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While hotels close temporarily and occupancy rates plummet due to the coronavirus pandemic, properties look to inspire with messages of light.

Kimpton’s “Stay Human Project” is the latest attempt at transforming a simple hotel stay into a deeper, more memorable experience.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, we all have a very personal approach to which experiences we’re more comfortable with and how to minimize risks. Two AFAR staffers share their different takes.

This new L.A. hotel stands out with its food, design, and rooftop views.

Want to work from paradise (WFP) while your kids take a schoolcation? The new academic year is shaping up to be a buzzword-heavy global learning experience far from the schoolyard.

One year after hurricanes Irma and Maria caused widespread destruction on numerous islands, the region is gearing up for the high season with renovated properties that sparkle like the surrounding sea.

A robot named YO2D2 has the run of Boston’s Yotel, making room deliveries and schmoozing in the lobby.

Everyone appreciates a friendly experience at a hotel or restaurant—it’s what keeps us coming back. Here’s how to bring some of that magic into your own home.

The inside scoop on a hotel debut in New York’s NoMad neighborhood.

Escape the central business district and explore new neighborhoods

The 1926 brick building that houses Hotel Ändra has an interesting history: Originally built as efficiency apartments, it served as a transfer station for the Women’s Army Corp from 1945 to 1947. Although this downtown site has operated as a small hotel since the 1970s, it was fully redesigned in 2004 to become the Hotel Ändra, now a showcase of design using Pacific Northwest materials like wood and stone, combined with Scandinavian style—a nod to the city’s Nordic roots. Even though it’s at the nexus of the city, the hotel feels cozy. The fireplace in the living room–style lobby and the casual, inviting atmosphere make it a refuge from the buzz of the streets outside. The restaurant, Lola, is a partnership with one of Seattle’s best-loved celebrity chefs, Tom Douglas, making Hotel Ändra an excellent home base for those in town to experience Seattle’s abundant local restaurants.

Originally built as luxury apartments near the Tivoli Gardens and City Hall, in central Copenhagen, the historic building now housing Hotel Alexandra has been a hotel since early 1890. After World War II, when it became the Hotel Alexandra, each of the rooms was painstakingly reimagined using exclusively Danish mid-century modern design, from the colors and fabrics to the furniture and art. Stepping into the lobby feels like stepping back in time to the Copenhagen of the 1950s and ‘60s, when the designers whose work fills the hotel were in the prime of their careers. Taking this dedication to Danish design a step further, each of the 59 rooms and suites has been decorated with vintage furniture and wallpaper from the ‘50s and ‘60s including works from some of the most famous Danish designers of the era: Finn Juhl, Verner Panton, Hans J. Wegner, Nanna Ditzel, or Arne Jacobsen.

But the hotel doesn’t live only in the past. Its dedication to environmental responsibility is evident throughout, and nowhere more so than in its environmental certification from Green Key, a laudable feat even in eco-conscious Denmark.

This designer budget hotel, set in a former brothel, is the brainchild of Andre Saraiva, a graffiti artist and nightlife entrepreneur who worked with Parisian artists and designers to pull off an edgy balance of style and substance. Rooms, which are on the small side, are painted in unconventional palettes and decorated with graffiti, and curated flea market and auction finds, vary in their level of provocation, though each could double as a contemporary art gallery installation or soft-porn concept store. While traditional services are nonexistent, the hotel is perfectly located for exploring SoPi, the more upper-crust residential part of the 9^th arrondissement just south of the transvestite cabarets and tourist zones of Montmartre, where classical mansions and 19th-century buildings are being colonized by young Parisians and expats opening bars, restaurants, vintage shops, and fashion boutiques. The restaurant that occupies most of the lobby and garden is a perennial favorite among Parisians of all ages for dinner and Sunday brunch.

You may think Boutique Nadine has a bit of an identity problem. Not only does the shop have two locations just a few blocks from each other in the heart of Florence, but they are both part vintage-clothing store, part indie-designer boutique, and part midcentury-furniture emporium. In the plus column: Everyone finds something to love here. Clothing is arranged by color and walls are hung with classroom world maps. A long table, overseen by a crimson statue of Buddha, displays bowls of beaded bracelets and rings and trays of sunglasses. You may walk out with a vintage designer piece or a classic striped T-shirt, or shoes, bags, a bottle of Aquaflor perfume, or some pretty paper goods.

With local brands like Barilà, Betina Lou, Uranium and Eve Gravel, Unicorn is probably the one-stop shop for all things Montreal designers. The shop itself, cleverly located on Montreal‘s biggest shopping street and in the heart of hipster, artsy Mile End district -- that sometimes feels more like Brooklyn than Montreal --, is a work of art and immediately makes shoppers feel at ease. The owners, Amélie and Mélanie, created a unique minimalist atmosphere where their passion for clothes truly prevails, and where their own individual style perfectly mix. The store recently celebrated its 5-year anniversary, and luckily for us fashionistas, the adventure is nowhere near over. Here’s to 5 more years of wonderful shopping!