Most hotel chains are designed to look the same. Apart from the variations (one bed, or two) and difference in room sizes based on the rate, everything from the positioning of the furniture to the art on the walls is identical. The Hilton Franchise has a set of very specific guidelines for the construction and design of their hotels to enable their operators to properly and consistently communicate their brand.

Tim and Kit Kemp are building a hotel empire, but unlike the Hiltons of the world, they have a very unique perspective on what hotel guests want to experience and how that is communicated in the design of their physical spaces, including the lovely Covent Garden Hotel, Soho Hotel and now the Crosby Street Hotel in NYC (their first venture outside of the UK). Following through on their belief that “hotels should be living things, not stuffy institutions”, the hotels themselves are unique and don’t conform to an overarching Firmdale brand look, each room is specially considered and no two are alike.

In a recent interview Kit Kemp, who also acts as the interior designer for Firmdale projects, explained her aesthetic,

A lot of design now is rather serious and formulaic. There should always be that element of surprise and fun—a slight quirkiness …

A hotel is a world, and when you arrive through the front door, that in itself should be a sort of fantasy and exciting. A lot of hotels miss that—you walk through the door and it is like having a disciplinarian tell you what to do and where to do it.

Most people (myself included) can’t afford the luxuries that the Kemps offer and are stuck staying in the lackluster, beige Hiltons and Thistles. That doesn’t mean we can’t admire what the Kemps are trying to do, our noses pressed up against the glass.

Have you stayed in hotels with outstanding design? Let us know where in the comments.

Covent Garden Hotel photograph by Jeremiah Christopher.