http://travel.nytimes.com/2013/05/19/travel/hotels-warm-up-with-local-accents.html?_r=1& While sleek minimalism set the tone for urban boutique hotels in the 1990s, rustic elements are warming up the newest crop of small hotels. These trendsetters emphasize their sense of place through local themes, building materials, restaurant fare, entertainment or a combination of them all. Related Videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNEWTWfzYsA http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/karinseifert-1814933-avanti-group-news-articles/ See more: http://communities.ptc.com/groups/the-avanti-group-fraud-warning

1. Hotels Warm up with Local Accents
DESIGNER’S BOILER HOUSE
ROOMS AVANTI CONSULTING
ENGINEERS
http://travel.nytimes.com/2013/05/19/travel/hotels-warm-up-with-local-
accents.html?_r=1&

2. While sleek minimalism set the tone for urban boutique hotels in the 1990s, rustic elements
are warming up the newest crop of small hotels. These trendsetters emphasize their sense
of place through local themes, building materials, restaurant fare, entertainment or a
combination of them all.
Minneapolis | The Commons Hotel
Near the campus of the University of Minnesota, the 304-room Commons Hotel telegraphs
a geek-chic attitude with argyle wallpaper, a library with a book concierge on call and a
banquette-ringed central fire pit, and Sudoku puzzles on room-service breakfast trays. The
brick building, once a Radisson hotel, could pass for a dormitory, but the accent inside is
on Minnesota, with walls of reclaimed barn wood, a photo mural of a birch forest in the
restaurant and vintage black-and-white reels of university sporting events screened on an
expansive video wall.
Rates from $199; (612) 379-8888, commonshotel.com.

3. Burlington, Vt. | Hotel Vermont
Locally owned and designed, this independent hotel aims to be modern on the surface
but Vermont to the core. Its 125 rooms are stocked with blankets from Johnson Woolen
Mills, Lunaroma bath products and Vermont Teddy Bears (on demand). Much of the
building material, including oak furniture and flooring and marble in the bathrooms, came
from within 600 miles. Until the hotel’s Hen of the Wood restaurant opens in late
summer, guests can order breakfast, including polenta with fried eggs and wild blueberry
pancakes, from the Juniper bar; it, too, features local ingredients in its “carbon-negative”
cocktails. In a twist on recycling, the hotel keeps a fleet of refurbished bicycles from a
local shop, the Old Spokes Home.
Rates from $229; (802) 651-0080, hotelvt.com.

4. Kennebunkport, Me. | Boathouse Waterfront Hotel
On the Kennebunk River, this design-oriented hotel, one of nine in the Kennebunkport
Resort Collection, is poised to be a social setting for summer Mainers. David’s KPT, a
200-seat restaurant with river views, is run by the Portland chef and restaurateur David
Turin; it features a raw bar and lobster in many variations, including pizza. Inspired by
the area’s yachting and shipbuilding cultures, the hotel interior includes a front desk
suggesting a boat hull and a lobby with blue-and-white furniture. The nautical colors
continue in the 12 guest rooms, where beds are dressed in Maine-made Cuddledown
duvets.
Rates from $229; (877) 266-1304, boathouseme.com.

5. Aspen, Colo. | Hotel Jerome
Managed now by Auberge Resorts, the oldest hotel in Aspen is, after a five-month
renovation completed in December, also the town’s newest. The good bones that
distinguish the 1889 hotel, like its brick facade and lobby hearth, remain, but there is
more lavish decoration incorporating historic and modern Aspen. Vintage collectibles
such as old mining equipment, typewriters and antique buffet tables mingle with
overstuffed couches and nested cocktail tables in the lively Living Room lounge.
Photographs, old maps and Western art underscore the mining-era theme, while
generously proportioned rooms exhibit the frontier sense of elbow room.
Rates from $325; (970) 920-1000, hoteljerome.aubergeresorts.com.

6. Portland, Ore. | Kennedy School
This converted 1915 elementary school on Portland’s Northeast side recently added a
literary-themed English Wing of 22 rooms, each devoted to a different book, ranging
from “Tropic of Capricorn” by Henry Miller to “Beezus and Ramona” by Beverly Cleary.
Contemporary artwork corresponds to the book themes. Kennedy School, with a total of
57 rooms, is part of the McMenamin hotel chain owned by the beer-brewing brothers
Mike and Brian McMenamin, who specialize in reclaiming historic buildings. At this one,
patrons can watch a movie in the old auditorium and drink at a bar in the former boiler
room.
Rates from $115; (503) 249-3983, mcmenamins.com/kennedyschool.

7. Chicago | Hotel Lincoln
A former residential hotel dating to 1928, this year-old hotel opposite Lincoln Park pays
tribute to a few of its past habitués. For example, there is the architect Buckminster
Fuller, whose geodesic domes were the inspiration for angular entry mirrors in each of
its 184 rooms. The author David Mamet is referenced in Elaine’s Coffee Call, a coffee
shop in the lobby that was named for the telephone operator who called the budding
playwright nightly to inquire whether he wanted coffee or tea. The front desk was
created by stacking 30 vintage dresser drawers from antiques shops; flea market art
festoons the lobby walls. A hotel pedicab provides shuttles to the nearby beach, and
restaurants on the roof and the ground floor take advantage of the organic Green City
Market, held twice weekly across the street, May through October.
Rates from $189; (855) 514-8112, jdvhotels.com.

8. Santa Monica, Calif. | Oceana Beach Club Hotel
Newly remodeled to pay homage to its midcentury roots, this 70-room hotel ditched its
bright Mediterranean colors in favor of sun-bleached shades of blue in the pool
courtyard. The lobby now features ’60s-inspired furnishings, including geometric-
patterned rugs and a mobile-like chandelier. Rooms evoke a beach house with floral
pillows and lemon-yellow walls. The chef Josiah Citrin, a Santa Monica native known for
the Mélisse restaurant nearby, has opened the more casual Tower 8 in the hotel,
focusing on Southern California seasonal dishes.
Rates from $395; (310) 393-0486, hoteloceanasantamonica.com.