Four Hotels Defining What It Means To Be ‘Hyperlocal’

Date 10 January 2018

The time is far behind us when travelers settled for indistinguishably luxurious chain accommodations. These days, it seems everyone wants to talk about local hubs providing locally sourced products and services. But some of today’s most exciting boutique properties, like the four featured below, have taken things a step further by bringing the neighborhood, quite literally, into the hotel.

The Warehouse Hotel

Singapore

The Warehouse Hotel was designed by Singaporean firm Asylum to create a unique local experience. The firm drew on the building’s history as a godown (warehouse) for an unusual light installation in the lobby, comprising of a series of pulleys and wheels. Occupying a trio of gabled buildings on the banks of the river, the hotel retains many original industrial features, including a large existing brick wall and the original exposed roof trusses. The rooms feature a range of bespoke objects made by local designers such as the mugs and bed throws.

Ion Adventure Hotel

Selfoss, Iceland

From the volcanic marvels of Mount Hengill to the urban sophistication of Reykjavik nearby, Iceland’s unique landscape plays a pivotal role in the rich design of the 45-room Ion Adventure Hotel. Icelandic rock and locally sourced, repurposed wood fill the hotel’s interiors, which were designed by Santa Monica-based, Icelandic studio Minarc. A hyperlocal sensibility extend to the ever-rotating local artworks and music that fill the hotel, as well as to the farm-to-table cuisine at Silfra Restaurant & Bar and the partially exposed Lava Spa, where guests can luxuriate with herbal products made from organic, mineral-rich volcanic ash and clay sourced from the immediate vicinity.
 

The Robey

Chicago, United States

Housed in an Art Deco masterpiece that is one of Chicago’s most recognizable buildings, The Robey was a neighborhood icon long before it opened in 2017 as a boutique hotel. Hovering high above the live music venues, cafés, and boutiques of Chicago’s swinging Wicker Park and Bucktown neighborhoods, it draws a constant stream of discerning locals to its ground-floor modern American bistro, Café Robey, and to Up & Up, its popular rooftop cocktail lounge gazing out over Chicago’s ever-changing cityscape.

Guesthouse Vienna

Austria

Everything at Guesthouse Vienna, a collaboration between celebrated Austrian hotelier Manfred Stallmajer and British design icon Sir Terrence Conran, is resoundingly local, from the classic Viennese bentwood chairs, to the soaps by local eco-luxury cosmetic guru Wolfgang Lederhaas, to the Brasserie & Bakery, a beloved gathering point for the movers and shakers of the Austrian capital’s storied 1st district .