The Lowdown on Hip Hotels

The old Holiday Inn slogan, “The best surprise is no surprise,” perfectly captured the chain’s appeal to travelers with a low tolerance for adventure. But in the world of modern city travel, you are where you stay, and appearing in-the-know can take precedence over many things, especially predictability.

A handsome new book, “Hip Hotels” (Thames & Hudson), invites the daydreaming tourist into 40 hotels in major destinations in Europe, Asia and the U.S. Canada and Latin America weren’t cool enough to be included, it seems.

The stunning color photographs resemble the ones in hotel brochures that make you wonder why you didn’t get that room. Choose from a Zen retreat in London or the venerable Peninsula in Hong Kong. (Hipness and newness aren’t always equated, in this world tour.) The Helvetia & Bristol in Florence has, not surprisingly, an Old World ambience that’s a world apart from L.A.’s Mondrian, which oozes minimalist chic.

If hip isn’t important to you, you can wait for the subsequent volumes in what will be a series about hotels. Maybe the next one will concentrate on cozy.