensitive renovation that features regional materials, “thoughtfully curated plants” (my favorite tidbit from the press release), and original arts and crafts from Japanese artists and artisans — Nakashima-designed rugs, sculptural tile from Shigaraki, curtains and art by the late artist Samiro Yunoki, who was part of Japan’s Mingei movement. All of the markers that defined those early Ace hotels and made them neighborhood staples are here and then some. The acclaimed chef (Katy Cole, of Tokyo’s Locale). The lobby co-working space. The fun photo booth. And there isn’t just a cool store: Ace Kyoto is part of the Shin-puh-kan development, which includes more than a dozen stores like Beams. One of my favorite things about the Ace Kyoto — aside from the soaking tub in each room — is the artist-in-residence program, for which the hotel partners with several curatorial entities and holds quarterly openings, gallery-style. When I was there, one of my favorite artists, Emma Kohlmann, was showing the results of her 30-day residency, curated by commune Gallery, for which she developed a collection of watercolors inspired by her first visit to Kyoto, using local materials like shiro mashi paper and watercolor pigments.

Of course none of this would matter if both properties weren’t also perfect places to lay your head, which of course they are. (That’s on Dux bedding in Stockholm and a wool Pendleton blanket in Kyoto, FWIW). So what are you waiting for?