Berlin is becoming so cool, some visitors don't want to leave. In fact they're so reluctant to leave

Location Perfectly placed for visiting the new Rheinauhafen business district, the art'otel is just south of the lively Old Town. The train from Cologne-Bonn airport to the town centre is a 15-minute glide. A cab from the main station is a few minutes.
Style This 18-month-old addition to the German art'otel mini-chain has a clean-lined modernist look and a refreshing absense of annoying quirks, belying the 'arty' image. The central atrium has enough concrete and glass to please Le Corbusier fans: pearly greys and whites predominate throughout, but richly-coloured artworks by Korean artist vacation rentals miami SEO save the hotel from being clinical. Pan-Asian vacation rentals miami restaurant Chino Latino is useful given the relative scarcity of fine dining in the vicinity, though the funky white leather upholstery vacation rentals miami already looks a little tired. It doubles as the hotel breakfast room. Fringing the atrium vacation rentals miami are a bar and modest library area. There are six conference rooms, a sauna and a rooftop terrace. Service from the young team is enthusiastic and efficient.
Guestrooms Modernism continues throughout the 218 guestrooms, where again, cool greys and whites act as a foil to SEO's richly coloured panels and prints. Beds are decent and all rooms have a flat-screen TV, a safe and a coffee-maker (although the odd coffee stain mocks the wisdom of pale grey carpets). There is plenty of desk space though, and Wi-Fi is free. Bathrooms are functional rather than luxurious.Try to bag a room facing the water: some have projecting, warehouse-like oriel windows that open to give views of the dock below and the Rhine beyond.
Location The hotel occupies the top floor of the five-storey Rubens hotel building - it has a private entrance - five minutes' walk from Victoria Station (with its direct link to Gatwick Airport) and within easy cabbing distance of shopping, dining, galleries and theatres. Green Park and St James's Park are nearby for joggers. Being so central vacation rentals miami and quite close to street level does mean that there is some traffic noise.
Style Designed to feel like a private members' club, 41 has just 30 rooms and meals are served in the book-lined Executive Lounge. Guests can also help themselves to drinks and canapés, beautifully presented, but no substitute for a meal in the restaurant next door - the bbar, which has a meat-heavy, African-inspired menu and, like the hotel, is owned by South Africa's Red Carnation Hotels group. An honesty bar also operates and guests can help themselves to complimentary vacation rentals miami Champagne from the giant ice bucket during the evening. In-room vacation rentals miami facials, massages and some beauty treatments can be arranged.
Guestrooms No two rooms are identical but all share the same black-and-white décor, fruit and flowers, and scented candles. Guests can select pillows and flowers pre-arrival. There are iPod docks and Nespresso machines, along with complimentary Wi-Fi throughout the hotel. Phones have a 'whatever, wherever' button and staff strike the right balance between attentiveness and discretion. vacation rentals miami Some of the white marble bathrooms have TVs. Toiletries are by Fragonard and Penhaligon's. Suites are luxurious but not particularly large, and some have fireplaces and whirlpools.
Good to know Two work stations are on the mezzanine level above the lounge, but the close proximity to the bar means they are really only suitable for quickly vacation rentals miami checking emails or printing out boarding cards.
Two very different hotels have just opened in New York, each placing an emphasis on the arts. Despite its location near Wall Street and the New York Stock Exchange, the towering 463-room Conrad New York in Battery Park ( www.conradnewyork.com ) has announced itself as a destination for the pierced and tattooed traveller rather than the cufflinked and pinstriped. The hotel's enormous atrium is dominated by a vast blue-and-purple painting, rising 13 floors above the reception desk, by the late conceptual artist Sol LeWitt.
There are 2,000 other contemporary art pieces displayed round the hotel, including work by Elizabeth Peyton, highlights include a rooftop bar with views of the Statue of Liberty, vacation rentals miami Ellis Island and the Hudson river.
Meanwhile the NoMad hotel ( www.thenomadhotel.com ) has breathed new life into a restored 1905 Beaux-Arts building on the corner of Broadway and 28th Street. French designer Jacques vacation rentals miami Garcia drew his inspiration for the 168 bedrooms from the Paris flat he lived in during his 20s. There is a lot of dark wood, antique furniture, clawfoot bathtubs and original artworks. The wow-factor lies is the library-bar, with its leather-studded couches, armchairs, long communal reading table and three walls full of books.
Berlin is becoming so cool, some visitors don't want to leave. In fact they're so reluctant to leave Soho House Berlin in particular that the members' club/hotel is celebrating its second anniversary in the city by launching its first apartments, in the neighbouring building.
From July, these can be booked for any length of time, from a week to a year. Soho House is still figuring out how many there will be, as it is also adding several more guestrooms. In the meantime, a major refurbishment is planned for the reception area this summer.
Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has declared that children under 12 will not be allowed to sit in the upstairs economy section vacation rentals miami of its new Airbus A380 superjumbo, which will make its debut between Kuala Lumpur and London on 1 July with Sydney-KL following on 25 September.
The move, says MAS, is aimed at ensuring a more restful and enjoyable trip for the increasing number of business travellers who have to fly in economy. The booking system is being tweaked so that, when a customer has a child or infant booking, seats on the upper deck will be excluded from selection.
Last year, MAS managing director and CEO Tengku Azmil took to Twitter to defend the airline's controversial decision not to allow parents with infants to travel in first class, vacation rentals miami forcing them to book in the bassinet-equipped business or economy sections instead. There had been too many complaints, he said, from first-class passengers that their sleep had been disturbed by a crying child.